Having modified a few of these cheap disco lights with other hand-made PCBs I decided to get a set of five prototype boards made.
Unlike the original light that pulses and flashes during operation, I decided to make it simple and just have a static pattern of light beams. That allows a very simple circuit to be used to power all the LEDs directly from the mains supply.
In this instance I decided to populate the PCB entirely with near-UV LEDs to project a series of deep violet beams of light through hazy air and create a grid of 64 points of light on a wall.
The really interesting bit is when you wear fluorescent items and walk in front of the light. It makes the material fluoresce as a series of dots on your clothing.
It's an unusual light. It would only be suited to specific events where a lot of suitably reactive colours were being worn. Like a rave or cyber party for instance.
I think the next one I make will have bright golden-white LEDs in it so it is a practical source of light with the advantage of being visually artistic too.
I'd also like to make one with the slow colour changing LEDs, but this application requires clear ones with the standard focussing lens on the front for highest efficiency. The RGB ones have the LEDs offset to the lens inside, so I'd expect to have to angle the whole PCB slightly to focus then through the main lens, and the light from each LED would be in the form of separate RGB beams.
Note that this particular PCB is better suited to higher voltage mains supplies like 220V upwards. For a 120V version it would require that the LEDs were in parallel pairs or two separate sections in parallel with either two power supplies or their own set of series resistors to help divide the current between the two sections. (Or a voltage doubler could be used to boost the voltage.)
The use of phosphor coated LEDs creates a softer beam effect than the laser-like effect of bare chip colours like red, green, amber and blue.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
Unlike the original light that pulses and flashes during operation, I decided to make it simple and just have a static pattern of light beams. That allows a very simple circuit to be used to power all the LEDs directly from the mains supply.
In this instance I decided to populate the PCB entirely with near-UV LEDs to project a series of deep violet beams of light through hazy air and create a grid of 64 points of light on a wall.
The really interesting bit is when you wear fluorescent items and walk in front of the light. It makes the material fluoresce as a series of dots on your clothing.
It's an unusual light. It would only be suited to specific events where a lot of suitably reactive colours were being worn. Like a rave or cyber party for instance.
I think the next one I make will have bright golden-white LEDs in it so it is a practical source of light with the advantage of being visually artistic too.
I'd also like to make one with the slow colour changing LEDs, but this application requires clear ones with the standard focussing lens on the front for highest efficiency. The RGB ones have the LEDs offset to the lens inside, so I'd expect to have to angle the whole PCB slightly to focus then through the main lens, and the light from each LED would be in the form of separate RGB beams.
Note that this particular PCB is better suited to higher voltage mains supplies like 220V upwards. For a 120V version it would require that the LEDs were in parallel pairs or two separate sections in parallel with either two power supplies or their own set of series resistors to help divide the current between the two sections. (Or a voltage doubler could be used to boost the voltage.)
The use of phosphor coated LEDs creates a softer beam effect than the laser-like effect of bare chip colours like red, green, amber and blue.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
You make this look so easy and understandable but then when I try to f around with any wired contraption I'm just stunned into what the hell am I seeing and "how do anything" cave man brain.
When I first saw that title picture of this video I was like "is that a board from Arduino versus Evil?" I thought it would have been hilarious if he was in fact the maker of a cheap disco light that you were redoing. In any case, I think both of you have very similar tastes in PC board names.
That was a pretty cool light I just ordered some UV lights from AliExpress myself so I could start experimenting with things to do with them.
Sorry, 'shart'??
Hmmmm – could you build something like this with one of those led chaos panel/supercomputer thingy?
I love watching your videos Big Clive. Keep 'em coming. I'm surprised I didn't Subscribe ages ago but YouTube knows, lol 😂
At the end of this video – is that the bench that you normally film at?
shart 🤣
Populating that Pcb with assorted 175nm, 275nm, and just a few 395nm thrown in for looks.
That'll clean up the whole crowd Big Clive style !!!
(everyone in room…Do you smell steak??
We used to use tide brand clothing detergent in the theater industry to have an effect where under normal lighting you couldn't see any markings then when we kicked on u.v. u could have graffiti or ghosts pop up on a wall or a scrim. And switch back and forth. Was very popular in rock operas in the 90s-00s
The most pathic death ray i have ever seen 🙂