Powering an LED Bodysuit, or, the best halloween costume ever.

[aria072]

So I have a brilliant halloween costume idea (actually, its two different costumes based on the same concept), but i'm still hazy on some of the production details. Luckily, i'm starting early.

The idea is this:
- a full LED bodysuit with battery power source (as few as 50 to as many as 200ish individual lights...what's feasible?)
- 2/3 different colors of LEDs with the ability to switch between them (preferably person, not timing controlled). the colors are grouped together, if that helps.

Any recommendations on the power source and switching options? (where to purchase components would be great as well)

Thanks all!

[stephanie]

There is a project in the current issue of Wired (the one with Lady Ada on the cover!) that has an LED suit in it. Here's a link from the article:
http://uiproductions.blogspot.com/2010/ ... art-1.html
http://uiproductions.blogspot.com/2010/ ... art-2.html

Cheers!

[adafruit]

strongly suggest you go with the 'smart' LEDs we have such as the LED pixels or shiftbright - check the LED&LCD section to the left.

[kyle.l.marsh]

I'm doing a similar thing. I have about 3M of the digital LED strips and the whole thing seems to draw a maximum of about 2A. For my costume I'm going to have two sections about 1M long each (so call it 700mA max draw). I'll be out at Burning Man, so I won't have access to much charging ability, but I do have a little solar-USB charger that I could probably use. The entire system will be inside my pants legs around my ankles, so there's not a great deal of room.

I'd like to avoid using NiMH AAs to power this costume (because they're bulky and I don't think I'll be able to charge them) and instead go with slimmer LiPos (less bulky and I can charge them during the day with my solar USB charger). The LED strips don't play nice down at 3.3v (they might do alright at 3.7, but I think the LiPos would drop too low pretty quickly), so I'd need some kind of voltage booster. I've seen a few boost supplies for LiPos but the burliest that I've seen can source up to 600mA...just shy of my expected upper limit.

I'm wondering, though if that upper limit is a hard "things will burn out immediately past this point" limit or a maximum constant draw limit that can be exceeded for short periods without trouble: I don't expect my LEDs to be full-white very often, and I'll probably be PWMing them anyway, so my average current draw will be down around 200-300mA, I think.

What are people's suggestions for powering this? Will a 600mA voltage booster work alright under the conditions I described? Should I suck it up and grab a box of AAs? Can I plug the LiPo into 2 boost supplies (datasheet says max discharge current is 2C5A...if I get a 2000mAh battery I should be okay discharging it at rates up to...4A? Is that how I'm supposed to read that?) to split the load between them?

Thanks in advance!

[adafruit_support_bill]

I'm wondering, though if that upper limit is a hard "things will burn out immediately past this point"

Typically, the output voltage will start to sag at about this point.

[Warnner]

i like your idea..
I need a little help designing a circuit for my Halloween...

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