# LED power source for costume



## sickNtwisted (Sep 29, 2010)

So my friend is dressing up as Dr.Manhattan and he wants his hands and face to glow. We had an idea to create a "necklace and bracelets" of blue LED lights he could wear under his suit but we don't know what to do about power.

Any ideas my technological genius's?


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## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

You just need some LEDs, a battery and the right resistors.

First, buy the LEDs you want - make sure to get the specs for them. For example, I've bought blue ones from ebay, search for "blue LED superbright". There are usually the specs on the description.

Then use this web page to figure out the circuit you need, based on the specs of the LEDs and what type of battery you're using:
http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

LEDs don't need that much power so you can put together something that delivers 3 volts with AA batteries that should run fine. Maybe one ring of LEDs for the face and another for each hand.

Those superbright LEDs can be painful to look at so you can try various plastics to put them behind and diffuse the light.


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

A nine volt and the right resistors would last quite a white. Look up LED resistor calculator to find out the right set up.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Depending on what you need for LEDs and how comfortable you are with resistors and making your own, another option is to buy the LED strips from an auto store used for cars. They make short strips etc, that have the resistors built in for 12 volt. I imagine you could use a smaller battery. 

A few years back, I created an angel for a Christmas Carol play that the bottom of the robe had to light up. I used 4 strips of the LEDs and connected them to two of the 6 volt batteries for the big square flashlights. I just wired them to cross and make it into 12 volts. The darn things probably could have run for days, but the batteries weren't small. Luckily, they were mounted on my stilts so it didn't matter. I just wired in a toggle switch and was good to go whenever I needed light.


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## kentuckyspecialfxdotcom (Oct 20, 2008)

We have small light weight SLA batteries with high amp outputs on our site that can be mounted to a persons body with velcro but im not sure if im allowed to post our web addres in this section so just look at the name.
Just food for thought and wanted to help, gotta love tech costumes, keeps the wheels turning.


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