Part of the magic of inductive LEDs is the moment where you look at them and wonder "how the heck are those lighting up like that?!". Hiding the inductive coil helps preserve that wonderful magic.

You can use a shelf, box, frame, or other covering made from materials such as wood, foamcore, plastic, fabric, or cardstock/cardboard to hide the inductive coil, while retaining its coupling power to the LEDs.

Here is just one example using premade palette box frames from a craft store.

Coil Angles

In some cases, your model or display requirements may dictated the use of two coils in order to cover the full range of LED rotation angles. As the angles diverge, you may see reduced power (dimmer LEDs) and then eventually, no power transfer at all.

Here, we place two coils, one on the base and one behind. This is perfect for models where you have a wide range of LED angles required.

Build the Circuit

First, build the circuit to plan the display shelf build.

This isn't a requirement, but you can cover the board and exposed contacts of the power jack with an insulator, such as heat shrink tubing, electrical tape, and Kapton tape.

Use a DC power splitter cable to connect both coils to your power supply.

Then, plug both of the coil transformers into the power splitter cable.

Embed Coils

Place the coil inside the enclosures. Attach them to the undersides with adhesive.

Here, one is attached with Kapton tape, the other with high temperature hot glue.

Prepare the Enclosures

Mark and drill a hole in one of the enclosures as shown to run the power cable.

You can use a pilot bit followed by a 3/16" bit to fit the plug diameter.

Power Jack

Insert the power plug into the jack through the drilled hole to align it, then affix the jack with hot glue and allow to set.

Second Stand

If you're making the second stand to act as the "wall" of the display, there is no need to drill through the wood, you should affix the power jack facing out of the back as shown here.

Bottom Covering

You can finish off each stand by covering the exposed bottom.

Here, I've used thin EVA foam on one and black felt on the other, simply cutting them to size and using a staple gun to secure them.

Wall Covering

Here you can punch a small hole for the power jack access through the felt or foam before tacking it in place.

Power 'em Up

You can now turn on your power and light up your models!

The rear panel can be glued and clamped down for a permanent assembly, or simply rest on top of the bottom platform for reconfigurability.

This guide was first published on Oct 05, 2021. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Inductive Coil Display Stands) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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