Customer service representative Dan Kidd installed battery-powered LED lights on his skateboard as his December Employee DIY project. The 3 feet of Waterproof High Density RGB LED Strip Light are powered by a compact, lightweight battery and it only took him a couple of hours to install. And the whole rig is controlled by the wireless remote control included with the Micro Controller! Here’s what Dan used:

• (1) Rechargeable Li-ion Battery Pack
• (1) Micro Remote Control LED Color Controller
• (2) Waterproof RGB Solder Connector Pair
• (3 ft.) Waterproof High Density RGB LED Strip Light by the foot
• (1) 2 oz tube of Gorilla Glue

 

Our customer service representative Michael Goodman and his supervisor Bret Rood used their advanced wiring skills to make an amazing color-changing LED light installation that responds to the sounds coming from their gaming console. They used a new product we’re getting ready to release, a color controller that’s also an audio interface called the Apollo Jammer. Consider this a sneak peek! Take it away, Bret and Michael…

“So you want to spice up your gaming experience, aye? We here at B.A.M.!tm Laboratories have been tirelessly testing which games and which systems work best in conjunction with the “B.A.M.!tm Apollo Gamer Entertainment Lighting System” (B.A.G.E.L.S.) We have found that most games on most systems conform to the Stereoscopic Lighting And Party Supply Technicians Integrated Code Kompliance (S.L.A.P.S.T.I.C.K.) and generate a higher amount of Fun Per Minute (F.P.M.) than games that are not connected to B.A.G.E.L.S. The games that have generated the highest FPM on the BAGELS are FPSs, CRGs, RPGs, and SSFs (First Person Shooters, Car Racing Games, Role Playing Games, and Side Scrolling Fighters).”

So you want one of your own, huh? Well, here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 x 12 ft. section of single color Flexible LED Strip Light. (You can use RGB to do this up easy since it will just connect right in. Or you can do what we did and select three specific colors with individual strips.) We used 12 ft. total: 2 ft. – 2 ft. and 2 ft. – on both the left and right sides.
• 2 x DC Plug 1 Meter Extension Cables
• 2 x Apollo Jammer Color Controllers (Available Soon!!)
• 4 x Wire Nuts
• 1 x RGB Extension Cable
• 2 x Audio Extension Cables (Included with Jammer)
• 2 x Stereo to RCA Adapters
• 1 x 2-Way DC Splitter Plug
• 1 x 60 Watt Power Supply
• Cardboard or other material to build your frame
• Hot glue

OK! Let’s Build This Thing!

1. The first thing we need to do is build our frame. This will depend on the size of your TV. Please make sure to be creative in your build process and double check your measurements. We will not be explaining this process as there are too many variables.
2. Once you have your frame make cut outs for your wire to go through, we used a drill bit by hand and just sort of punched it through.
3. Run your wire through the holes, leaving some slack to work with.
4. Once your wires are through solder them on to your strip lights. (This is how we did it, but looking back on it, you may want to solder your wire on first and then put the wire through the cut-outs).
5. Once your wire has been soldered on, take the adhesive backing cover off the strips back side and stick it to the frame. Make sure to leave a slight amount of slack at the corner bend so you do not cause any signal problems.(A bend that is to sharp is not good for the strip and could break resisters.)
6. Now that the strip is on, take the wire connections on the bottom that have been run through the cut-outs and connect them to the RGB Extension Cable. We have three sections of strip, each with a pair of wires. Take the positive wire from each strip and bundle them together with the black wire on the RGB Extension using a Wire Nut. Then attach each of the three negative wires to a red, green, and blue wire on the RGB Extension. (See the wiring diagram at the bottom of the page).
7. Connects the wires from the RGB Extension to the green strip light connector that comes with the Apollo Jammer.
8. Once the wires are connected to this green strip light connector, plug the connector right into the Apollo Jammer.
9. Glue (Tape or place however you like) your 2-Way DC Splitter to the bottom middle of your frame. This will be for our power supply to plug in to and split to both the left and right color controller.
10. Now take your DC Plug 1 Meter Extension Cable and connect it from Apollo Jammer to the 2-Way DC Splitter Plug.
11. Steps 1-8 are for one of the two sides (left and right). Repeat this process for each side.
12. Plug in your power supply to the 2-Way DC Splitter Plug. In our project we used a 60 watt plug-in adapter.
13. For the best results set the Mode on your Apollo Jammers to 6, this mode follows bass lines and changes which channel on the controller fires up randomly once a pause in the bass is made. Make sure to adjust the Sensitivity to a mode that best suits the game. That’s it!! You’ve done it. Get ready to experience games in a whole new way!
14. The lights are so awesome to look at, that in the beginning it will almost seem distracting. What I have noticed however is once you have used them for a little bit you get used to them. That being said, once you’re used to them and turn them off, you will definitely miss them!

Our Customer Service Supervisor Corey Whitfield turned in an LED-lit Halloween “Scary House” as his December 2011 Employee DIY project. The installation had some of the trick-or-treaters in his neighborhood running scared–literally! The whole installation took him just four hours, and provided many hours of fun for his whole block.

Corey explains it: “I wanted to set up a fun Halloween “Scary House” for the kids in my neighborhood. Our block has a lot of older folks who do give out candy but they aren’t physically capable of putting up a big scene or doing a lot of decorating. This was just a quick project that I thought up that my daughters would enjoy helping me set up. It gave them an opportunity to use their creative talents as well as allowing me to display some of our lighting. It was a fun time and I was actually asked by almost everyone who visited our how how I did the set up so our company got a lot of exposure.”

Here are all the lighting components Corey used:

• (1) 24″ LED Wall Washer (damaged/demo model)
• (1) High Powered RF Color Controller, $49.99
• 4 feet of High Density RGB Strip Light, $79.96
• (1) 16 foot RGB Extension Cable, $3.99
• (1) Multi-Color RGB Strip Light EZ Connector, $3.99
• (1) RGB Light Bar Splice Cable, $3.99
• (1) 120W Adapter, $89.99

Total = $264.41

Other components:

• (2) Bags of cobwebs (2.50)
• (2) Bags of spiders, bats, ghosts, and ghouls (5.00)
• (1) Set of Tombstones (5.00)
• (1) Cocoon Man Skeleton (20.00)
• (1) Hot glue gun
• Thumb tacks
• (4) Blocks of Dried Ice

 

Customer Alex Y. of Los Angeles used a spare piece of our Waterproof Flexible LED Strip Light to light up his pumpkin this Halloween. This LED rope light is available by the foot (and cuttable every 2 inches to a custom length) and great for outdoor and wet location LED light installations. Trying blowing this one out, wind!

Our customer John S. passed along his do-it-yourself installation of our Wall Mount RGB Color Controller to control his full color LED lights. The Wall Mount controller does not fit into a standard wall outlet. He devised a simple way to make a cutout in the wall and use a few small pieces of wood to create a mounting bracket for the controller, which is then recessed in the wall. It sure looks great!

John said: “I wanted to share an installation tip for recess mounting the wall remote. I think I saw a question on your web page. I found a 3/8″ thick base board and ripped it 2″ wide and cut to 7″ long. I cut two more of the ripped board 1.25″, attached them to the ends of the 7″ piece and stuck on 1″ wide 3M outdoor double faced tape.

“The plan is to cut the hole in the sheetrock, insert the wood using the center screw and sticking it to the back side of the 1/2″ sheetrock. After removing the screw, I’ll insert the wall remote with the covers off and screw into the wood. Just need to carefully pre-drill the holes into the wood so I don’t push the wood off of the tape. This would friction fit the wall remote firmly.”

This shows how to open, solder, and reseal our waterproof LED tape light. It takes just minutes and gives you a secure, safe, and water-tight connection to a low voltage power source.