Mando Mercs Costume Club
Mandalorian Armor => Equipment & Accessories => Electronics => Topic started by: Avidem on May 15, 2016, 05:01 PM
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I'm wanting to do some green lighting around my visor, but I'm not sure what the best option is here. I've thought about EL wire. Honestly, I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with figuring this out.
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If you want a smooth, uniform light then EL is your play. It will look like a solid line of color as opposed to points of light. In my experience with it, any inverter small enough to be worn will make a very annoying buzz sound like an old fluorescent light does. Your next best bet for an even glow is a translucent white seal of some sort [I've been meaning to test this with a thin layer of white caulking] with green LEDs behind it. The strip will diffuse the lights to a more even glow and almost certainly use less power to run LEDs instead of EL wire. A step down from that would be just LEDs. These will give distinct points of light as opposed to a diffused even look but would be very easy to do.
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I was wanting a more uniform look to the light.
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I figured. If you can deal with the buzzing then EL is ideal for price/ease. If that will drive you nuts and you can't hide the inverter soemwhere then LEDs with a diffuser are the answer.
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an example of LEDs behind a diffuser:
(http://www.ledlgp.com/photo/pl2809678-light_diffuser_for_led_backlit_lighting_edge_lighting_and_down_light_dfps30.jpg)
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Well there is going to be four fans in my bucket so that might drown the buzzing out. Still need to find a solution to being able to hear and speak clearly out of the helmet.
How much wire would I need for my helmet? I'm using a TomVader Buzzerker.
(http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/u377/Joshua_Nicholson87/mando%20kit/received_1276881555673061.jpeg) (http://s1064.photobucket.com/user/Joshua_Nicholson87/media/mando%20kit/received_1276881555673061.jpeg.html)
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Take a string, run it around the visor where you want the light and measure the string ;)
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I was thinking 3ft might be enough.
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Try this page (https://thatscoolwire.com/wizard/) out to get an idea of the cost then. I'd suggest you get a little more than you expect. You can always easily cut it down and reuse the scrap somewhere else, or just overlap it somewhere
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Really nice Idea, I saw some lighting in helmets and it gives you that extra :D myself I was thinking about two leds on eacht sides of the bucket. but I thought it would irritate in my eyes. whats your plan on that? you not afraid the EL wil block your view?
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I'm going to try to keep it on the outside of my view.
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I have wired a few helmets with strip LEDs. I prefer them because the give more of a glow on the edge of the helmet than the EL wire which just seems to be a lit strand around the edge. I line the T with them facing in at your face then the visor will sandwich the LEDs. It gives a nice color glow around the visor, but it does work much better with mirrored visors.
When I first did it I assumed that the lights shining in at the face may cause an issue with vision but everyone I have done it for has said it doesn’t bother them at all. To counter it I planned on running a bit of electrical tape where the lights would shine through the visor but it ended up not being an issue.
One other thing I want to try that I haven’t had a chance to yet is to edge the visor with the aluminum tape to help reflect the light back out and down on to it.
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(https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13116009_581002455399947_1230379330846824032_o.jpg)
We all have EL wire in this photo, and the little whine honestly is nothing to drown out once you get used to it.
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wauw vod that one strip of LED wire gives it so much extra :D I need this. was it hard to install? is it mounted if front of the visor just behind it?
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All we did was use superglue the EL wire to the top of the visor cut out, then drill 2 small holes on the ends of the visor, where we run the excess wire though, then mount the battery back on the inside.
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haha thanks for the info that sounds something I can do XD