Reactive Lights

So I have a working prototype now, but I don’t love the frequency response of this one. I would prefer an auto balancing circuit and have one in mind. Not sure if I will be able to adapt it to my needs, but I imagine it shouldn’t be too difficult with transistors or triacs. We will have to see. In […]

      Here are some of my latest animaged Gifs of my sound reactive lighting projects.  I will be making more notes about them soon and wrapping up my tutorial on hacking the inverter box for the EL Panels so you can do this as well!

I just realized it. I have not included specific information about the hacked EL panel inverter that I have adapted to make my super cool el costume. It is actually a VU or volume meter that is typically used on EL Panel shirts. You know, those ones with the cheesy displays on them. Some are cool actually, but most are […]

Been working on a bunch of my audio reactive lighting projects lately. I really want to go with the HUGE EQ, but that thing took so much time to make, I couldn’t even imagine how to mass product that thing. A couple things that I have researched and would love to get some materials to test. Electrolumenescent Ink! Oh yeah! […]

http://makezine.com/2010/04/27/programming-el-wire-fashion/ Programming EL wire fashion They link to the el sequencer, but it is a bad link, you can find out all the details about the EL Sequencer here. I can imagine so many uses for this thing! https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11323 Some really cool ideas and this step by step tutorial is really good. I try to stay away from arduino or […]

Had a really great time and got to party with a few thousand amazing people. Great times, great camp, great music. It was just great. All of my electronics worked perfectly, although I guess I thought I was impervious to poison oak or something, so I put on a jumpsuit and headed off into the canyonside with plenty of dead […]

https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials While I was looking for a simple way of testing LEDs, I came across this tutorial on making a cool tester. https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/376 But then I started to check out all their tutorials and they have a really nice selection. I am going to try and cut and paste all the different categories below.

This guy wrote an awesome piece on making an el wire / el panel / el paper inverter. He was trying to make a pulsing inverter, instead of one that just turns on and off. http://ch00ftech.com/2012/05/14/dimming-an-el-panel-is-harder-than-it-looks/    

I think I am ready for the YOUtopia event!  It has been a lot of work, but I think I have 4 color organs – 3 different frequencies lighting up 3 oriental lanterns, 2 VU meters – 1 will be lighting up the tube shaped paper ikea floor lamp (I cut off the base and will be hanging it), and […]

Looking for a great tutorial on how to use EL Wire, solder it and more? Check out this great tutorial by LadyAya over at Adafruit. http://learn.adafruit.com/el-wire She starts off with a great FAQ, I will share some of the highlights below and then it moves on to soldering el wire and more. EL Wire does not generate heat EL wire […]

http://ch00ftech.com/2012/05/22/the-follies-of-driving-a-capacitive-load-with-an-h-bridge/ You have probably seen them before.  The cheesy looking EQ that is on a front of a shirt that looks like it is working like a EQ display, but it is actually a volume meter that lights up different parts of the panel. I love LED vu meters and was looking for something that would drive EL paper or […]

http://www.adafruit.com/?main_page=tutorials So in my research and to avoid making a bunch of new hardware that already exists, I have found that you can easily hack arduino shields and use them without any of the programmable features of the arduino. Yes, I have hacked numerous arduino shields, but still have not purchased an actual arduino yet! There is a shield available […]

Oriental Lanterns: Free Standing VU Meter:

As you can see below, I have decided to change the board that will be driving the large 6’x4′ 5×5 display. On the original board the LM3915 is getting crazy hot with different LEDs in there and I really don’t want to add more components to the mix. There is a current limiter on the LM3915 and without using transistors […]

I hope to bring these to YouTopia in San Diego! Wohoo! Not sure why there was a delay in the audio on the recording, but the light does react to the music immediately. VIDEO – 3 Bands in a box – color organ – sample 1 VIDEO – 3 Bands in a box – color organ – sample 2 VIDEO […]

Ok, so it has been a while since I took some electronics courses in college.  This youtube channel rocks the house when it comes to learning about electronics. Since I am learning a lot about transistors and mosfets to use as switches for a lot of my projects from driving LEDs, these tutorials really helped. ) Below is a list […]

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I have been working on a number of Audio Reactive Lighting systems that include VU Meters, Color Organs and Graphic Equalizer Displays. Currently I am looking for help on adapting a couple kits to fit my exact needs. This is the parts list and schematic for an 8 band eq with a six 3mm LEDs display for each band. I […]