We present to you another persistence of vision (POV) project for your blinky enjoyment! As the LEDs move in space, they flash different parts of an image, building up an image in your brain. We have visited this topic many times with kits and tutorials, including the parent to this iteration, the Genesis Poi. Now build it on a bike wheel!
Two strips of DotStar LEDs are affixed to the spokes of a bike wheel, one facing each direction, driven by a 5V Pro Trinket and powered by a waterproof 3xAA battery pack affixed near the hub.
Prerequisite guides:
While this project is not very difficult, it does require strong construction skills in order to be waterproof and safe. A flying battery pack can very easily cause an accident, so keep safety in mind.
Parts and Tools
Parts from Adafruit:
- 5V Pro Trinket microcontroller (not regular Trinket, the program won't fit!)
- Stranded silicone-cover wire
- 144 LED/meter DotStar strip, either black or white, 1/2 meter is enough for one bike wheel
- Waterproof 3xAA battery pack
- Heat shrink tubing
- (optional) Tactile switch
- (optional) vibration sensor
Parts NOT from Adafruit:
- Plastic zipties
- Metal zipties
- Adhesives: E6000 and Permatex 66B
- AA batteries
Tools & Miscellaneous:
- Soldering station and accessories
- Computer running the Arduino IDE software, ideally version 1.6.4 or later. Support for the Pro Trinket microcontroller can be enabled through the Boards Manager (Tools→Board→Boards Manager…).
- Computer running Python for graphics conversion; use our sample images to get started.
Night photos and video for gifs by Andrew Baker.
Page last edited July 27, 2015
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