Making my LED costume ver 4.0

This is a project that I've been procrastinating about for the longest time, finally got the time to do it!
This is the 4th version of my LED costume - Could be the most elaborate costume project yet! With every version, I learn a little more!

With this attempt, I learnt that planning ahead is the key!  It saved so much time compared to the previous versions where I relied on trial and error, making many mistakes along the way :-(

Planning on paper!

Just the planning process on paper took me hours of drawing and redrawing. In this version, I tried a 12v supply for the first time, with 4.2v across each LED, trying to achieve at least 20mA for each light!

The final wiring diagram! Not the most perfect, but the least complicated wiring I could come up with..

Buying the parts! Sim Lim Towers is one of my favorite places! I could spend the entire day there shopping for inspiration!

Positioning the lights is one of the most time consuming parts of this project as it is difficult to measure and mark the placement on fur. I just relied on trial and error to make the distribution of the lights work.

Yikes! Made a mistake and burnt a hole in the costume, luckily it didn’t show up in the fur!

Testing out the circuit!

Looking good!

Final step! Attaching the blinker circuit and battery pack!

Nicely done!

Finally done with phase one of the project: just 36 LEDs for now.  For the 2nd phase, I will add 24 more LEDs that will run on a different flashing circuit!

I couldn't wait to test it out on stage, so I used it in my show that night!

Watch it in HD!!

People who know me, know that I have this crazy obsession with lights, and spend much of my spare time attempting to put LEDs on everything! Catch my next blog post for some of the more useless circuits that I've created! In the meantime..

This is one of my projects from a long time ago! 128 LEDs on an instant (Pro-X) backdrop! It has 32 programmable sequences with 8 variable speeds. It’s a remote controlled operation and doesn't require wall power! It runs for more than 4 hours on a single battery charge!

I used it in the finale of my production of WAAH Magic, back in 2009. This act has the older version of my LED costume (Ver3.0).  The blinking circuit was more random then.

Creating lights for costumes has been my hobby for the longest time.  I've lost count on the number of projects I've done so far. I've made many costumes for big musical productions in Singapore, as well as creating 250 LED costumes for my mass display item at the Asian Youth Games opening ceremony; An epic project! Luckily I had help from my friends Imran & Jeremy Tan! How can I forget spending hundreds of hours soldering and wiring each and every costume! It was all worth it! Check out the final result in this video! The lights are at their full glory about 5:20min into the video.

Kiki's crazy obsession with lights!

- Kiki Tay