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Music LED Light Box

by motadacruz on February 22, 2010

Table of Contents

License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Intro: Music LED Light Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 1: Materials & Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 2: Preparing the box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 3: Frosting and Diffusing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 4: Building the box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

step 5: Preparing the circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

step 6: Building the circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

step 7: Finishing up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

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Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)

Intro: Music LED Light Box

My original LED light cube got allot of reactions. Some of them where about making the LED's react to music. This did sound very interesting and I found some
instructables on here.
Unfortunately I found it very hard to understand those instructables. In my opinion they weren't explained well enough and even some circuits weren't correct.

That's why I though I build one and make an instructable of it. I tried to make this instructable so easy, that everyone with or without any experience can make one!

If you make one, don't forget to share your end result photos and movies with us.

Below you'll see the end result of my Music LED Light Box.

The movie is shot with my Canon Digital Camera, in the dark. My camera can't handle the fast switching between light and dark very well. In reality the effect is even
nicer then on the video.

Before people go asking who's music or what songs these are in this video, these beats are made by my brother. :)
You can visit his YouTube channel for more information and songs.

step 1: Materials & Tools

To make this Music LED Light Box you can use many different things and build it different ways.
In this instructable I'll explain how I made it, a very simple way.

Materials
- 12v Adapter (a battery can be used as well)
- 3.5 jack headphone cable.
- tip31 transistor (this is the key to the whole project) - $0.50
- 5mm LED's (the color or amount is totally up to you, 1 LED per 3v. I used 12v, so 4 LEDs) - $0.28
- A4 acrylic sheet - 3mm thick (also known as 'plexiglass') - $2.00
- Fine sandpaper (I used 400) - $1.00
- Electrical Wire

If you see a price above, that means I bought it. The rest I just ripped of some old junk. The 12v Adapter was from an old wireless headphone and the 3.5 jack plug is
from another old headphone.

Tools
- Jigsaw (also a Jeweler Saw can be used. But that's really hard to get straight lines)
- Glue Gun (hot glue, other glue to glue acrylic is possible)
- Drilling tool
- Solder tool (optional)
http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
- Pen

Ones you've got this stuff you're ready to begin!

Image Notes
1. 12v Adapter. Be sure to read step 5 to find out more about this or any other adapter!
2. Ripped this from the switch as well. It's the part where the adapter goes in to and a toggle switch. Eventually I didn't use the toggle switch.
3. 5mm LED's - Blue - Water Clear
4. TIP31 transistor. To be precise, this is a TIP31c transistor. But from what I've read on the internet, a TIP31a and TIP31b can be used as well.
5. 3.5 Jack plug. Who doesn't have old headphones lying around :)
6. Sandpaper - 400
7. A4 Acrylic sheet 3mm - Also known as 'Plexiglass'.

step 2: Preparing the box

From the acrylic sheet we're going to build the box.

1. Draw out the plates for the box on the acrylic sheet (photo 1). My longer plates are 15cm x 5cm. And the squares are 5cm x 5cm. Of course you can use any size for a
box you want.

2. Use the jig saw to cut the plates from the acrylic sheet. Be sure to do this as perfect as you can. Because all plates need to line up nice with each other (photo 2).
If the plates don't turn out to be equal, you can sand the sides till they all fit nice.

3. Get the drilling tool and use a drill bit that is the same size as the thickness of the headphones cord (photo 3). Then drill another hole for the adapter to go though.
When you're drilling, do this very carefully! You don't want to hurry, else you might put too much pressure on it and break the plate.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
 Image Notes
1. Hole for the audio cable.
2. Hole for the adapter.

step 3: Frosting and Diffusing

To get the nice 'glowing' effect with the LED box, we need to have a 'frosted' look on the box and need LED's that are diffused.

I only could get my hands on water clear acrylic sheets and water clear LED's. For all those who have the same, continue with this step.

If you already have frosted acrylic (opal acrylic) and diffused LED's, then you can continue with step 4.

1. Get the fine sandpaper (400) and place it on a table, with the sanding side up. Get a plate and rub it over the sandpaper in a circular motion. If one side is frosted
enough, turn the plate over and do the same with that side.
Now you'll have a nice frosted looking effect we need (photo 1 and 2 to see the difference).

2. Do the same with the LED's. Sand the LED's until they get the nice diffused look (Photo 3,4 and 5).

Photo 5 shows you 1 diffused and 1 water clear LED hooked on a 3v button cell.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
 Image Notes
1. LED after sanding: Diffused LED
2. Water Clear LED's.

Image Notes
1. The left LED is diffused and the right LED is still the original water clear LED.

step 4: Building the box

Now we've got the plates for the box, we need to put them together.

Before you go and glue parts together, make sure first they fit nicely onto each other. We need all parts to fit nicely.

1. After fitting the plates get the glue gun and glue the first 3 plates together. If you have some trouble holding the plates together before gluing, you can use some tape
to hold them together. This way you can put the glue on more relaxed.

After gluing the 3 plates you should have something like photo 2

2. After the glue is dried, it's time to glue in the side plates. First place them and see if they fit nicely.
If not sand the sides a bit so everything fits nice together. Then glue them on their place.

The last (bottom) plate will not be attached yet. We need to put the whole circuit on the bottom plate later and then put it in place.

At this moment you should have something like photo 3 and 4.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
step 5: Preparing the circuit
Since I have no experience in electronics whatsoever, this was the toughest part for me to find out.
Other instructables had no good explaining on this subject.

So for everyone who's new to this electronics stuff and have no idea what they're doing, here is some explaining for the circuit.

1. How many LED's to use?

The average LED needs 3v to work. If you are going to put the LED's in series (like I did) you need to calculate how many LED's you can use with your adapter. The
formula you can use is adapter output voltage / LED voltage = Total LED's

So if you use a 12v adapter with the 3v LED's its: 12 / 3 = 4 LED's

You can also put LED's parallel in the circuit. But I'm not getting into this, just so that this instructable stays simple and easy to understand for everyone. Let's just focus
now on the LED's in series.
If you want to experience with more LED's, you can always calculate your LED's and resistors here.

2. The real voltage on a adapter.

Before I went building this circuit, I thought it would be useful to measure the real voltage on the adapter. The sticker on the adapter (photo 1) says the output 12v. But
once I hooked it up on my multimeter, it shows that the actual output is around the 18v (photo 2).

So that means I can calculate the LED's again: 18 / 3 = 6 LED's.

Since I'm going to make the LED's in series I can use 6 LED's in my circuit.

3. The 3.5 audio jack plug

Which wire is what? That's what I was asking and trying to find out.
As you can see on photo 3, the plug itself has 3 metal parts, and 3 wires in the black protective layer.
On the photo I explained which wire is what.

Now with this information you can go to the next step, building the circuit.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
 Image Notes
1. Ground
2. Ground
3. Left
4. Right
5. Right
6. Left

step 6: Building the circuit

Many people get scared when they see all those weird circuits with those symbols on it. Having no clue what they mean.
That's why I made a instructable friendly circuit image :) See photo 1.

1. Make sure you have all the materials to make the circuit. And enough electrical wires to connect all the components.

2. Before we build the circuit, we first need to put the audio cable through the whole in the back.

3. Build your circuit, and test it out. The best way to test it is through your audio output from your computer. Make sure the audio on your computer is set to 100% and
then test it.

Circuit: The positive pole from the adapter goes to the positive leg of the first LED. Next the other 5 LED's follow. Hook the negative leg from the first LED to the positive
leg of the second LED. Hook the negative leg from the second LED to the positive leg of the third LED, and so on. The negative LED from the last LED goes to the center
pin of the TIP31.
Then hook the right pin of the TIP31 to the negative pole of the adapter.
All there's left now is to hook up the audio cable. Hook the red or the white wire from the audio cable on the left pin of the TIP31. And connect the ground wire from the
audio cable to the right pin of the TIP31.

For better details please see photo 1, the circuit.

4. If your circuit works, solder all components together so the circuit stays together nice and strong and wont fall apart.

When done with these steps it's time to finish up!

If you have trouble getting the circuit to work, you can try to set it up first on a circuit board.
Carlosserious was so kind to make a how-to video on making the circuit, click here for the video.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
 Image Notes
1. I've attached the white wire (right channel) to the TIP31. Since I won't use the
red wire, I cut it of.
2. Please don't get cunfused, this is the backside of the TIP31!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
step 7: Finishing up
We've now got all the parts we need. All we need to do now is put the bottom part into the cube to make it a whole cube.

1. Use the glue gun again to put the connector for the adapter right behind the hole. Tip: Plug the cable in before gluing. This way the connector will always be on the
right spot.

2. Sand the sides of the bottom plate so it fits snugly into the bottom. You just want the bottom plate slightly bigger then the hole it fits in. This way, once you put it in
there, it will get stuck and won't let go while moving the cube. We won't glue the bottom, in case we need to open it for some reason. So make sure the bottom fits in tight.

That's it!!
Now plug everything in and put your music on max and enjoy!

You can change this project as much as you like. Use any LED's you want, create the box that fits the best on your desk, etc. You can also build the cube from my
previous instructable.

I used photoshop to show you how different colors would look like (photo 7).

I tried to make this instructable the way so everyone can understand it. I'll try to answer them all. If you want to make one and get stuck, we'll try to get through it together.
If you have any questions please don't be shy and let me know.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
 Image Notes
1. You can make a knot here so when accidentally pull the cable, nothing will
break off inside.

Related Instructables

Blinking LEDs RGB Led Cube RGB blinking

blinking to Box _4rM_Pk_ Blinking leds by
music LED to Music by Led Cube Box pasteler0
Version (video) _4rM_Pk_
(video) by Tesla1138 BlinkLED by
by PAKIS- Version by
artcobain chipmonger
RULEZ
PAKIS-RULEZ

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
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Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 619 comments

Jackson4521 says: Jan 2, 2011. 4:54 PM REPLY

I have been trying to build this thing for 3 days now. What I wanted to do was make a "line in" and "line out" on the box. I hooked everything up in the
diagram correctly. When I had the idea of the line in and out I imagined getting a Y splitter and when I tried it, either the sound worked and the lights stayed
off or the lights would blink when the speakers werent connected. Basically what I am asking is: Is there anyway I can have the sound and lights working at
the same time, with a line in and line out. Please help

tezza321 says: Jul 28, 2010. 8:57 AM REPLY

Wouldnt it be also possible to put audio output on the box with the following method:- Items needed - 3.5mm male to female audio cable, take your 3.5mm
male to female take the male end off and wire it to the same areas as the guide states above and the loose wire you didnt use (if you used the left wire it
would be the right one and opposite) and wire it direct to the new audio output. edited the diagram to show this dunno if it works just an idea.

Jackson4521 says: Jan 1, 2011. 5:43 PM REPLY

I am in the process of thinking of the same thing now, I think i have it figured out. I woundn't know till I try it though.

ab_ says: Dec 29, 2010. 1:52 PM REPLY

I do not have any of the specfied transister so i went onto the web and got the datasheet, got the pinout and the pinout of the bc547 (The transister i use.) I
made one using that transister, and it worked exactley like in the video. All in al i think it is super, and i may make one with about 20 LEDs

c4jjm says: Dec 25, 2010. 9:26 PM REPLY

motadacruz this was an awesome project! I made a few alterations for mine, but this was my inspiration! Here is my version ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svWz3xQkkx4

Another thing i have noticed is that many people have been spending way too much on their LEDs....I stumbled across this site about a year ago...and have
spent over $100 with them so I know they are reliable! Anyone interested please message me for the site and a 10% off coupon code, or visit my youtube
video above! Average price for 100 LEDs is $5 - $10 depending on color, free shipping that takes about 2-3 weeks, but its free! ALL LEDS ARE SUPER
BRIGHT NOT CHEAP LOW OUTPUT ONES!!!

Sakul says: Dec 23, 2010. 10:34 AM REPLY

Hey,

my question is: Is there any possibility to get this effect with a RGB LED Stripe and a RGB Controller? They are based on 12 V. But the RGB LED Stripes
have 4 Wires one for red colour, one green, one blue and one for the Anode. Do i have to connect every for wires each with a Tip32?

Thx for helping me..

Sakul says: Dec 23, 2010. 12:34 PM REPLY

can i integrate the TIP31 in to this circuit?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
 hightekrednek2396 says: Nov 15, 2010. 7:30 PM REPLY
could like and try to connect a microphone to the circuit instead of the audio in cable and get the same effect

DaHandy says: Dec 15, 2010. 4:45 AM REPLY

I have a electret condenser microphone (WM-54B, 2.5V operation). Could someone please tell me how to connect that to the circuit instead of the audio
cable/jack? Thanks in advance!

hightekrednek2396 says: Dec 15, 2010. 9:11 AM REPLY

how many wires does it have and are they color coded

DaHandy says: Dec 15, 2010. 1:05 PM REPLY

Well, here is the data sheet: http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/components/pdf/em13_wm52b_54b_dne.pdf

hightekrednek2396 says: Dec 15, 2010. 9:01 PM REPLY

i just remembered you might need a preamp for that too

http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-LM386-audio-amplifier/

heres a good amplifier for the simplicity

hightekrednek2396 says: Dec 15, 2010. 8:50 PM REPLY

if you look at the bootom of the page the ground of course goes to ground and the output would go to the input of course it should work in
theory so try it on a breadboard before you solder it just in case

DaHandy says: Dec 18, 2010. 3:24 AM REPLY

OK thanks! I'll try that as soon as I can and post the results here!

Ovrlrd says: Dec 12, 2010. 3:44 PM REPLY

Great Instructable! The box works great but when I plug it into my pc with a pair of headphones and an audio splitter, the volume from the left speaker is
greatly reduced. Is there a way I can adjust this via my computer?

Ovrlrd says: Dec 12, 2010. 3:55 PM REPLY

What's interesting is that the box is connected to the right channel. I tried adjusting the balance and turning the right channel down almost completely
evens out the sound but then the led don't light.

Could this problem be fixed if I bought a sound card?

Ovrlrd says: Dec 12, 2010. 6:47 PM REPLY

Fixed it! I think my audio jack is just bad because just bending the wire made the sound come back on. o.O

I just taped the wire into the position that turned the sound on.

Thanks so much for the instructable, this is awesome with Call of Duty.
Also, if you read this, tell your bro his music is awesome. I've been subbed for a a while now.

Gliderboy96 says: Dec 11, 2010. 2:59 AM REPLY

How possible would it be too intergrate a speaker into both ends of the box???
:-]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
 Gliderboy96 says: Dec 8, 2010. 7:28 AM REPLY
This may seem a bit dumb, but are you using a bread board or circuit board? It didn't look like it, but as I am new too this stuff I wanted too make sure.
Thankyou

hightekrednek2396 says: Dec 10, 2010. 8:25 PM REPLY

hes using neither im going to post an instructible like this but heve the leds blink to left and right in the music

i suggest using a breadboard first to make sure you have the circuit right if not sometimes bad things will happen

Gliderboy96 says: Dec 11, 2010. 2:30 AM REPLY

Thanks, I think im going too use a breadboard the whole way through the project, so that the LEDs are stable and dont come loose...

Gouthaman Raveendran says: Sep 2, 2010. 10:31 AM REPLY

How could you make each light react to different frequencies in the music? Say you have a full set of nine lights, 3 were red, 3 were yellow and the 3 were
green. The reds would react to low freqs and the yellow would react to mids, etc. I figured this would require 3 setup, each with its own transistor but if I had
a good power source, like a computer PSU I wouldn't need to find a crazy AC>DC adapter. When it comes to selecting frequencies I'm stuck, would I use
capacitors or resistors? Or neither?! :|

B4SEC4MP says: Dec 5, 2010. 9:35 AM REPLY

You are looking for frequency filters. High pass, low pass, and band pass filters to be specific. Wikipedia has a lot of good information for you there.
You'll be using different capacitors and inductors to create the filters. Here is another good link to help you determine specific values for your capacitors
and inductors depending on what frequencies you want to block.

http://crutchfield.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2258

Be sure to do the math before you start throwing these circuits together. It seems like other users are having problems because they didn't calculate the
voltage, resistance and amperage required for their circuits.

ivis001 says: Dec 4, 2010. 12:10 PM REPLY

This is great project! Soon I wil make one :)
I have a few questions.
1. Can I use the usb cable as a power source?
2. Is this right?
http://www.bildites.lv/images/v99py8q26lxlqip6n4pq.jpg
*on the left is resistor
*the bleck one is the usb cable

gaijingunma says: Nov 29, 2010. 3:50 PM REPLY

Mine works, but I'm having a problem: the LEDs only light up to about half-power. I have to crank the volume up to ear-splitting levels to get full brightness. Is
there a way to increase the LED brightness without ruining the song by jacking up the volume?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXrWtNOd8Ns

mikitosevski says: Nov 25, 2010. 8:40 AM REPLY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCEubfKchjA

This is my LED box....

ischmob says: Nov 21, 2010. 7:42 PM REPLY

So i'm building one of these boxes for my Engineering class project. Right now i've got most of the materials I need. I plan on glueing together the box this
week, but I've got some questions about my circuit. First I think i'm going to pick up an audio splitter to seperate the right and left audio channels. If I have
three of my LED's powered a 9V battery and another three powered by another 9V battery do I need two TIP31 transistors. I'm assuming so...so I guess I'll
need to pick up another one. I also am gonna attach make shift speakers to my music box. I'm pretty sure I'll need an amplifier circuit. My question is
this...Should I amplify the audio as soon as it comes out the splitter then off to the LEDs and speakers. Or attempt to amplify the audio after they come off
the LEDs. Or maybe should i have the audio go into my breadboard. Then have one wire go to the transistor and then to LEDs and another go to an
amplifying circuit then out to speakers? Any help I would greatly appreciate.

MrLeitexxx says: Oct 10, 2010. 12:01 AM REPLY

ok, i got a couple of question before I start the project

1)lets say i have a song on my ipod, and when i listen with my skull candy headphones some parts of the song are dedicated to one speaker or an other, will
this effect the light show id we're only using a left or right wire? or can i just connect both to the same leg of the transistor? or would a normal 2 wire lead
solve this problem?

2) can i also connect a small car speaker such as this (http://www.gemalta.com/ds/90_2000.htm) or this woofer (http://www.gemalta.com/ds/90_0135.htm)
and connect the leads directly to the red and yellow wires in the circuit? would i need an other power source or resistors ar an amp for this? Or would just
connecting this circuit (http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-Stereo-Amplifier/#step1) to the red and yellow wires save me time?

3) if i put 4 more LEDs in parallel to the current 4 LEDs, would this cause the LEDs to shine dimmer? or would it make no difference?

thanks in advanced for the answers!! I really appreciate it :D

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
 updup says: Nov 18, 2010. 4:15 PM REPLY
1. To get what you want, use 2xTIP31 transitors and duplicate the circuit for both the right and left side

2. You need an amp to be able to run that large a speaker

3. Makes no diffrence

Hope I helped!

xjakefarrellx says: Nov 8, 2010. 2:50 AM REPLY

heyy ok. time to get scientific. i did some deep thought and came up with this:
Light and sound are waves. so you see light waves and hear sound waves. This transistor converts ur sound waves to light waves so your basically
seeing sounds through ur LED lights instead of hearing them if that makes sense. now because u have plugged ur LED box in as ur output device. u get
no sound. so use a STEREO splitter which allows u to insert 2 output devices into the single slot of your hole or w/e so this includes laptop and ipods.
this allows you to have both sound and light waves of the song without missing out on certain parts because it gets played through a certain headphone.
so yeah hope i helped. good luck bro

technodude92 says: Nov 13, 2010. 9:28 PM REPLY

Sigh, here we go.
First of all, please try and use proper english. There is no excuse to use u and ur when typing on a computer. Also, the transistor takes the sound
waves represented as electrical fluctuations in the wire and uses them to turn power to the LED's on and off. So, at the end of the day, you get to see
the sound waves. not as fluctuations in current in a wire but as fluctuations in the ammount of light emmitted.
Now for the original question posed.
1) yes, if you listen to bohemian rhapsody for example, little high and little low are on the right and left channels respectively. so if you assemble this
circuit and use the left channel you will get pulsing on little low but not little high. To correct for this you could add a tiny bit of circuitry to combine the
left and right channels into a mono channel. attached is the circuit i speak of. It is very simple to implement and if you use a ganged potentiometer
instead of the two resistors you can even adjust the "sensitivity" of your light box. simply connect the 3.5mm TRS connector to the mixer, the out to
the leg labeled "left or right" and the ground to ground.
2) not exactly, depending on your amp setup(bridged, bipolar power, etc.), you may not be able to do this safely. I would reccommend using a line
level output because the current that can be supplied by a car amp can easily fry these electronics
3) from an electrical standpoint, i see no problem with putting the LED's in parallel, the only thing to watch out for is that this will double the load on
your power supply because the resistance of the LED's will appear to be half as much in parallel. Since your LED's draw their power from the
transistor, you might have to beef it up a bit. Alternatively, you could just build two circuits for each strip of lights you want to use.

Feel free to play with values and parts to see if you can get the circuit to behave for your specific application, after all, that's what DIY is all about

xjakefarrellx says: Nov 8, 2010. 1:39 AM REPLY

similar question. might be a bit noobish but how do u still get music if its dedicated to make the LED's light up? also how do u suggest u hook up the
power supply using a 12v adapter? thanks bro. great guide. ill be making one very soon.

anarky2k says: Oct 18, 2010. 2:59 PM REPLY

1) i used both sides and 2 separate lines of LEDs, so they shine at different rithm, and i also connected a capasitor in parallel to each line of LEDs (2
capasitors) so that it faded quickly instead of just turning on and off suddenly :)

kiler01 says: Nov 16, 2010. 11:34 AM REPLY

i jsut finished mine, but i have a bit of a problem: it only works on pc and when the wound is turned on to max. if i try it on something liek a psp it wont light
up. how to increase sensitivity?

kendrick1397 says: Oct 24, 2010. 8:55 PM REPLY

i have a question, do i need to use AC or DC current?

tomjung09 says: Nov 14, 2010. 6:27 PM REPLY

Definitely DC Current.

toteto says: Nov 12, 2010. 8:21 AM REPLY

I want to make this for my computer. I want to put in on the back of my monitor with 10leds. So i want to ask some questions. First is it safe for the computer
sound card (i have integrated one), one of my friend told me that after continue use of more then 2 hours my sound card is at risk. Will be fine if i just connect
5lets in serial and on every one serial, 1 led on parallel?

TR5 says: Nov 9, 2010. 12:22 PM REPLY

So the transistor is responsible for regulating the minimum voltage required to make the lights go off? Something must regulate that, otherwise it the LEDs
would be on constantly for any given song. So how can you change the sensitivity of this "switch"? A different transistor?

I ask because I would like to add another strip that would flash at a different voltage, so that it would only go off when the music got even louder/ more
intense.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/
 ben00233 says: Nov 5, 2010. 4:02 PM REPLY
when i plug in my MP3 player the music starts skipping out. =( why does this happen and how do i fix it.

khobis says: Oct 29, 2010. 7:11 AM REPLY

I have built this circuit as shown and described in your instructable.. but it didn't work.
I used
a 12V DC adapter,
4 blue leds
1 Tip31C transistor
1 audion jack from my old headphone

I connected the jack to my laptop audio output hole.

But all went in vain.
Would any one please kindly help me out ????

rbeck_v says: Nov 2, 2010. 3:48 AM REPLY

I've found that depending on what kind of headphones they are, the wires in them will not carry a good enough current to reach the actual transistor, not
really sure why that it is though. That could be the source of your problem or the laptop isnt putting out enough juice.

H20 says: Oct 30, 2010. 1:50 PM REPLY

Try turning up the volume.

nizedude says: Nov 2, 2010. 2:51 AM REPLY

Sir, add one more to interested reader for stereo circuit ? :)

jacobsmith51 says: Oct 19, 2010. 10:27 PM REPLY

Is the amperage important when finding a power adapter? I have one that is 12V with 1 amp of current. Would that blow out the LEDs or anything?

cmseagle says: Oct 31, 2010. 4:13 PM REPLY

Having too much current won't hurt the LEDs. The amperage rating of the power adapter only tells you how much it COULD provide, not how much it
provides at all times.

The only possible issue with current is the LEDs drawing too much. Since most LEDs draw less than .04A, it is very, very unlikely that you will run into
this issue.

jacobsmith51 says: Nov 1, 2010. 2:46 PM REPLY

Thank you. I was worried that I might waste all that time just to blow out the LEDs.

kawsOne says: Aug 22, 2010. 6:19 AM REPLY

Can you combine both the right and left audio wires instead of just using one?

cmseagle says: Oct 31, 2010. 4:17 PM REPLY

Yes, I did this exact thing and it was no problem at all.

Monsta2221 says: Sep 4, 2010. 12:11 PM REPLY

is it ok if i use a TIP31 NPN Transistor from radio shack?

Rahul B says: Sep 7, 2010. 7:27 PM REPLY

same question did you ever find the answer?

view all 619 comments

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/