# Help creating fireflies



## BostonDartFrogs (10 mo ago)

Hello. I’m looking to make a bunch of fireflies for a swamp scene. I would like to put a bunch in a few trees in the yard and have them flicker/fade in and out randomly. I’m not opposed to learning arduino or something. Obviously if there’s an easy way, I’d prefer that. Any info or links to tutorials would be greatly appreciated,


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## GhoulieLover (Jun 27, 2012)

These guys are the best! So many good tutorials


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## BostonDartFrogs (10 mo ago)

GhoulieLover said:


> These guys are the best! So many good tutorials


I have seen that one,, however I don’t think in the tree they would “spin” enough to look like they are flashing if that makes sense. That’s why I think it needs to actually be controlled to flash


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Sounds like a neat project. I see a couple ways to go about it. 

One - as you say, would be an arduino as a central 'brain' running a bunch of fire flies. The other would be a bunch of individual fireflies with their own batteries/controller. Both would have advantages/disadvantages. With the central controller, you only need one power supply/one controller, but you'll end up running a lot of wire. With the individual controllers, you don't need the wire, but end up with a bunch of power sources/controllers.

If you go the arduino route, there are a couple more options:

I have a sketch which would be pretty close. It runs 22 (IIRC) pairs of blinking led eyes. It wouldn't take much to alter the timing to have it look more like a firefly fade vs a eye 'blink'. Because of the short fade in/fade out times, you cold probably run 3 or 4 led fireflies off each channel, so probably 60-80+ fireflies off one arduino... assuming you're patient enough to wire them!

These leds are ideal as they are already 5V compatible - no external resistor needed and they are about the color/shape/brightness of a firefly.





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For wire, I'd probably look for something like 24-26 gauge 2 conductor wire. That should be plenty for the small current of these leds. If you have access to any scrap r cheap cat5 network cable, that would have 4 pairs of wire in this size so would also be ideal.


The other option would be to look at something like neopixels. If you ran something like a WS2811 or 2812 neopixel string, that would also be essentially plug and play...just three wire connections. (and I have a sketch for that, too!). The thing with the neopixels is that they are more of a light strand, but you could still do random fades to look like firefiies, and you could zig-zag the strand, or run multiple strands if you get creative - so acres of fireflies if you want. Cost is a bit more, but on the plus side, because these are actually RGB leds, once you are done, you could then change up the colors... red, white and blue for the 4th of July, red/green for Christmas, pink/lavender for Easter, etc.


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## TXYardHaunter (Sep 20, 2021)

I have seen another video that may work. Also there is a company that makes a plug and play set.









FireFly Magic | World's First Patented LED FireFly


Add a unique environmental element to your garden landscape, indoor party, wedding, or other unique event. Firefly Magic® is the world's first patented LED firefly!




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Wicked Makers:


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## Allen_Haunts (Jul 26, 2021)

You could use a fan to mill the flies about, or, you could adapt an Octobanger controller to not only flash the led’s but also Run the fan. The controller costs about $30 to build and the show software is free. I use them a lot.

The controller info I at ButtonBanger.com.

Also, buy the led’s with the resistor installed, they save a lot of time.


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## BostonDartFrogs (10 mo ago)

Thanks everyone! I think because Halloween is so far away, I’ll start with making the ones from the video and see how it goes. Regardless, I should learn arduino, so I’ll be coming back to this thread soon.


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## Allen_Haunts (Jul 26, 2021)

Sounds good. The thing with Buttonbanger.com is the Arduino code is written for you and it's free.


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## xredge (Aug 21, 2014)

Also really depends on your goal you want to achieve. Those videos are great for dangling fireflies. You can go as simple as Firefly projector light especially high in the trees and lots of coverage. I have to do them camping and sometimes at the Halloween camp but have never used them as part of the haunt. I think I have also seen those thin wire firefly lights as what they call them but they don't dangle just a light set, for something simple.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

You might also consider using fiber optics, putting an engine (the light source) at the base of the. tree, with a speckled wheel rather than a colored wheel that rotates between the engine. and the ends of the ends of the fiber optic lines.
The speckled wheel gives the flickering effect, and you could also aim a fan at the dangling ends to promote the illusion of the fireflies flying/moving about within the confines of the tree(s) themselves.


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## ncdodave (Sep 12, 2020)

I saw a video on youtube a while back and am making mine from solar powered yard lights from walmart and upgrading the batteries. I am also changing the color of the LED's to yellow. Sorry I cant find the link at this time but will update as soon as I find it.


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## willy (Jul 15, 2019)

BostonDartFrogs said:


> Hello. I’m looking to make a bunch of fireflies for a swamp scene.
> 
> NorCal haunters has a tutorial Page with fireflies. Not sure if it differs from the videos but they have some other good stuff, worth a look.
> 
> ...


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

Love these guys and their videos, they always have cool ideas. 



xredge said:


> Also really depends on your goal you want to achieve. Those videos are great for dangling fireflies. You can go as simple as Firefly projector light especially high in the trees and lots of coverage. I have to do them camping and sometimes at the Halloween camp but have never used them as part of the haunt. I think I have also seen those thin wire firefly lights as what they call them but they don't dangle just a light set, for something simple.


 I have never seen a firefly projector light. That would be super easy and who doesn't love that! Where did you find it?


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## Palmdale Haunter (Mar 3, 2012)

BostonDartFrogs said:


> Hello. I’m looking to make a bunch of fireflies for a swamp scene. I would like to put a bunch in a few trees in the yard and have them flicker/fade in and out randomly. I’m not opposed to learning arduino or something. Obviously if there’s an easy way, I’d prefer that. Any info or links to tutorials would be greatly appreciated,


Here is a twist on Hollywood Haunter's that uses surface mount LEDs for the light source and runs off 12V DC you can adjust the resistor value for other voltages... These work pretty well and are quite inexpensive. No controller needed just a breeze or fan.


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## PRO5OHHO (Aug 24, 2021)

Here's the link to the NorthCal Haunters Firefly tutorial.
Fireflies.pdf (squarespace.com)


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## xredge (Aug 21, 2014)

Daphne said:


> I have never seen a firefly projector light. That would be super easy and who doesn't love that! Where did you find it?


Can't find what I have but have gone through various brands and they are sold at Christmas time too, Star Gazer is on of them but recommend to stay away from those, through a couple away this year with bad cords and they are way to short, I just used those at Christmas and got them on clearance. The one I'm using for camping is more compact and a commercial one, think I got it from Home Depot on-line, actually have it mounted to an old Video camera Tripod. They were really popular for camping pre-pandemic and the wife had to have one, started out with something from ebay more like a cheap DG laser lighting effect, and just thought of what I think I have is a Sparkle Magic unit. I think the best way to look these up is outdoor laser lights.

When trying to find the one I had, these is a lot of different styles now out there, the bad thing about the projector is that you have to have some kind of background to shine them on. Camping I'll usually shine them up in the trees in our lot and I've also done the camper. I'm conscious though of how they are shining as don't want to just shine in the air where a pilot could get caught. Really think about that at home, even though I'm in the woods I'm only about 7 miles from a small plane airport and their path south is usually near my house.


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## PRO5OHHO (Aug 24, 2021)

Daphne said:


> I have never seen a firefly projector light. That would be super easy and who doesn't love that! Where did you find it?


I've got one that I bought in 2012, it's no longer sold new but you can find it on ebay. Mine is called the Laser Stars Projector and you can turn the blue light off on it to where it's just tiny green dots moving around slowly in different directions. 

The device is shaped like a star and silver, there's youtube vids for it showing when they turn the blue light off and just leave the green dots on. I haven't tried using it for fireflies but I'm sure it would look convincing enough.


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## EEB (Jun 16, 2014)

Years ago I found a company that sold several different “Firefly Insect Lighting Kits”. The company name is Entomon. Here is a link to the site and product: 
Moving Firefly Theme Light with Fan - 4 Fireflies

At the bottom of that page are other firefly lighting effects, although most items show as ‘out of stock’.
I looked into replicating the concept because the products were a bit too expensive for me. The project to build is fun and not difficult or particularly expensive, but a bit tedious. As others have suggested, you should use 30ga wire onto which the LEDs and small fans are suspended. My choice of LED is the 3mm or 5mm pre-wired Amber. Also, I used a short piece of heat shrink sleeve over the LED to create a tunnel-like effect to make the light uni-directional so that the light will appear to fade and blink out as it turns in the breeze and light is blocked by the end of the heat shrink. Lighthouse LEDs makes “Breathing/Fading LEDs”, but these do not seem to come in the ‘pre-wired’ version and would require a current limiting resister in series with the LED. Here is a link to the LEDs:
5mm Round Top Orange / Amber Breathing / Fading LED - Super Bright
The small (25mm x 25mm) brushless fans are available online at numerous sellers including Amazon.


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## ncdodave (Sep 12, 2020)

these are the ones i just started building. I love these!


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## daz1 (7 mo ago)

GhoulieLover said:


> These guys are the best! So many good tutorials


thses are soooo good


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## Nevergoback (Oct 2, 2009)

You could get twinkly Christmas lights and cover every other or every third bulb with electrical tape to space them out. I have a set that twinkles at random not just flashing.


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