Info How to make my own Christmas lights

[DanielleDay]

Hi all,

I have 0 experience but what I consider an amazing idea.... but of course no clue how to implement.

I was to create one string of lights which would change colors for each holiday.

Halloween: black, orange, purple.
Thanksgiving: white, brown, orange.
Christmas: white, green, red.

How?

 

[mindless1]

Use some wire, a bucket full of LEDs, a controller, a switch, and a power supply.

Solder it all together. Bob's yer uncle.

The real answer is spend some time learning electronics and practicing soldering, or just buy the closest thing on eBay or Amazon because it's really not worth the work-hours to build something like this and the parts alone will cost multiple times as much as a finished, ready to use product.

You could easily spend $500 worth of time and materials to build a light set that would sell for under $30.

 

[SamirD]

I think this is a really smart idea. Too bad you put it online so now all the chinese scammers will copy your idea and flood the market before you even make a prototype. This is why we can't have nice ideas anymore...

 

[Sgt. York]

I bought a string of lights that do all that at Walmart yesterday!

 

[SamirD]

I bought a string of lights that do all that at Walmart yesterday!

That's the problem about a good idea--you have to be first!

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'd love something like this too. Home Depot has something called "app lights" but as the name suggests you need an app, which means it's probably super proprietary. Who knows if said app will still work in 5-10 years from now. I try to avoid app based stuff. They probably want you to create some stupid account too. I could be wrong, but it just seems to be the trend with these sort of things so I just look past it.

Basically you want some addressable LEDs as a start, like WS2812B, but you want a christmas bulb format, so maybe some kind of injection molding could be used for that part. Still need a way to hook it all up together but suppose you could splice wire for that part then seal with epoxy or something, maybe using a mold. Another option would be to use WS2812B strips that are already premade, but you won't really get that light bulb look.

Can't say I've looked super heavily into it but it's something that I'd love to be able to buy or make at some point myself. Something that uses a basic bit bang compatible protocol that does not require any special app or setup.

Edit: Just realized this is a super old thread... it showed up on the first page and didn't check date.

 

[Micrornd]

I bought a string of lights that do all that at Walmart yesterday!

JK or really?
I want some if real!