$15 Wireless LED Light Kit Tested-Does It Work?

[@tested]

What applications could you imagine using these wireless LED lights? $15 Small inductive coil and 10 LED kit: www.adafruit.com/product/5140 Large inductive coil and 10 LED kit: www.adafruit.com/product/5141 X-Base wireless LEDs: www.ebay.com/itm/254926928200

[@Trueno_AE86]

Все, я зрозумів. Дякую вам за силки. Передаю привіт Адаму Севіджу. )

[@Trueno_AE86]

У вас силки не робочі. Зробить нові?

[@dreamcat4]

hey Norm, it looks suspiciously a lot like an smd inductor soldered onto an smd led. so if it were possible to measure and find the correct inductance and size of the inductor part on digikey then perhaps we could make our own from scratch. the other thing i also wonder if they can be made to work with any off the shelf wireless charging pads. chi or others. because (again) being able to do so could potentially help to get around such supply shortages as we are all experiencing right now

[@dreamcat4]

another good idea would be to try changing the shape of the charging coil. to better fit inside models and be physically closer to where the lights are. otherwise (if that is not an option) then consider intentionally not hiding the coil but making it an intentional 'halo' ring feature like a kind of artistic framing around the model

[@dreamcat4]

after actually thinking about it... a great reason why to make these little led things yourself, or modify existing ones. because with ome careful micro soldering you could then separate the little LED from it coil, and run tiny thin wires within your model. such that the led itself does not need to be in the same place where its receiver coil needs to be. however maybe there i already a previous wireless product like this. which was reviewed before on the channel here....sorry i forget now its details and how similar the 2 ideas are to each other. probably amounts to the same sort of thing i guess

[@Enigma9792]

ok, now I wish i had an in-person DnD game because the idea of sneaking one (or more) of these into an object that the players are moving around on the board and it lighting up when they get to the right spot is wonderfully magical.

[@JRockySchmidt]

Good idea for some kind of detector,

[@menschmeier13]

Yeah something like a mine Field

[@bzqp2]

I've done that during one of my sessions. Worked on it for 3 days. Two characters had magical abilities (magnets embedded in their 3D printed figurines) and could sense a portal surrounded by a magical field (hidden footswitch-activated neodymium magnets spinning around in a fast pace under the table). When the time was right to finally activate the field the foot switch broke. The end. :P

[@deanallenjones]

Okay I'm stealing that. I print a lot of terrain and just bought some of these LEDs to use in a diorama to keep the mini of a of a dear friend who passed away in. So with a little tweaking I can use it in my main click dungeon :)

[@libertyauto]

Chess board with illuminated pieces comes to mind. Thanks for the video.

[@theonelegend]

Might have to see about installing one in my infinity gauntlet, those LEDs would be perfect for stones that light up when placed in it.

[@DeLewrh]

Wouldn't a magnet to keep them put and physical contact for power be the better solution?

[@Pixil3d]

adafruit added them to an infinity gauntlet kzbin.info/www/bejne/oH2UZKSPjb58l9E

[@theonelegend]

@@DeLewrh I can imagine that definitly, I'm not skilled in electronics though, so it's beyond my scope for now. This just seems like a potential preassembled solution.

[@tested]

Omg 1/4 infinity gauntlet would be perfect

[@Vickie-Bligh]

Goodness, great minds! 🤣 Infinity gauntlet was my first thought when I saw these.

[@neooccisor8272]

The coil might work better as a backing wall behind the figure, would allow for optimal positioning.

[@3nertia]

My thoughts as well!

[@LycaonsMemories]

or perhaps the bottom of the shelf? taped up or some wire controlled way

[@cacaokingdom3122]

That is exactly how the xbase works. The coils are installed into a stand where they aren't visible. You put the LEDs or model they are installed in on the base and they light up. They use 2 of the large coils in 2 different orientations to maximize the possibilities.

[@knuckle12356]

A diorama style display box would allow to embed coils on 3/4 sides plus above & below. You could add more traditional wired lights to illuminate the box itself. Iunno.

[@Viewer4U]

I can picture myself making these semi-wireless, by removing the LED from the coil, then placing the coils in the base of the display object and wiring the LED's where I want them withing the object. Thus keeping the power source within the tolerance, but able to power the LED in taller or longer objects.

[@tvtoms]

My mind went to incorporating such ideas in model railroading. Could be effective for special effects such as coil on board passing LED's, or stationary coil and LED's on train.

[@FloydBunsen]

I haven’t been with model trains in ages, but the capabilities of DCC look pretty cool as well

[@tvtoms]

@@FloydBunsen Yeah I have a DCC system and you don't need this sort of LED to do what I suggest, but it'd still be neat.

[@JDS042]

The last few videos deep diving on this subject have been so valuable to me. Your approach, analysis, and demos are excellent. Thank you!

[@aldeharp]

could be fun for lighting up a levitating object.

[@alwayscensored6871]

Those magnetic floating globes.

[@Fraunzi]

Floating material from Final Fantasy 7

[@droneracer]

The coil could be mounted on it's side so the led doesn't have to shine upwards. Also a drop of epoxy resin or hot glue will protect the tiny wires.

[@hoshiadam]

There are side-light surface mount LEDs that might work also.

[@xuthnet]

Yes. I was thinking that this would be ideal behind something and then the lights will be shining outward. My other question is if I had a pair of coils in perpendicular orientations, would they conflict with each other or would they work together to allow more orientations of lights.

[@hoshiadam]

@@xuthnet The coils would interfere slightly because they would pick up from each other, I think.

[@Tangent.]

No worries if you drop one of them on the carpet, just wave the coil around the area until it lights up

[@danspawn85]

I could imagine someone using that in their 1/350 scale Enterprise. Just put the coil all through the display case.

[@Zen17h]

What would several of these coils next to each other have on the electromagnetic fields needed to light up the LEDs? Imagine having a board game table that has several of them built in and a bunch of miniatures that light up when placed on the table

[@ToniM10]

Can u place MORE than one coil on TOP of each other.??... More power... 😎👍👍

[@TehBIGrat]

The is no reason one couldn't make their own bigger coil. The leds use a nominal 2V to light up. You should be able to use any coil putting out a changing/pulsing magnetic field.

[@Zen17h]

@@TehBIGrat A bigger coil would work, but it'll likely have to draw much more power to cover the same distance as a few small ones, plus a lot of 'wasted' energy vertically

[@TehBIGrat]

@@Zen17h Yes It would take some trial and error to get it just right. And with longer range definitely would come bigger losses. My thoughts would be to put the inductors in the feet of a model and with some tiny wire put the leds on its weapons or something.

[@jchunick]

I tested out a similar inductive mat many years ago that a company was developing for the purposes of playing TTRPGs with light-able tiles. It was pretty cool. For the LEDs you simply need coated wire wound tightly around in a loop and attached to the leads of the LEDs.

[@kevincozens6837]

It would be interesting to see what one can do with a coil you make of your own with a similar overall similar length of wire. The coil could possibly be made using different shapes. In some cases use of an oval might be useful.

[@someone_one_one]

I'm wondering if one can cut the coil and expand it?

[@stevejohnson1685]

Cool stuff! Did you notice that: * when you gripped the LED with the (metal) tweezers, they illuminated, regardless of orientation * the brightest orientation was "coplanar" (i.e. the 3" coil and the tiny LED coils were oriented the same) * Adafruit is out of stock on both the small and large versions Can the coil driver be pulsed? No datasheet, so only experimentation will tell.

[@3nertia]

I'm assuming they drive the field using PWM anyway - I'd love to know what you find out though!

[@cacaokingdom3122]

The coil uses a 216khz driver circuit. You can drive these using a standard wireless phone charger.

[@Vickie-Bligh]

Thanks for the demo, Norm. This is great!

[@janajeffsilvernickelladventure]

Thank You Norm!! I am working on a ceramic R2 unit and I was looking for LED’s for it. This should work great!!

[@Robothut]

It would have been nice to know the current draw of the small loop you have running. Also a frequency counter connection so we could know the operating frequency of the loop. Cool set and a good price. Thank you for sharing with us.

[@CliffLewis28]

Very cool! That certainly adds some versatility to kit building etc. Thanks Norm! 👍

[@bardicdad]

What a great way to simplify lighting without routing fiber! The large coil would be practical tucked in a Millennium Falcon model.

[@FranciscoTChavez]

As soon as I saw this, my first thought was, "Why didn't I ever think of this?" LEDs are such low powered devices, that even if I didn't know that this works, it would still be worth trying.

[@Dave_W861]

Another great video from Norm! I can would love to replace some of the lighting kits from lego sets with these, neater than running wires etc. Really cool.

[@Ork_Gaming]

This would be awesome on plastic miniatures, maybe I’ll use some of these.

[@callmemulo]

Its funny when using caliper while cutting mat itself had measurement marking

[@ThomasGrillo]

Definitely a must have, for model aircraft, and spacecraft. Thanks for sharing.

[@justincosplay]

4:28 like mini infinity stones !!!

[@GreyDevil]

Yay you got it in! I was so excited when I saw this and tweeted you about it

[@vlfive]

Omg these lights are game changing for collectors and people who love to display their toys! I’m gonna order soooo many of these

[@atlantissmojo44505]

I was just thinking how wonderful it would be to have leds like this!

[@Mireaze]

Mount the coil in the palm of a couple gloves, and cover a table in these things, and then cover the LEDs in difuse mirrored acrylic. Coolest desk ever

[@Vesssss]

Skylanders LightCore Figures used this back in 2012 with the Skylanders Giants game.

[@Littlepig747]

Disney also use this in their crystal lightsabers at Galaxy's Edge

[@jordanbolohan]

It would be cool on a Small version of a Thanos glove.

[@xtentasticx]

What I'd hope for is these to be split into power components and light components. So you could put power components where you want, and then either use wires or attach a single to multiple LEDs to a single power component. This could allow you to place a single or maybe even stack multiple power components. Then you could have different light components able to attach to the same power components, even freely switch between them.

[@tomd96]

Reminds me of the coil technology that Skylanders game figures would use for their light up gimmicks, the circuits and RFID that contain their data work via induction so it'd be ideal for something like that if you wanted to give your existing figures some light gimmicks.

[@bowieinc]

I can see that useful with a prop that only lights up near your hands or near your chest. Very cool effect if someone tried it and it only works around you.

[@NewAgeDIY]

Nice! Got to get some of them for a micro Christmas Tree.

[@tested]

that's a great idea!

[@Gundumb_guy]

This is pretty cool. I haven’t dived into LEDs for my gunpla kits because the whole wiring aspect kind of stresses me out. This however could potentially be pretty sick!

[@cacaokingdom3122]

That was actually the developed use case for these. The xbase kit from kickstarter he referred to is actively marketed for that purpose. Another video on these from a couple years ago showed them in displays in the stores in Akihabara where they were installed into gunpla models. The base uses 2 of the large coils in 2 different orientations so it doesn't matter how or where in the model you mount the lights, as long as they are near the display shelf, they will light up.

[@Gundumb_guy]

@@cacaokingdom3122 oh that’s sick. I’m going to have to get my hands on a set of these for sure.

[@patrickshores4118]

Coming from a D&D player I think these might go into some terrain in the near future. Amazing stuff.

[@DanielLopez-kt1xt]

in the previous "wireless" leds for models (the one with thin wires and a battery pack), i already commented someone else made a video on how these bases works, and how to create your own LEDs...

[@venomtec313]

Dude that looks pretty dope. Definitely awesome to put in a diorama case

[@Hylanos]

Seems like fiber optics might be good for something like this, so all the coils can be closer to the base, but retain direct lighting throughout your model

[@fleamarketkeanu]

My mind immediately went to table top terrain! Can't wait to try it out!

[@skyty0]

This is goddamn magic and you can't convince me otherwise

[@TheUncleRuckus]

Looks like you could easily make your own custom coil in need be. You just need loop some coated coil wire then attach it to their plug.

[@ClickItYT]

And the little coils and SMD LEDs are also very cheap.

[@northwales1000]

In a large standing figure, it would be good if the LEDs could detach, have a wire trailing the coil that would be fixed in the feet,

[@Make-Asylums-Great-Again]

No

[@otee1625]

Hi Norm, I know it's not the general topic of your channel, but as you are strong into model building: Maybe make a vid about different 'wiring/power supply' options. Conductive paint, classic soldering, custom boards, induction, I heard there is 3d printing filament so you can 'print' wiring into the model... etc. and theri pros and cons?!

[@AnalogX64]

Norm is back :) Thank you Norm :)

[@YusufPetersenCPT]

oooooo for the LEGO guys this can be game changing..

[@BenjaminVaterlaus]

thanks for sharing, Norm - these are magic!!

[@kenarrington1122]

Wonder if you could make the coil even larger like the size of a display case

[@seanforsythe78]

I make guitars as a hobby and i can already think of some super useful ideas for these, particularly for light up fret markers in the neck, only having to drill into the neck deep enough for the LED and not run a bunch of wires throughout the neck would be very nice.

[@tomd96]

You'd need to have a coil in the neck or on the neck most likely, guitar necks have too much length for the LEDs to conduct the magnetic field of the coil at that distance.

[@neurooracle5469]

made another coil same size as origin coil , just the coil without any power supply - put vertical at the outer rings of original wireless coil- it will extend wireless power transmission

[@VacFink]

The coil probably doesn't need to be a circle. Guitar pickup's come to mind. I'd like to see the coil formed into a project to support an array. that could be done with copper wire. I'd imagine then Its just then a matter of aligning the power supply to the resistance of the wire.

[@benjaminsmith2367]

My favorite so far of these is LBase. Very good range and a reasonable price.

[@909fishing3]

I finally have a project justify ordering these.

[@TitanicTruths]

Dude. I could uwe these in small commissions. Love this.

[@Jkauppa]

use the measured voltage for different carrier/resonant frequencies to measure distance, and localize the receiver

[@NLGeebee]

I would make a rectangular coil that fits the shelves of a display cabinet and fill my LEGO models with those LED’s :) Some LED’s that are perpendicular to the coil would be nice.

[@Dan_Cattell_Art]

Would be cool to use this to have lights embedded in resin or sitting on a transparent surface like a visor.

[@mlubecke]

Norm…. I love these show and tell. Very cool !!!

[@alwayscensored6871]

Did this 30+ years ago. 125KHz is a good frequency. Up around 500KHz eddy currents in iron can heat the iron up.

[@Make-Asylums-Great-Again]

Why didn't you capitalize on the idea 30+ years ago?

[@cacaokingdom3122]

The version on the market right now runs around 200khz. They will also work with wireless phone chargers which run in that same range from 100khz to 300 khz.

[@alwayscensored6871]

@@Make-Asylums-Great-Again Got paid to make lots of prototypes. Even fireproof brick to hold data so fire departments can scan it to find what chemicals are stored and where. Needed encryption, so got a patent on that. Prototypes to production needs serious money, two man company had no money, just ideas. Patent lawyers sucked a lot too.

[@yobgodababua1862]

Applications that immediately jump out to me... 1) lights on rotating objects 2) lights on passively levitated objects

[@CallousCoder]

I did exactly this with the Resin replica of my Shankara stones from Indiana Jones. I have some LED's in there that light up when you bring the close to a base with a coil, that I switch on and off using an NE555 and a MOSFET. Except I made the coils myself and were a bit bigger on the LED than these, these are nifty! BTW those "prawns on the back of the callipers" are there for measure diameter ;)

[@nachiketmhatre7411]

6:55 and that's why they use blue LEDs as the base backlighting in quantum dot LED displays.

[@lisamillraney5382]

ooh, I wonder if these would work in book nooks! this wee Iron Man helmet is so great though

[@daleanderson1727]

Really cool, thanks for sharing this.

[@konstantinkh]

This is an amazing idea for a product. I hope manufacturing ramps up to the point where I can order these in bulk. And while with this simple coil configuration the range is rather limited, you can get very creative with coil windings to project a bit more of an effective volume.

[@FrancisSpecker]

Reminds me of how RFID cards and readers work. They have coils, too.

[@xaninator]

This would be neat for a futuristic model of a ringed planet with lights for the cities on it. The rings can be the coil and the cities on the plant would be lit up by the coil. Then you could have the rings stationary while the plant rotates

[@matthewcoleman8267]

My idea for HotToys was wireless power through the base, the wiring is already in the figures because of the batteries, it can’t be that much of a stretch to do inductive power through the base through the feet or even through the stand thing

[@bmxscape]

maybe a weird question but does the coil have to be circle? could you bend it to be a square or something?

[@eleszar1]

might be a stupid question, but would they light up if you placed them next to an electric wheel? like close to the scooters wheel

[@tokumei_llc]

Something of note; The main coil's electromagnetic field will functions more like a "Torus" shape, following the shapes of the wire, where the wire of the core will be the center of the EM field. So placing the Led's in the center of the circle, while "may" seem like the brightest focal point, is actually only such in relation to the field overlay of the sides of the Torus. But the more you lift it up in the center, the less consentrated the EM field is, and thus at a centrally placed 3" zenith, the frequency will actually be less in the center of the circle, that it would over the wires, because the EM field follows the shape of the wires, not the desired encircled area. However, this also means that If from the look of things, you orient the smaller coil to the angle of the EM field or possible perpendicular to it, at the zenith of the coil placement, you in theory could increase the range outside the circle to extend above the coil or even beside it, based on the 5V frequency EM range.

[@louierodriguez7026]

I've used those before, they are great.

[@studuerson2548]

This was about application. I would like to have seen a bit more explanation of the internal circuitry. But not bad, well presented.

[@alwayscensored6871]

Rechargable supercap jellyfish. Put the coil at the bottom of a clear tube tank. They sink, charge up and swim to the top, changing colours. Pulsed magnet actuators.

[@blacksharkpro3yt351]

when they figure out hot to light the HOTOYS ironman, I would definitely buy this!

[@Mikey8567]

Too bad they are sold out at Adafruit. I will for sure be buying both sets. I can incorparate these into my 3D print designs!!! Thanks Norm!

[@G.reviewz]

I cant wait to see how people are gonna incorporate this into cosplays...theres so many possibilities.

[@poppetrurazvan3900]

Hi. Please imagine a future powerplant like those leds. My very best regards mister!

[@tseamans14]

It would be interesting to see these with a stacked and spaced coil for a full model, also does turning up the power increase the field? Theoretically it should.

[@3nertia]

I'd imagine increasing the frequency would increase the power of the field since this is probably pulse-width modulated

[@Vinlaell]

I would have the coils power source pulsing high to low to give them a animated pulse brighter/dimmer Also I would consider adding them to a ring with the coil being hidden in my watch

[@photon2724]

With some DIY and arduino, you could make more powerful versions of these fairly easily.

[@adriansue8955]

dafuq do you need the arduino for? you know you can use analog circuits to convert your DC battery source into AC for the coil right? you don't need to waste a CPU for that.

[@photon2724]

@@adriansue8955 yes, but its better to have the ability to make different light effects, which i would love to do

[@anthonymooney5551]

I am imagining a table top, burnt wood epoxy pour with embedded LEDs highlighting flame dye inclusions and puffs of smoke. Having the coil embedded in wood and the LED surrounded by swirls of fire eliminates the need to camouflage wires. A controller could time the coils and flames ripple across the table top. Send me epoxy & LEDs, I'll make one. Oh, and dyes...flame shades (red, yellow, white, black)...luminescent and fluorescent could lend some cool effects too. *sigh* so many ideas, a creative itch that needs scratching.

[@CaydeSmax]

sold out = sad noises. i NEEED THIS. THROWING WALLET AT SCREEN ISN'T WORKING halp pls !

[@Sarahbuildsstepsequencers]

Large and small coils are out of stock as of this date but you can enter your email to be notified when they’re in stock.

[@neooccisor8272]

I remember seeing these in Japan like 6 years ago

[@generalZee]

Is the primary coil just a copper wire? Could you theoretically make a larger one yourself that works with the lights, or do the unit coils need to be specifically tuned with the primary coil?

[@TonyDemetriou]

Yeah. If you have copper wire, a handful of LEDs and a soldering iron you can make them yourself. The coil is easy, but you'd usually make a coil for the LED receiver. Easy to do when building the LED into something larger. But these little LEDs are really compact and look better than what I could make if you have a small space or can see the whole LED.

[@TonyDemetriou]

Instead of making a larger coil you can also make lots of small coils. (Which also opens new possibilities about turning individual coils on and off)

[@generalZee]

@@TonyDemetriou I was thinking more about the big coil than the little ones. I'm happy paying for someone to create those awesome little LED's, but I just want the option of a bigger coil, or more coils for display options.

[@TonyDemetriou]

@@generalZee yep, you need a bigger coil and a big jump in power if you want to use it at longer range. But if you just want a larger area you can use lots of coils instead of making it bigger. They're literally just a coil of copper wire, easy to make. If you don't want to, you could try some cheap wireless phone chargers, since they're basically the same thing.

[@jwc4520]

Any power it's just running it through the EM field and if you can hide the coil 2 primary coil underneath some type of display or embedded in

[@aaronraw]

Well thats fantastic!

[@gleeknomatterwhat8958]

Ty for this norm

[@adrianscarlett]

Saw these on aliexpress a while back, kept meaning to buy some and try them out. Looks like they work way better than i thought they would. I'd be interested to see if a tiny dc motor could be powered to make moving parts

[@GEHDunedin]

What's the search term for Aliexpress may I ask? I couldn't get any results.

[@Xistn]

@@GEHDunedin me neither :(

[@IggyDalrymple]

The bride could have her hair decorated with the LEDs and when she kissed the groom who wore the coil collar she would light up.

[@joshuamartin7756]

Or vice versa! Cool idea.

[@jjforeal2]

A small scale version of Tesla’s free electricity idea

[@FranciscoTChavez]

If you were to combine three receiver coils that are perpendicular to each other with the correct electronics, then you should be able to get power no matter what direction the LED is facing. This will add a lot of bulk to the thing, but if the housing has enough room, then you can probably get away with it.

[@zwerko]

I tried to do a similar thing for my levitating Borg sphere project but having the 'receiving' coil in the model and not on the individual LEDs-I encountered a problem with my coil driver due to feedback currents from my levitating coil, would be interested if the driver of this coil has a feedback current protection. Also, making these LEDs addressable (and RGB) would add a whole new level of cool to it.

[@U014B]

You could use this to make a seriously over-engineered Lite Brite.

[@TehBIGrat]

I could see this working by building the coil into the displace case for a figure.

[@vetrixgameing4244]

1.I need this in a clear dice set and a dice tray with the coil so when the dice are rolled in the tray they glow 2.the small kit can fit in gloves with a 5v battery making it perfect for cosplay that use magic items that you want to light up 3.spell book prop or a magic ruins prop you have the coil in a magic tablet or a boo and put the led in stuff like crystals so when you put them on the book they light up

[@Geeksmithing]

I first heard about these from Scotty at Strange Parts.