Softened Shadows

This is the guts of the Eddie animated neon!

Neon flashers are often really large, heavy and expensive. They can be hard to find, and if they're mechanical, they can be limited in the patterns they create.

For Eddie, I wanted to make every letter blink separately and have a few different patterns.

I'm controlling individual transformers (1 for each letter) by switching their 120v power on and off. For this I used solid state relays controlled by an ESP32 microcontroller! The light patterns are made by coding different patterns into the controller, using C++ (I just used the Arduino IDE).

This means I can change the patterns by changing the code, and also potentially add in other controls, like buttons, k***s, maybe a remote.

I was getting some leakage current when the relays are switched "off" - I think I might need to switch up my hardware to something a little more robust.

But all in all, the ESP + relay board cost $26 and some time. With a power supply, maybe $45 in all. Way better than what a flasher would cost! Can't wait to experiment more 🤓