Kiki Tay's LED Costume (Part 2)

18th July, I debuted my LED Jacket (again) at the Singapore Science Centre!

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW!!

This event was part of the Press/Media conference for the upcoming Singapore Science Festival and I was the only one representing the Singapore Mini Maker Faire, happening on the 27th & 28th July 2013. I will be showcasing all my creations in a 7sq meters booth! Do come and support! See some of my creations I'll be showcasing here or visit the Singapore Mini Maker Faire Website!

Doing last minute checks and fixes!

Showing it off to the CEO of the Singapore Science Centre!

Everything ready! Good to go!

 (This is a Facebook "Like" icon that I painstakingly drawn myself, pixel by pixel.. Along with many other effects!)

  

The actual press conference..

Showing it off to the press and media!

If you're curious about this "Robot" that I was controlling, this is a "Show Bot" that I created for use in my show. Find out more about it from my blog post here. Or watch it (early prototype) being used in my show here.

If you're as obsessed with LEDs as I am, or would like to create your own LED costumes or effects, here's a good place to start --> www.LEDmagician.com

The "LED Magician" is a circuit board that I created for newbies or professionals to easily create running light patterns. You simply supply it with a power source and it outputs the same power to 12 channels, with up to 32 selectable sequences and 8 variable speeds! Find out more from my website above, or read more about the creation from my blog post here.

Remember to "Like" my posts and videos!

With love,

   - Kiki Tay

Introducing the LED Magician v2.0!

Check out my latest creation, The "LED Magician v2.0"!

It all started several years ago when I was figuring out a method to add animated effects to my LED costume. I tried searching on the net for a product that would accomplish this but to despair, there wasn't such product. After discussions in forums, days of research, experimenting with the Arduino and all, I finally created the solution! To cut the long story short, I found a huge demand for a product like this and soon sold hundreds of the earlier version to hobbyists and professionals all over the world! Now after much feedbacks and modifications, I created a brand new version with many improvements! Of course, I gave it a nice, relevant name!

Presenting, The LED Magician Version 2.0!

I won't go into much details of the product as I'm not trying to sell anything through my blog, and I'm sure a lot of you don't give a d**m about it. If you're interested to find out more, go to this dedicated website that I created:

  www.ledmagician.com

Older Version

Here is an example of a project I created using the earlier version, it's an animated LED ball that I still use in my show! Visit my website above for examples of projects using the new "LED Magician"!

Here's an old video from "WAAH Magic!" back in 2009. I made my LED backdrop and costume using an early prototype of the same circuit. Scroll to the end to see the effects!

The older version is still available from my webstore www.SpecialEffectsMagic.com 

I'm phasing the older version out soon and stocks are low. If you're interested, grab them before they are gone!

With Love,

   - Kiki Tay

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