Project: 57 LED Color Organ

When I first had the idea to build a color organ I was playing with some DJ lights at a nearby electronics store. I said to myself "This would be really cool in my room..." But when I looked at the price tag it was a whopping $350, which was too expensive for my low budget. So I went back home and thought about how to recreate the DJ lights but for a fraction of the cost. I then remembered that I had bought a system very similar to the lights from a store in New York a while back. It was a sound reactive lighting system called LightCast.

Then I decided that I would "mod" the old system by adding more LED's. So, I decended into my basement where my work shop is located. I dissasembled the LightCast system and began to inspect the inner electronics. I decided that I would desolder the LEDs and connect wires leading from the LED PCB board to my perfboard LED pattern. After I had desoldered the original LEDs, I began to layout all the LEDs on the sheet of perfboard.



Next I began to solder all the LEDs to wires on the back of the perfboard. By now I had been in my basement for over 9 hours that day (I had the day off form school...) I decided to finish up for the day after pulling a muscle in my neck from being tensed up in one position.

The next day I resumed work on the wiring by connecting the wires to the original PCB. Finally, all the wires had been sldered from the LEDs to the original PCB board.


(Yes I know that there are alot of wires... I used
22 gauge wire without twising them....)

Now that the basic assembly was finished I went to Radio Shack and purchased a medium sized project inclosure box. Then next day I measured the parimiter of the LED "Triangle of Light" and sketched the shape on the cover of the box. The next part was a bit tricky, so I obtained a hack saw and began to cut out the triangle. After a while my hand became sore so I asked my sister to help me by sanding the sides. Next I began to test the fit of the triangle of light in the cover hole that I had just cut. It was a bit too snug so I sanded some more. By now I was on the verge of success and I started to rush. In the proccess I didnt measure the holes for the sensitivity knob and audio in/out ports, and ended up drilling in the wrong place. But I patched the hole up with some hotglue and modeling cement. Then I placed all the wires and PCBs in the project box and cleaned it up a bit. Finally I screwed on the cover and hoped that it would work. It successfuly responded to the music and after over 15 hours of work and about $100 in parts, I was satisfied with the result.



Now I dont need to rent a DJ or a light show for parties. All I need is a laptop and my Triangle of Light.