Building my daughters LED dresess, but dont know how... can

Wearable electronics: boards, conductive materials, and projects from Adafruit!

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
JZ
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 1:01 am

Building my daughters LED dresess, but dont know how... can

Post by JZ »

Can somebody point me in the right direction ? The idea is to replicate, if posible, the aurora dress by cutecircuit. My daughters are 4 and 2 years old. Would really appreciate it because I dont know were else to get help !

Thank you !!

PD: Here is a link for the aurora dress that Iam trying to replicate, http://cutecircuit.com/collections/aurora-dress/

User avatar
pburgess
 
Posts: 4161
Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 2:29 am

Re: Building my daughters LED dresess, but dont know how...

Post by pburgess »

Do you have prior electronics experience, or are you approaching this from scratch?

Regardless, we're always hesitant to recommend wearable electronics with small children. Any such project entails some degree of risk. One with that many LEDs and that much power entails a remote but very serious risk of burns or other injury, and I'd be cautious strapping that even to an adult with designated handlers! Maybe there's a toned-down idea that could be developed.

User avatar
adafruit_support_bill
 
Posts: 88093
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:11 am

Re: Building my daughters LED dresess, but dont know how...

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I've moved this to the wearables forum so that our wearable experts will see it.

First a couple of questions:
How BANNED do you want to replicate the dress and how do you intend it to be worn?

The dress as shown is very impressive. I'd estimate that it has at least a couple thousand LEDs, and unless there are a ton of batteries under there, I suspect it has a fairly short run-time - enough to make a stunning entrance and a lasting impression - but not something that would last through the evening. Not that you would want to wear it for very long. I would expect it to be fairly heavy and quite warm when in operation.

Scaled down to toddler size, you could do the same thing with several hundred LEDs. But bulk of the dress and the battery packs will still be considerable for a small child. And the nature of wearable circuits exposes the wearer to some risks. The voltages themselves are relatively low, but a short circuit involving large batteries could result in burns or worse. The more battery power you are carrying, the higher the risk.

At the lighter-weight end of the spectrum, there are projects like the sparkle-skirt: https://learn.adafruit.com/sparkle-skirt
Using the same Flora processor, this project could be extended to more pixels if desired. Just keep in mind the trade-offs as you increase the number of pixels.

User avatar
Franklin97355
 
Posts: 23912
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:33 pm

Re: Building my daughters LED dresess, but dont know how...

Post by Franklin97355 »

Perhaps this would be an alternative https://learn.adafruit.com/sparkle-skirt

JZ
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 1:01 am

Re: Building my daughters LED dresess, but dont know how...

Post by JZ »

I've moved this to the wearables forum so that our wearable experts will see it.
Thanks !

First a couple of questions:
How BANNED do you want to replicate the dress and how do you intend it to be worn?

I think to the point were its convinient to the girls and overall price.


The dress as shown is very impressive. I'd estimate that it has at least a couple thousand LEDs, and unless there are a ton of batteries under there, I suspect it has a fairly short run-time - enough to make a stunning entrance and a lasting impression - but not something that would last through the evening. Not that you would want to wear it for very long. I would expect it to be fairly heavy and quite warm when in operation.

Its intended for trick or treating, so maybe the weather and being outside is going to help them cool off a little and besides they wont be turned on all the time. About the weight I dont know if there are lighter leds that might help make it lighter ?

Scaled down to toddler size, you could do the same thing with several hundred LEDs. But bulk of the dress and the battery packs will still be considerable for a small child. And the nature of wearable circuits exposes the wearer to some risks. The voltages themselves are relatively low, but a short circuit involving large batteries could result in burns or worse. The more battery power you are carrying, the higher the risk.

The dress is intended to be made from light fabrics, to lessen the weight and to better difuse the leds lights. There would be fabrics between the skin and the cicuits (Iam not an electrician but could there be a ground wire from the set up running to the floor to avoid discharges ?) Could I use a lithium battery to make it lighter and last longer ? Could i build in something to kill it if a short circuit happened ? I could wrap the risky parts with fire proof wool and I do plan to make the whole dress fire proof by spraying it with a borax based flame retardant, avoiding the worse case scenario.

At the lighter-weight end of the spectrum, there are projects like the sparkle-skirt: https://learn.adafruit.com/sparkle-skirt
Using the same Flora processor, this project could be extended to more pixels if desired. Just keep in mind the trade-offs as you increase the number of pixels.

Great Project ! Just that i would like to aim towards the most sparkles and lights, they really love it, just to the point that the trade offs are worth it, how much led can i add to this setup? Thank s for the quick reply and for all your help, I think this project might come to see the light of day !! Thanks for the suggestion as well Franklin !

User avatar
adafruit_support_bill Posts: 28034Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:11 pm

JZ
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 1:01 am

Re: Building my daughters LED dresess, but dont know how...

Post by JZ »

Do you have prior electronics experience, or are you approaching this from scratch?

Scratch ... But I could get help from an electrician
...


Regardless, we're always hesitant to recommend wearable electronics with small children. Any such project entails some degree of risk. One with that many LEDs and that much power entails a remote but very serious risk of burns or other injury, and I'd be cautious strapping that even to an adult with designated handlers! Maybe there's a toned-down idea that could be developed.

Safety is definitely the priority in this Project. It wouldnt be turned on all the time and I would tone it down to the point that it is safe, just dont know what point that is. Thanks pburgess !

User avatar
adafruit_support_bill
 
Posts: 88093
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:11 am

Re: Building my daughters LED dresess, but dont know how...

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The Flora processor used in the sparkle-skirt project is capable of controlling up to a few hundred LEDs, so that is probably a good place to start. There are a few things you can do to help limit the risks & bulk.

To reduce the chances of a short circuit, I'd suggest building it with flexible insulated wire and soldered joints, rather than conductive thread. Our silicone coated wire is light and flexible and would be a good choice: https://www.adafruit.com/products/1970

You might also consider locating the battery pack outside of the dress itself. Maybe on a short tether attached to the treat-bag.

To limit the battery bulk - as well as the risks associated with wearing high powered current sources, you can adjust the programming to require less power. In a darker environment such as trick-or-treating, you don't need to run the leds at full brightness. And if you program them such that not so many leds are on at the same time (think twinkle & sparkle), you can get by with a much smaller battery.

For example, regardless of the number of leds you actually have, if you program it with a twinkling pattern in which no more than 10 of the leds are on at a time and at no more than 1/3 power, your current draw would be about 200mA. A small cell like this one would give you more than 2 hours run-time: https://www.adafruit.com/products/1578

10 leds at 1/3 power may not seem like a lot. But, due to the way human vision works, with a rapidly changing pattern in low-light conditions it will look like a lot more.

User avatar
michaelmeissner
 
Posts: 1821
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:40 am

Re: Building my daughters LED dresess, but dont know how...

Post by michaelmeissner »

As a parent (now of a 26 year old), I remember those years. Have you thought about rather than making a permanent dress, making something that is removable? Otherwise, they will wear it for a few months, and then outgrow the dress. Obviously, you would leave room at the end of the strands, so that you can solder in more strands as the girls grow.

I've never used EL-wire, but I think perhaps EL-wire might be easier to use in this case than neopixel type lights. You have less flexibility in terms of changing colors, but it can at least move. Or fiber optic sprays that are driven by a few LEDs. You have to plan for the girls to move in the garments.

Speaking of moving, I'm in the process of re-soldering my goggle setup, as it broke the last time I wore it. I don't move like a 4 year old, but even so the stress of moving around eventually loosened up things.

I would keep the light levels down (i.e. make it for dark situations like Halloween), since your girls will need to be near the leds. In my experience, neopixels are very bright, and I've had people complain about how bright they are when I'm talking to people close up, even when I keep the power down to level 30.

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “Wearables”