Big LED globe turns into Halloween helmet

Some Halloween costumes are creepy, others are racy, and some, like this one, are simply plain cool. LEDs have been widespread because the Sixties, however they’ll nonetheless stand out when completed effectively. Because it seems, one strategy to obtain that’s by arranging 378 of them round an enormous globe and sporting that globe in your head like Redditor HGRDOG14 did for Halloween this 12 months.

We’re hesitant to name this a “Halloween masks” due to its sheer dimension, however “huge glowing Halloween helmet” doesn’t have the identical ring to it. HGRDOG14’s creation began as a 24” seaside ball. They then coated that in papier mâché to create a inflexible shell and eliminated the unique seaside ball. After that, they coated the papier mâché sphere in strips of WS2812B individually addressable RGB LEDs. These strips have 30cm spacing between LEDs and HGRDOG14 staggered every longitudinal strip so as to prepare the LEDs within the sample you see.

Each a type of 378 LEDs bought a 3D-printed hexagonal cap to diffuse the sunshine. An Arduino Nano controls the entire LEDs as a single strip with one information pin, although energy comes from three separate battery packs which might be essential to deal with the present at full brightness. A 16-button keypad lets HGRDOG14 swap between completely different animations and results created utilizing the FastLED library. 13 of these buttons correspond to completely different results, whereas buttons 15 and 16 alter the LED brightness (button 14 is unused).

When turned on and working animations, this Globe Head is kind of a factor. HGRDOG14 omitted two hexagons on the entrance for eye holes and there’s a seam on the again, however in any other case it’s an unbroken sphere of blinky LED goodness. It’s nice for Halloween, however can be excellent for EDM concert events the remainder of the 12 months. You’ll be able to see it in motion right here.