LED Hacks

1928 Articles

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.

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Space Invader Button

April 14, 2009 by 36 Comments

spaceinvaderbutton

[Marcus] saw [Alex]’s 64 pixel project and decided it could be implemented in even less space. Pictured above is his Space Invader button with a bicolor LED matrix. The controller board is all SMD and piggybacked on the matrix. An ATmega164P drives the 24 pins via transistors. In addition to animation, the board can do LED sensing too. It’s a very clever project and [Marcus] has some notes about working with such tiny components. You can see a video of it below. Continue reading “Space Invader Button” →

POV Pong

April 13, 2009 by 7 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVOgsUOslMs]

[Akeeh] posted something to our flickr pool that caught our eye. The image was a rotating POV display, playing pong. We followed through the links and found this very well done rotating pov display. The construction is quite nice, showing multiple colors and smooth motion. there’s a little bit of wiggle even though it has a custom round pcb. Maybe a little better counter weight would help with that. The idea isn’t new, but it is good looking and elegantly made.

RGB 7 Segment Display

April 11, 2009 by 22 Comments

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[Markus] noticed a lack of 7 segment LED displays that could show RGB. Like any hacker, he sought to remedy this.  The solution he came up with was to basically remove all the electronics from the plastic body of the display. He then mounted new surface mount RGB LEDs in the correct places. This may be a bit messy, and definitely increased the footprint in this layout, but as you can see from the pictures on his site, the final result is quite nice. What uses can you think of for these?

The Bulbdial Clock Comes To Life

April 8, 2009 by 7 Comments

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Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has built the bulbdial clock, an idea originated by Ironic Sans.  It’s basically a high definition indoor sundial. The LEDs arranged in a circle shine a light on the peg in the middle casting a shadow, just like a sundial. There are 3 colors of rings, allowing for hour, minute, and second shadows. This isn’t the first time that Ironic Sans has seen ideas come to reality. There were the pre pixelated reality show clothes and the sneaky histogram hidden message system. While it is a cute idea, it isn’t really new. People have been patenting this idea for a while.

Spider Fire Flashlight Upgrade

April 6, 2009 by 25 Comments

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[PodeCoet] sent in this mod he did to a Spider Fire flashlight. These things are unbelievably bright, they use Cree LEDs that are so intense, they can ignite paper. [PodeCoet] notes that they run on fairly expensive batteries. Instead of buying some rechargeable ones, he decided to customize and hack his torch. He added a custom charging circuit and a Lilon battery as well as a boost-converter circuit and a status LED.  We like the idea of having a rechargeable lamp, but he has lost his water proofing. If anything, you should go there to see his nicely done smd charger pcb as well as the pictures of his test run, burning some paper.

As some people have pointed out in the comments, this flashlight could not have started that fire. This one could though.