I'm sure you've all wanted this. The ability to have lights dance to your own music! They get brighter and dimmer as the music has more or less bass. Unlike this, there are no expensive parts or programming involved. This is a really simple guide that requires only about $5 of material and absolutely no soldering (unless you want to).



Things You Will Need

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Tips & Warnings

REQUIRED6 LED's of the same color. If you're a beginner you'll probably need more because you will burn them out. ($1.50)A transistor, this will amplify the signals sent from your iPod. There are many kinds almost any will work. ($2.00)A resistor, more if you are a beginner. Anywhere from 375 to 425 Ohms will be fine.($0.50)Some electrical wire.3 AA batteries you may need more if you are using high voltage LED's.1 pair of headphones that you can destroy.OPTIONALA wire cuttersA small housing box for your project.Some way to hold your batteries ( I used a remote from an old remote controlled car).Read the tips and warnings at the bottom of this page.Arrange and connect your five LED's in parallel. This is done by connecting all the negative wires of the LED's and connecting all the positive wires of the LED's to each other. See the picture for more help.Take theearphone and cut it off. Cut at the very highest so there is more wire to use. The other earphone can be cut off and attached to a speaker but this guide won't be covering that. Inside one of those earphone wires there should be two wires, separate them.Take the two wires you obtained from one earphone and connect them on opposite sides of your resistor.Take your LED's wired in parallel and connect one positive side to the positive power source. It does not matter which positive side you connect.Obtain your transistor. Connect the base wire from the transistor to one end of the resistor. Connect the collector wire of the transistor to a negative end of the LED's. Connect the emmiter wire to the negative power source.Verify all your connections with the full picture.There you have it! Connect the wire from the earphone into a jack in your iPod or computer, crank up the volume and enjoy the light show.The negative cathode wire of an LED is always shorter.The positive anode wire of an LED is always longer.All transistors are not the same. Find out the base, emmiter, and collector of your transistor before you leave the store. If you don't it will be a real haggle trying to figure out which one is which.