Seasonal LED kits

2014-Feb-05, Wednesday 12:40 am
[personal profile] chebe
At TOGs birthday party (you weren't there?! You missed awesome cake!) rob showed me a new kit he's come up with for February.

Rectangle of red circuit board, with lit-up red LEDs in a heart pattern, with a bunch of resistors, switch, power plug down the bottom

LED heart plaque
Photo by chebe



It's already up for sale, but he had another kit, for March, that he asked me to beta test. I found myself at home on Friday night, relaxing with some Arduino coding, and chatting to other tog members on irc. So I put on 'The Wall' double album and pulled out the soldering iron.

Kit with unpopulated green circuit board, bag of green LEDs, bag of resistors, switch, and power connector

LED shamrock kit
Photo by chebe



The kit comes with everything you need; LEDs, resistors, slide switch, power connector (in this case a mini-usb), and the circuit board. The board is large, sturdy, and glossy. I always enjoy putting kits together like this because I get to practice my soldering, and see how others assemble their circuits.

I start with the slimest components, so resistors first, then power connector, LEDs, and finally the switch. Plugged it in to my laptop, and there was light!

Completed green circuit board, with lit-up green LEDs in a shamrock pattern.

LED shamrock plaque
Photo by chebe



Assuming rob doesn't want this back, I'm thinking of what I can do with it. There are two holes in the top corners which could be used to hang it, picture style. Or, to thread a chain through and create some very niche jewellery. But I'm thinking maybe I could incorporate it into some kind of 3D card (as in greeting), maybe an embroidered piece... Or just prop it up as a holiday-themed party decoration!

Completed LED shamrock circuit board, viewed from an angle to highlight the LEDs reflecting in the gloss surface

LED shamrock plaque, angled to show LEDs reflecting
Photo by chebe



*dusts off hands* Back to working out some Arduino problems...