Help me CPF, you're my only hope!

[Jessel]

I have a silly question no one I know seems to be able to answer, and my dad sent me here.

A million years ago I was working at a theatre and built a costume piece which had a bunch of tiny bulbs circuited into a battery pack with a toggle switch. The lights were hidden in fake flowers stuck all over a dress, and the over-all effect was pretty sweet.

I'm headed to the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island next weekend, and I'm trying to rig something similar for my costume. The problem is, as a lowly L3 at the time I was just given a pile of stuff to solder together, and being 17 I didn't take any notes.

I've run all over town, and managed to find only a 9.6 volt battery pack. I have not yet managed to buy any bulbs or lamps because the man at the lighting store yesterday kept insisting I had to use fiber optics, no matter how many times I told him no.

So here's my questions:
1)How do I figure out how many bulbs this thing can support? I'm looking for tiny little bulbs, not larger than xmas lights. They won't have to be on for a super long time, and the battery pack is rechargeable.

2) Would it be possible to get LED lights that'll work for this set up, or would I need to carry a lot more power?

3) Is there any way to judge what the life of this rig will be? I'd hate to get to the parade just to have my batteries die! :)

Thanks so much for your help!

[Monolith]

LEDs will take less power. Here's some search links:

Budget Costume Illumination (without a soldering iron)


Low Power LED lighting for costumes etc


EL Wire as an alternative idea

[Jessel]

Thanks for those links.

I'm still a little undecided, but its lookingl ike LEDs might be cost prohibative for a one-off like this.

If anyone has information as to how to figure out how many regular little bulbs I can run off the pack, that'd be great (in idiot speak if possible *g*). Thanks!

[TinderBox (UK)]

try an modifi some lo-voltage xmas lights.

I have loads of led xmas lights.

regards.

[Melchior]

Cheap LEDs are plentiful. IF you know where to look:
http://abctronics.com/
http://www.besthongkong.com

~35 Cents apiece usually for 10 or more. (Red/green/yellow/ect) Blue and White are more expensive.

9.6 Volts would allow about:

3.8 Typical 'Red' LEDs per series chain. (no resistors)

Or

2.7 Typical White LEDs per series chain.


So depending on how much light you want:

About 4 Low voltage Red LEDs on one series chain with 3 or four chains parrallel.

Go here:

LED Series/Parrallel calculator
There are also multicolour blinking LEDs too, which IMHO would be better; they should all run the same voltage...(unless that would be too anyoning)

[CLHC]

I can imagine what the end result would look like—stunning to say the least. Hope things work out for you Jessel!

[Jessel]

Well the costume wound up looking pretty neat, but efforts to photograph it fell a bit short (and Walgreens scans were even crappier than usual) but if you'd like to see, its hosted here: http://static.flickr.com/64/179195854_b1d520c652_o.jpg

[nethiker]

It's great that your costume was a success.

Thanks for the update and pic.

[Jay R]

I have a few strings of battery powered Christmas tree lights I bought in a local shop. They consist of a 2AA battery box ( Quite small ) and 20 led's on a wire about 2 meters long. One has just white lights, one multicoloured and one with flashing red stars. I'm guessing you can get the same sort of thing over there in the US ??? It wold be easy enough to sew them into a costume. They only cost about 3 pounds per set ( $5 )
I wanted to know where you were based so I had a look at your website. Interesting....

[Jessel]

Thanks. I wound up going for regular bulbs not LEDs because I needed them on short notice. I wired them in parallel circuits and managed to run 24 of them off the battery pack no problem. I'll keep an eye out for those battery powered christmas lights though, they sound pretty useful!