LED hula hoops are so beautiful to watch, and creating a custom hoop is a satisfying challenge. Twenty-one LEDs are used in this hoop; 6 are flashing LEDs that cycle through the colors of the rainbow. Each light is combined with a resistor and then wired together in a classic and simple parallel circuit.
Be sure to research each part and its specs when creating the circuit design. Each LED for this project was chosen for its similar voltage drop, making things simpler by requiring only one value of resistor.
The battery for this project can be a laptop battery like the one used here, or a few AAA batteries taped into series. Either way, the tube can be taken apart for the battery to be easily changed. Experimentation and thoughtful research will make this project successful.
Yep! The 3.6 volt laptop battery lights all 21 LED’s, and in the last 3 years, I’ve only had to change it once!
Where did you get your clear tubing to make the hoop out of and to put the lights inside of?
go to ace hardware. it’s called skarkbite tubing.
What kind of tubing do you use???? I have looked everywhere and it is always way too flexible.
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How did you arrive at the 100-ohm resistors? All resistor calculators give me much lower values — 33-ohm resistors for 3.6V source and 3V LEDs. With two AAA batteries as the source (3V), it goes up to 56 ohms, but that’s still not close to 100.
It doesn’t really matter in most cases. Using 1/3 the resistance value will just allow 3x the current, so brighter LEDs but shorter battery life. You can use a potentiometer or a few different resistor values to see what difference it makes in brightness.
You can use Ohm’s Law to calculate the current.
I = V/R = 3.6 / 100 = 0.036 A = 36 mA
I = 3.6 / 33 = 109 mA
You can check component data sheets for recommended current ranges for various LEDs.
This company makes amazing hoops if you get discouraged and want to buy one. http://www.zenhoop.com
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