LED Noodles
LED Noodles or "filament" LEDs are 3-volt flexible LEDs that are perfect for costumes and other wearable items. They come in multiple colors and typically draw about 100 milliamps. Our STEM students love to work with them because of their combination of brightness and flexibility.
These lesson plans begin with simple static battery circuits with a current limiting resistor. After that, we proceed to dynamic circuits that are controlled by a Raspberry Pi Pico running MicroPython.
Static Circuits
Our first section gives you recipes for simple LED Noodle circuits using a variety of battery packs and USB power packs. The circuits are simple and just are turned on and off or are controlled by a dimmer or photo-sensor. They are ideal for beginner projects that focus on how the LEDs are used with flexible fabric and clothing.
LED Noodle Dimmer
Our LED Noodles can get very bright in a dark room. Many of our users want to control how bright they are on a costume. To do this we created a simple LED dimmer circuit using a potentiometer and transistor.
LED Noodle Nightlight
This fun project makes our LED Noodle only turn on when it is dark. The circuit is perfect for a nightlight. We use a photo-sensor and a transistor to turn on the LED.
Calculating Battery Life
So your LED costume is the hit of your Halloween party. But will your costume work all night? This lab and MicroSim will help you find out!
Dynamic Circuits
Once we are familiar with how LED Noodles are controlled, we can take the next step and power them by microcontrollers like the Raspberry Pi Pico and MicroPython. These projects allow us to not only control the brightness of a single LED Noodle but also allow the LED Noodles to sequently light up in waves.
Voltage Current Curve
For a given voltage across the LED, how can we calculate the amount of current that will be sent through the LED Noodle? The answer is not as simple as you might expect.