Remaking old electronic jewelry pieces

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Relentless
 
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Remaking old electronic jewelry pieces

Post by Relentless »

Here is one taken apart
Here is one taken apart
IMG_7119.JPG (82.85 KiB) Viewed 689 times
I did a series of spacey electronic neckpieces in the '80s. Some of them still work but some don't. I would like to remake them with new, vastly improved components.
As you can see I was running some of them off a AA battery. They just went on when you put the battery in.

Need some advice on what components to order to light up some LEDs and build them into the neckpieces. I want to start with small steps.

Any tips on what to order?
Thanks!

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dastels
 
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Re: Remaking old electronic jewelry pieces

Post by dastels »

There's quite a few jewelry projects on https://learn.adafruit.com/.

Something small like a TrinketM0 or GemmaM0 work well and can be powered by a small LiPo battery. You can add a LiPo backpack https://www.adafruit.com/product/2124 to give it in-place recharging (i.e. not have to dig the battery out... just expose the USB connector.

NeoPixels are quite popular for this sort of project. See the guides referred to above and possibly https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide. DotStars are similar but smaller https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-dotstar-leds.

Dave

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: Remaking old electronic jewelry pieces

Post by Franklin97355 »

Depending on what you want the jewelry to do a lipo battery should be able to be used. Can you tell us more of your project? It's looking interesting.

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Relentless
 
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Re: Remaking old electronic jewelry pieces

Post by Relentless »

This is the front of this piece. Light appeared along the transparent green part
This is the front of this piece. Light appeared along the transparent green part
IMG_7120.JPG (105.72 KiB) Viewed 681 times
Thanks Dave and Franklin!
It's been SOOOO long since I worked on these, I need to get started somewhere.
I make unusual contemporary jewelry. I did a series of these back in the mid '80s using acrylic plastic to bounce the light (total internal reflection)
You see it in fiber optics and signs all the time. Put a light on the edge and the opposite edge glows. Engraving on the plastic can look very cool with this effect
too.
So I want to use acrylic in different forms to diffuse and carry the light.

Been thinking about this for a while and finally jumping in. I bought a book on wearable and will take some time with the links you posted.
Will keep you posted on what I figure out.
Thanks again!

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Relentless
 
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Re: Remaking old electronic jewelry pieces

Post by Relentless »

IMG_7196.jpg
IMG_7196.jpg (872.25 KiB) Viewed 448 times
Here is the remade neckpiece. Just One RGB LED powered by a coin cell battery.

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Relentless
 
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Re: Remaking old electronic jewelry pieces

Post by Relentless »

IMG_7197.jpg
IMG_7197.jpg (405.77 KiB) Viewed 448 times
And the battery holder has an on/off switch

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