LED Hacks

1890 Articles

Fancy LED Invitations

May 11, 2009 by 26 Comments

INVITE

We would be thrilled to get something like this in the mail. What you are looking at is the inside of probably the coolest invitation ever to be mailed. This LED array was enclosed in a mirrored box so all you could see were the lit LEDs. This was then inserted into a hole all the way through a catalog. You’ll have to see the pictures on their site to get the full effect. Only 40 of these were sent out, so we probably won’t get a chance to play with one ourselves. They mentioned that the first prototype was soldered by hand, just to make sure everything worked.

[via Moritz Waldemeyer]

TouchKit Spark Released

May 8, 2009 by 14 Comments

touchkitspark

NOR_/D has just released their newest multitouch display system. The TouchKit Spark features a larger 35.4x23inch display surface than its predecessor, the Run. It uses ultrabright IR LEDs around the screen’s border for FTIR multitouch sensing. A high frame per second IR camera is included to increase tracking performance. The screen is fully assembled, but you need to provide your own projector and case. It can be built at table height or as low as 20inches. The device is designed to work with OpenFrameworks, but future software releases will have TUIO support.

Make Your Own LEDs

May 7, 2009 by 19 Comments

diyled

Ever wanted to make your own LED? You might be tempted to after reading how easy it is. No, this won’t really be a practical LED that you would use to light a project, but it is very cool anyway. [Michael] picked up a box of Moissanite, or Silicon Carbide, on eBay for roughly $1. Making the LED is as easy as putting your positive lead to the crystal and touching it with a sewing needle attached to a negative lead. He has tips on how to get the best results as well as a little bit of history of LEDs on the site.

[thanks Andreas]

An Amazingly Professional LED Bike Light

May 7, 2009 by 15 Comments

light1

[Tom] sent us a link to this very professionally done project. He built a bike light that is a 540 lumen Luxeon light with a custom case.  The LED, Lens, and driver were purchased first. Everything else was designed around it. The design is compact and good looking. You can download the CAD files on the site if you want to make your own. He is using an Atmel AVR ATTiny13 to control brightness.

Peggy 2 Super Pixels

May 6, 2009 by 15 Comments

rgb

[Windell] from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories took one of their Peggy 2 kits and gave it a little upgrade. The Peggy 2 is a programmable 25×25 LED display. It’s Arduino compatible and can accommodate big 10mm LEDs. Most people assemble them using just one color, but [Windell] decided to create giant RGB pixels by placing discrete red, green, blue, and white LEDs next to each other in the board. This creates a 12.5×12.5 grid of full color pixels. It’s an interesting effect and you should definitely check out the video embedded below which shows how the transition can be smoothed using a diffuser. Continue reading “Peggy 2 Super Pixels” →

Modular POV Final Project

May 6, 2009 by 12 Comments

pov

[Jonathan] sent us his final project for ECE 476. His group built an LED POV display that can be updated wirelessly from a computer. They built it in a somewhat modular fashion, with the LED strip being a simple to replace module. This goes along with their plan to build a 3D version of the display. They have made it able to switch easily from it’s internal programming to direct computer control, allowing them to leave it alone in clock mode, or take control to play with it. The updates seem really quick, you can see them in effect in the video after the break. All source code and schematics are available on the site. We love these final projects, they usually have tons of data and great pictures. Keep them coming.

Continue reading “Modular POV Final Project” →