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DIY LED-Illuminated Sleep Chamber

Posted by timothy on from the good-in-bed dept.

Bulldozer2003 writes "'Finally something both nerdy AND sexy engineers can do.' It sounds like an oxymoron but this guy took a cue from The Vos Pad and decked out his own dorm room bed with Light Emitting Diodes. They're even fully adjustable 'allowing me to create every color of the rainbow.' Total cost, according to him in an email: 'Around $25, the LEDs cost me about $0.25 a piece in bulk, and the potentiometers cost about $6 a piece from digikey. I got the LM317 voltage regulators as a free sample from Texas Instruments. Lots of companies will ship you free samples, its a good deal for college students.'"

5 of 333 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Electric bill? by Gordonjcp · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Practically nothing. The whole thing probably draws less power than one low-energy lightbulb.

  2. Not true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    EE Projects got me laid by some pretty damn hot chicks more than a few times - Especially if you offer to "pimp" their room with something cool for fun ;-) ...and no, it's not paying - I would have done it regardless. It's fun to add a vent that'll allow smoking, and put set-up projectors just to play Super Smash Bros on N64 (another chick magnet). Me and my roommate had our dorm on lockdown from day one! Me-Fi-Me!

  3. Re:What the guy is probably thinking.... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    actually, I did this in the theatre room in the basement for my daughter. spent less than $1000.00 and got enough club effects lights to make it look exactly like a dance club, espically with a xmms vis running on the 10 foot screen.

    It's great, the kids all want to come here, I know where she is and I know that there is no booze or other naughty things going on.

    (OMFG! I am opressing my daughters right to illegally drink, do drugs and have sex! I am so fricking evil!!)

    I remember being a teen, and if my parents made the basement cool at home I would have spent more time there instead of other people's parties.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  4. LEDs for Barbie house? by rduke15 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My daughter wants lights in her Barbie house (seriously!), and I thought it should probably be easy with these newer bright LEDs and a battery, but I really know nothing about this.

    Wouldn't have thougt of asking /. about that, but since the topic came up...

    Anyway, I'd rather find the solution than send my daughter asking that guy for advice... :-)

    Can I directly connect these to a battery, or do I need some circuit in-between?

    Which sort of LED is it that I want? I mean, how do I recognise and select the right type in a catalogue? Or what more specific keyword do I add to "LED" to find relevant information on Google?

  5. Check out the LED lights at Fry's by cyrus007 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Better still, Fry's has Christmas lights made of LEDs going for $9.99 for a box of 50/100, I don't remeber exactly. It has different colors but a constant illumination. Maybe you can just work on it to make interesting things and would be more safe also, and they also provide some warranty too.