Hacking a cheap disco light to fire UV beams.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- 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:-
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This also keeps the channel independent of TH-cam's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
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Oh, Clive, you’ve saved my sanity! As a child I had observed disco lights changed direction with the beat, and my mother had told me I must be imagining things, that it simply has a random time that lines up with the beat occasionally. Your description involving detecting of the beat was so validating for 5-year old me 😭
Now you're all grown up you should treat yourself to a vintage moonflower light, or at the very least a cheap modern LED one.
"Just because you CAN."
Alternatively just observe the direction of your microwave turntable. (Usually the same type of motor.)
This is precious
Another small victory over the lingering insecurities of precocious children, always good to hear!
@@bigclivedotcom When I microwave my milk for coffee the handle of the cup points out towards the door then I use the timer @ 12 second multiples so when I open the door the handle is back to where it was!!! Just sayin like🥳 TFS, GB :)
Disco airship?
So in other words ... a LED zeppelin?
Nice! :)
* Led Zeppelin: Immigrant Song (Manuel)
Heh
woo it worked celebration day. (lets keep this pun line going??)
👈😑✋ "Get out"
😂😂❤
You having a body instead of being just a pair of talking hands doing electronics has destroyed everything I believed in
Sorry. That's why I normally keep the face videos to the BigCliveLive channel. To avoid shattering the image of me being some lovely old man.
Haha, i was thinking the opposite! Finally I saw the actual face to the voice, different to what I'd pictured 🙃 nice beard!
@bigclivedotcom
Nawh, it's cool, ZZTop. 😜
@@bigclivedotcom I for one thought it was cool... The avatar was a good hint of what to expect but of course drawings don't always cover things completely accurately. Good to see you, Clive 😉
"I don't know if it's a good idea or not, but I'm just going to do it." Just one of the reasons we love you, Clive.
Yeah it was an hilarious moment 🤣
I wish it was a full-length no-cuts maximum-tediousness video. I like to listen to something when I work and your soothing-Scottish-voiced ramblings are miles ahead of anything on the radio!
Are you aware of the BigCliveLive channel?
@@bigclivedotcom Saturday night streams are the best thing on my TV all week. 👌 With a large alcoholic beverage in hand 🥃
@@bigclivedotcom I personally learned to solder by watching you, so I appreciate you leaving some of it in. c:
God bless you! I worked at a pipe organ company. Our job was to turn electro-pneumatic pipe organs into solid-state mechanisms. I can’t tell you how many times I got a pretty good shock testing the circuit boards. And as for soldering Western Electric 64 cluster cables to tiny pins vertically, I pretty much can’t use fingerprint identification. But your terminology takes me back to my telecommunications days at Kent State University. You bring back SO many good and bad memories for me. Keep up the good work!
24:55 - let’s clean the lens.
Immediately grabs lens on the inside
🤔
*The use:* Make an all-weather version. Sell them in pairs, to be positioned at each end of a road-side work-zone, pointing back into the work-zone; adding more units, as the site dictates. The increased visibility of workers who are wearing high-vis gear, during hours of low-light, would be profound. This could save lives, and make you a few pounds. How many road-side workers would be alive today, if motorists hadn't failed to see them? Probably thousands.
This needs more attention.
problem is UV is really bad for "YOUR" vision. makes what you see soft and blurry even. even if not harmful to your eyes directly. maybe if they were up high shining down so no one had to LOOK into them ?
@@nerys71 I doubt any UV exposure would be consistently prolonged enough to cause any real damage. And yes, mounting the units on telescoping poles with weighted bases would be the most obvious way around any objections.
I just thought I would expand upon this idea a bit here. Hope that's not unwelcome..
Using a device like this to increase a worker's visibility, has at least one distinct advantage over high-vis gear with lights mounted on it. I'll try to explain..
If a worker wears lights on their body, then the lights are moving _with them._ And if a driver doesn't see the worker, despite their already wearing high-vis gear, and being in motion, then worn-lights would merely be _an extension of_ the motion they're already in; offering only slight advantage. You could say it's _"more of the same"._
Whereas a stationary UV light, would cause a sort of 'visual aberration'. In that, the lights would appear _on top of_ the worker, remaining stationary with respect to the landscape. Meanwhile the worker would appear to move _behind these stationary points of light._ This would be almost _impossible_ not to notice! The eye would be drawn right to it, due to this seemingly unnatural effect.
Why isn't that a thing already?
Good project! You can use banknotes and postage stamps to check for the UV effect. Cheques also often have spectacular patterns on them in UV.
Since I watched this video 2 days ago, "Splooshmaster Diskoshart" keeps randomly popping into my head causing involuntary fits of laughter, often while doing nothing of any relevance 😂
8:05
I feel cheated!
I put this on to fall asleep while listening to you talking while soldering all the LEDs.
It's like Bob Ross is skipping from a blank canvas to a finished painting :(
SAME haha. Clive should do Jackanory, it would be amazing
I agree!
@@slaughterround643 u da best dolan
Lol, same here. Snoozed through the LED soldering. Thanks Clive!
So im not the only one who uses these videos to sleep
I only recently discovered this channel and I am SO GLAD that I did. Some great stuff here! Hearing some of the stories as you assemble things is awesome. Please keep 'em coming!
Ahhh Cyberdog. Never thought I'd hear that brand here! 😄
I've got a cyberdog top, but it's a tight fit. It's definitely not cyberbear.
@@bigclivedotcom I've got a couple of tops and pairs of trousers that no longer fit from about 8 years ago. Its not Cyberbear nor Cybercub 😅
I love how he managed to say that name with a calm and level voice, without a hint of a smile.
Cleans lens with shirt, proceeds to put fingers all over "clean" lens upon install. lol
This is the first time I’ve actually seen you in a video. EPIC BEARD! Your videos are great bud. Have a good one.
Ahh, got my dose of UV. COVID safe for another week.
😂😂
No. You need it INSIDE you. Thankfully this is as easy as buying a pack of UV LEDs, clipping the legs off, and swallowing two daily.
Caveat: I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Don't eat LEDs.
If you intend to eat your old electronic components, remember use some desoldering braid first to mop up all the dangerous leaded solder.
Your immunity game is WEAK.
I eat radium paint everyday to burn away the virus. Doctors are jealous of my genius. 😎
@mur38 way to build up resistance
Disco Shart? Wow, I am so happy that I was born after the disco Era faded. I can only imagine how badly clubs smelled back when disco sharting was a thing.
I don’t know why, but your voice, hands, and knowledge had me believing you were an older clean cut gentleman. Was shocked seeing you for the first time. Happy there’s other people that look like me that loves this kinda stuff!
My voice definitely doesn't match my face. (I'm 57)
I've watched many of your videos, and had formed in my head an idea of how you looked... and that wasn't it! I'm quite impressed - miles away from the check-shirt wearing, grey-haired, oversized glasses wearing fuddy-duddy I was expecting. I am glad I can put a real face to the voice now.
There's a different channel called BigCliveLive for the face videos.
Splooshmeister 😂 oh god.. now i have to watch Archer again 😅😂
This design brings to mind a line from The Twelve Pains of Christmas: "One light goes out, they all go out!!"
On the alignment thing of the array of LEDs, sometimes it's a benefit when they're not all aligned perfectly - over 10 years ago I made a front light for my ebike, which powers off the main battery, using 300 3mm LEDs all hand soldered.
I chose 3mm because they have a nicer beamspread than the spotlight effect of 5mm LEDs and I can pack them closer together. The result is a really nice smooth bright beamspread, like a directed floodlight, driven by a microcontroller to get different brightness levels with PWM.
That sure was one heck of a job to solder them all, glad it turned out nice.
On the topic of the 5mm ones being spotty, I've seen they're now making them (probably for a while but let's be honest, LEDs only became all the rage in the last 15ish years so we wouldn't easily know it either) with so many different body lenses that you get all kinds of beams from them, the "top hat" ones come to mind now, also some shallow 5mm ones with a bigger radius dome.
I'm never going to look at a shart the same way ever again, Clive. At least I'll have this to remember while I'm cleaning up if a shart should ever happen!
Well, it sure was nice getting to see how that switched out and I think it worked pretty well. It was nice to see a hi-vis Clive with a sharp haircut!
I'm a collector of Vincent Monaco UV artwork so, you know I must have a few of these! Thanks BigGuy.
Your technique to hold the solder between your ring and middle finger is great. I will try that out.
dude this is the first time iv actually seen him and not just his hands!!!
Very interesting purple dots and boom now green when high visibility is In front of it
Brilliant job Clive, a really enjoyable video. Thank you.
Hey Clive, Do a video of you putting the near UV light on some tonic water.
That might be interesting
Glow in the dark painted wall.. would make a trippy display
Thanks for the great video, am drinking a can of coke and pottering away planning a potential youtube meetup event for 2021, have also been browsing ebay for electronic components, wheeling the trolley around looking in boxes and pallets 😁
With that beard he's starting to look a bit Ming the Merciless
You think he's minging ?
@@millomweb mercilessly
I built something similar for IR LEDs years ago.
It was designed for 9 volts, I recently dug it out again after picking up a USB-C decoy plug to power it
I do remember doing a lot of filing to get the LEDs to fit uniformly
I wish I could have a brewski or maybe suggested beverage with you Big Clive. Love your vids as always. Even going back.
A few years ago I bought battery powered LED lantern. Then I replaced COB inside with arrays of deep violet LEDs. It's funny when you are on camping festival and yet you have a party with black(ish) light :)
With some low pass filter (maybe engraved glass would do) this might be useful as a light source for fluorescent art
Thanks for another great video, personally I can't wait to see this board materialising in the shop. And Ill be dreaming about an upgraded version for 4 pin rgb led's so I can hook up the pro-rgb controller, or the rgb-controller-with-knob version that is currently underway. Always a good day when a soldering kit from BigClive arrives in the mail ;-) Cheers.
I may have Sharted in a few disco’s in my youth 🤪
Wtf
wtf
also, *discos
Sometimes the old "staying-awake powder" used to be adulterated with mannitol and other chemicals ending in -itol. These tend to have two distinct effects on humans. Firstly, they have a sweet taste, while not containing as much potential energy as the same-tasting amount of sugar. And secondly -- and the reason why people still use sugar in preference to these lower-calorie sweeteners -- they loosen the bowels. (Mannitol is actually prescribed as a laxative for very young children.) Unlike most normal adult laxatives, though, the -itol group don't give you much warning. You can think you are about to break wind, right up until the moment you realised that was a rather over-optimistic assessment of the situation.
It's rather less of a problem for a baby wearing a nappy than it might be for an adult in skin-tight fluorescent lycra. Still, you will find out who your friends are, and after ten or twenty years you will be able to laugh about sharting in a disco almost as much as everyone else who was there.
I MUST have one of those boards! Well done Clive.
If you could go back in time about 50 years, years you could make a fortune selling those.
I used PCB Way for my first ever project. They were super fast. Advertised standard service was 1 day manufacture and 5 day ship. They showed up exactly on time and look smashing.
There's a very good application for this concept... If something akin to this with proper uv and specialized lens were installed on the front of vehicles it could invisibly daylight anything high-visibility during night time driving. Would be better than high beams for such objects but without affecting other motorists.
"Disko Shart" was my crunkcore band back in the 70s
I need a disko shart in my life!
Sploishmeister disco shart
My god. The genius of it!
Big Clive whipping it out on the internet regularly.
We have 240 volts. Murica! You could point it at road workers in bad weather conditions so drivers could see them better. Have it aimed at the edge of the road so if they crossed over into the road a bit, it would light them up.
Also, tonic water fluoresces under UV.
Total fourth wall break! and finally a minor shop tour!
I misread the title as beans, all the time im thinking, how is this going to fire beans, will it cook them...its been a long day...
Perfect timing. Man I'm pissed off. Thanks Clive.
Why are you pissed off ?
@@Nickname-vl4qo adult life.
Don't take it too seriously. Life is too short to be wasted on lesser people and their red tape.
@@bigclivedotcom thanks bud.
Nice build @Bigclivedotcom the blue and purple looks pretty good 👍 👌
holly cow you look way different then i expected! not in a bad way!
This hack to a disco led ball projector in a UV painted room would be amazing
Even without the package the array would be quite useful for owners of a resin based 3D printer. After a print they need to bathe in UV light for a while to finish curing the print. Far cheaper than the curing lights sold on eBay.
Clive do let us know if we can organize a professional Sploogemeister to come by your house and give you a right good seasonal splooge up the back door during these trying times!
The most pathic death ray i have ever seen :)
Who else clicked solely for "disco shart!"
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I have the humor of a 12yr old and am not ashamed!
At the end, he looks like that guy who knows everything on construction site, drives heavy machinery or truck with mudflaps "King of the road" for work and Harley Davidson in spare time while looking good AF
Splooshmeister Disko Shart? It's 3:30 am, and I hope the neighbors didn't hear my outburst of laughter. Instantly had a mental picture of a dancing twalette with UV-lit fluorescent brown splatters illuminated in the bowl. I think it's time for bed.
Glorious exposure time Batman! In the dark Hopi does not flicker so much!
The Ultra Waffle!
Pattern when you first shined it on the bench made me think of a waffle for some reason. Looks super cool with the hi-viz stuff. Like some sort of vaporwave laser grid.
Very common shift register led Setup
Put that light on some sort of fast pan/tilt to sweep the lights around (and maybe some twist as well). Paint a wall with low latency glow in the dark paint and point this at it. Might get some interesting light trails like a screen saver.
I keep a magnet close to my work bench. After catching a few of those clipped off diode leads in my hands usually in my palm close to my thumb I have tried to clean them up before it happens again.
Typical quality content from mr Big Clive
Pretty cool, you could add a diffuser on top of the LEDs to try to have a more smooth beam.
I did that at first, made the holes 1mm, and then I switched to 0.8mm holes, seems to me that's a better fit for most components.
This is as close as we are going to get to a bench tour.
Ooooh, a discofectant lamp!
First time I’ve seen what you look like and I’m shocked!! Your voice is soothing btw.
We've all had nights that ended in a Disko Shart.
Just what i needed for my DIY 64 led curing 405 nm project. :-)
I love watching your videos Big Clive. Keep 'em coming. I'm surprised I didn't Subscribe ages ago but TH-cam knows, lol 😂
That effect with your high-vis work jacket makes me think auto manufacturers should slip a few UV LEDs into their headlights, make workers more visible at night.
Your beard looks AWESOME
You can make a casing for one of these out of suitable diameter drainage pipe, a magnifier you can remove the lens from, pipe couplers, and end caps (sandwich the lens between coupler and pipe, same for a circular pcb) . Saves buying a full light to strip down. Also be careful looking into the beams, even from these low power near UV leds, it makes either the lens of your eye, or the vitreous humor fluoresce (not sure which), which is quite distracting when it's hard to see anything from the glare, and maybe can cause eye damage if long enough exposure.
I liked the high viz effect. Oh, and shorter hair did not go unnoticed either.
Aluminium beverage cans have a ring of fluorescent dye on the bottom.
I love this guy. he is the dang best channel on yt. so many fun and curious things he does just bc he can! We need more men like him to breed. please fill the world with smart people like yourself. the future of humanity depends on you!
The ending made me think of the Wolfman from Hilarious House of Frightenstein. 👍
First time I’ve seen Hilarious House of Frightenstein mentioned in a TH-cam comment! 🇨🇦
those frames are awesome if you do a ton of soldering. i had a big one back when i used to mess around with large pcbs. mine was hinged in the middle so once it was closed i could just spin it around
Could this be used to supplement UV for indoor growing of plants??
I think that a small kit is in order for all of us.... And a bit of a redesign to work on 120VAC in the USA as well. 👍😁👍😁
That redesign has already been done.
Enjoyable to make and looks pretty cool. That’s it’s purpose 👍🏻
Well, I don't know any of what's going on here but I'm off to the kitchen to make tea and get a snack so I can watch the entire video in comfort.
Would love to see the creation of an LED tail light, possibly with SMD and some type of sequence controller for the indicators etc
"Disco shart"?
Haven't heard that name in years
I made one square led in 2010 in r g b three separate squares pcb 4 in serries with 150 ohms or micro ohms resistor i think and in serries 12v circut । In fact i found two type of blue leds one is Uv blue other was ocean blue type but they were blinding bright well i enjoyed putting Lenz around it but inbuild Lenz in led was quite enough। Very nice vdo remind me old day one i made with red circle ⭕ another red circle ⭕ orange circle ⭕ n white centes round n make two set of rear suv lights । Great nowdays i could buy ready made cob ones also one white circle to light my bike gauges white 😃😃
Our guy discovered how 22:15 FaceID's depth perception works with just 1 camera and a dot array offset from the camera's view point.
How about a matching infrared one.
The spots effect looks great.lokks like focus is spot on for the wall distance. An iris would increase depth of field at the cost of some lumens. Maybe try a triangular pattern like an apple crate .
Enjoying these experiments, how much led power could the case take before it starts to soften .
Phone the number on the sticker during a live stream.
I love how you solder components the PROPER way. There's a popular youtube guy who constantly "pokes" at the molten solder blob, resulting in usually cold, or sloppy solder joints. He drives me to distraction with his technique. Yes, he's shit at soldering and it shows.
What’s his channel? I see lots like that.
Mantis Shrimp Disco Lighting. Those feisty little fellers can see in the UV, and they look like they've got the moves. Might want to toughen the lens, though.
If you are worried about shock hazard from the cap (hence the bleeders) perhaps putting two resistors in parallel would be a better choice. With two in series if one fails open they both fail. So the reliability is halved.
failure possible, but unlikely as having 2 in series halves the voltage across, those quarter watt things are usually rated for 250v max, so 2 makes 500v, reducing stresses in each one ,
👍nice project!
Coool! A disco light for a Corona Virus Rave. Carry on......
You should make one that is uv but moves with the music
this man is so british , you can practically taste the tea
I do drink a lot of tea.
Wow! That's the first time I've seen you, not what I expected at all. I have a pretty big goatee as well. Anyway, love the videos. Please keep up the good work.
I use a flashlight with an array of UV LEDs in my garden after dark to find tomato hornworms. They fluoresce a bright green.