Hello all, off to embark on a new project, wearable of course, and a Top Hat…its my thing. I needed some guidance on a couple of things:
I don’t want to run the LED strips horizontally as shown here: https://learn.adafruit.com/assets/16237. I want to run them vertically from the brim to over on the top of that hat. I am anticipating around 31 strips to make this happen. I’m debating if I should wire these in one continual strip and attach them to 1 pin (matrix like) or break it down into 10 pins (about 3 strips per pin). In the end I want to have waves of colors flowing thru all the strips kinda horizontally but then also be able to flow the same pattern vertically up/down the strips at the same time. Any pro/con advice?
31 strips x 28 LED per strip = 868 LEDs total. It wouldn’t be at 100% brightness (I would blind people), usually run them around 30% but even still this will require some power. Can I power this with a LiPoly battery? The largest I have is a Tenergy 3.7V 5500mAh. I’m really bad at knowing how much power I need for these things.
Does anyone have a good source for 3 wire silicon coated wire? I use the silicon coated wire from Adafruit which I love, but if there’s a 3 wire version, I would make this project so much easier.
Loving being part of this community, and hopefully will be able to help others in the future as my knowledge grows.
I’m having trouble visualizing how the strips will be arranged over the hat? Do all the strips radiate out from the center of the top of the top hat? Do you have a sketch of how you want it?
I run 720 LEDs at once (10 wearable panels of 72 LEDs each) and use a 12v lipo 5000mah to run them. I step down the voltage to 5v for each pair of panels. I never run full brightness (1/4 is plenty at night) and rarely use white. My voltage converters only handle 2A each, which is plenty for the above. I run my arduino straight off the battery at 12v.
Each LED at full bright, full white needs 60mah. So your hat, at full bright, full white, all LEDS lit would need 52 AMPS! 1/2 bright = 26, 1/4 bright = 13, 1/4 bright of just one color (60mah/3) 3.3 amps.
You just need to figure out what your load will typically be, and accommodate.
As far as wiring, for me (personally), I would do a grid with the “seam” between the left and right edge at the back of the hat. That way, when you have flowing colors, the potential mismatch between left and right isn’t as visible. Using a grid will also save you some wiring – although you’ll still want to inject power at various points in the grid and not just both ends.
Looks like a great project!
(Does FastLED supports scrolling text? If so, a top hat is definitely being added to my project list!)
@marmil You’re visualizing correctly. The strips would start at the center of the top of the hat, run outwards to the edge, bend over the edge (will have to cut and wire connect them) and then run down the sides of the hat towards the brim. Here’s my elementary drawing - the red being the LED Strips. I’ve only seen hats done in the horizontal fashion, so of course I wanted to be different. But, there might be a very good reason they’re horizontal…
@allanGEE Thanks for the feedback. I try to keep these things as light weight as possible and not run wiring down to a pocket or such, but can I I need to. All my other hats I have the controllers and batteries inside the top of the hat held in place with some foam and a chin strap. Makes it easier for a night of dancing. The color pallet I’ll be using will be darker colors, blue, purples, pinks, etc. Not a lot of white, maybe some twinkles here and there. I’ve never used any sort of voltage step-down things so any links to those would be appreciated. Also, I’m using an Adafruit Feather Bluefruit controller, if that makes a difference.
Now that I see your sketch, my wiring thoughts don’t make sense.
The number of strip widths you can fit at the center of the hat will determine the spacing of the vertical strips. Will that many people even see the top?
True, the width of the strips will dictate how many will fan off the top of the hat. I did some quick math and what I stated would be the best (worse?) case scenario with 868 LEDs. I think enough people will see the top, I’m not all that tall and i usually wear it a bit tipped, so at least people behind me will see it. Plus, its all about the concept and doing something different. Might even throw an LED ring on top with a mirror ball in it. Just for fun But any info on your power recommendations would be helpful.
31 strips meeting in a circle equals (about) a 31-centimeter circumference, which gives you a 10-centimeter diameter for the circle on the top.
If the top hat diameter is, say, 15 centimeters, that only gives you 2-1/2 centimeters from the edge of the circle to the top edge of the hat (about 2 or 3 LEDs worth if they’re butted up against each other, or 1.5 LEDs on a 144/meter strip). Even a 20-centimeter top hat top would only give you 3 LEDs on a 144/meter strip.
Unless I’m missing something – which my wife will confirm often happens.
The diameter of the top part of the hat is 18 cm. So, rough math again, I should be able to have at least 18 strips-ish. The width of the LEDs is 12 mm. Most likely I will cut some of the strips 1 or 2 LEDS short so they’ll nest in together better. They won’t all meet exactly at the same place. I should be able to double the number of strips that way. I’ll probably start laying strips in the North/South/East/West, then add more to the NW/SW/NE/SE, etc areas until I’m satisfied. We’ll see, still in the planning stages, but I appreciate your math
Just to add another bit of inspiration, check out the LED Message Torch. It puts the LEDs around a cylinder in spiral fashion. But you tell it the number of LEDs in each “layer”, and how many rows, and you can interpolate that into an X/Y coordinate system. It also has scrolling text support.
But any info on your power recommendations would be helpful.
