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How to make color music from a street garland. How to make your Christmas garlands sparkle with music

Color music from a garland

Color music from a garland will add Have a good mood not only at home or in a bar where parties and discos are held. A motorist also needs it so as not to fall asleep at the wheel in many kilometers of traffic jams, and simply - the color music flashing to the beat is only admirable. From this article you will learn how to make color music from a garland without spending a lot of time and effort.
If you are a motorist and have decided that color music is very necessary in a car, then discard the idea of buying it in a store. Of course, you can find everything today, but why spend extra money if you can assemble a completely unique sample of color music from ordinary garlands according to the scheme.

The figure below shows a diagram of a color and music setup working with 3 different fixtures. At the same time, the power of the spotlights reaches 100 W each.

Thanks to this simple scheme, it will be possible to independently assemble the installation.
Consider the most important provisions of this scheme:

The main input is for the wires going to the output of the amplifier. The connection is carried out as follows: one of the speaker wires is removed (see) and a wire from color music is put in its place or in parallel, leaving everything as it is.

Note. With this connection, the lights will flash in time with the music. In this case, the VT1 or VL1 lamp will flash on the HF, and the other two, respectively, on the MF and LF.

The lamps themselves are connected by thyristors, which have control electrodes, and those, in turn, are energized through filters on resistors and capacitors.

Note. So that the lamps or spotlights, as they are also called, work at full heat and the thyristors do not burn out, the mains voltage is corrected with the help of diodes. It is they who are responsible for converting the voltage value from alternating to pulsating.

The transformer in this circuit can be used from a single-program radio point. If it was not possible to find one, then an output sound transformer will do. The ideal option is from an old tube TV;
As for thyristors, they are placed in metal cases. Their anode is displayed on the body, and the cathode is located on top, and the control electrode is located below. Thyristors are fastened with nuts directly on the board.

Garlands and color music

So, New Year's garlands, which decorate the Christmas tree, are ideal as light bulbs. They must be assembled together, and then secured with electrical tape. Here's what should happen.

To use garlands, you need to purchase or make an adapter. It will be intended to connect the bulbs to the car radio (see). A twisted-pair shielded cable is used as the wire.

Operation algorithm

So:

We take a few garlands. Their length should not exceed 1-2 meters;
An LPT adapter is suitable as an adapter;
We prepare a shielded twisted pair cable;
We connect the garlands to the head unit using an adapter and wires;
Turn on the radio and go to the menu. We find the “flash zone”, which is responsible for setting up color music (in Pioneer car radios).

Note. If the car radio is expensive, then there is the possibility of connecting to the Internet. In this case, it will be easy to download one of the computer programs/players such as ALMP2 or KMPlayer. It remains only to launch the selected player. The program will allow you to convert the frequency spectrum of a music track as a data array.

This array is processed and sent via USB port on . It turns out the following: the impulses of the music track fall through the channels to the garlands, and they start blinking and a real color music is formed.

Color music from plexiglass

You can make color music in the car and from plexiglass.
For this you will need the following materials:

12 V adapter or battery;
Headphone cable;
Transistor, like KT817;
LEDs 5 mm in different colors;
Plexiglas;
Small skin;
Electric wire;
Adhesive thermal gun.

Let's get started:

We make, first of all, a box. We mark out its scheme on paper;

We transfer the drawing to plexiglass and cut out all the details;
We drill 2 holes in one of the plates (one of them will be for the headphone cable, and the other for power);
We matt plexiglass using a fine sandpaper;
In the same way we matte the lenses of the LEDs;
In the process of creating and connecting color music from garlands or other material, it will be useful to watch a video review on how this is done. Instructions, step-by-step photos, diagrams - all this is very important during do-it-yourself work.
Thus, the price of high-quality and reliably collected color music will be minimal. Only consumables are purchased.

Surely you have already watched a video where New Year's garlands flashed in sync with the music. The single from one of the most watched YouTube videos of all time, PSY's "Gangnam Style", also featured an extravaganza of holiday lights. (See video below). If you want your garlands to twinkle to your favorite song, make a plan and get some equipment that will impress your friends and create a dazzling display. It will take a lot of time, garlands and tools to realize the plan, but the result will be amazing.

Steps

Decide on the size of your garland show. You can hang the whole house with garlands - both inside and outside - or choose a separate area on your house and in the front garden. Keep the following in mind as you plan your garland show:

A strip is a section of strings that can be individually controlled. For example, a single patio branch can be a strip if you hang it with one set of garlands.
All garlands in the strip work as a single section. Unfortunately, you cannot light a separate garland light bulb.
Bands 32 to 64 are a great size to start with if you've never programmed string lights to match the music. Any streaks greater than these will cause you to curse the day you decided to take on the project (or the day your wife forced you to take it on).

Stock up. The best time to buy garlands is the day after Christmas. So, you will find garlands for the price of 20 rubles, although they cost 80 rubles. Compare prices at different department stores so as not to miscalculate. Compare prices online.

Get a regulator. You will need hardware that connects to your computer. This control you can buy in the assembled state, in a kit or a homemade system.
- The whole assembled system works right out of the box. It will cost approximately 700 - 800 rubles per strip. This regulator can be purchased online. Settle on this option if you don't want to mess around with any electrical work (especially soldering) or have no idea where to start.
- The kit partly requires control through the keyboard. It costs from 500 rubles per strip, but it is almost the same as the whole control, only without the case. Since it is very easy to place electronic board case, this kit is a great option if you want to save money. Some dealers sell everything you need to assemble a regulator, including the bare circuit board and parts. If you want to solder a little, check it out.
- The DIY system costs from 200 rubles per strip. The price depends on how much you have to do yourself. The system consists of a controller, which is adjacent to the computer, and a solid state relay (SPR), which actually lights the garlands. PPR can be bought or made by yourself. If you bought this system, you will have to take a long time to make this equipment, but you save money. You will also have the ability to fully customize your hardware and troubleshoot problems easily.
Ask for help. This project can be very significant and difficult, so at first you may be overwhelmed. Invite friends and family or join the forums below where they can help you.
- Depending on the degree of difficulty, give yourself 2 to 6 months of preparation before your garland show is fully completed. It sounds terrifying, but that's how much time you'll need.
Install software. If you are a low tech professional, buy some software that will help you program the lights to flash. There is also free program for do-it-yourself systems (see links section). If you are ambitious and claim to be a technical master, codify this program manually in any major programming language. However, please note that you will not be able to use this option for pre-assembled products, as most of their protocols are closed source.
- The software of your choice will break the song you want your strings to sync to into very short segments (.10 seconds), allowing you to program each string of lights to turn on, off, flash or twinkle. There are three commercial versions of the software.
  - Light-O-Rama is the supplier for most residential garland displays. However, it is very complicated, because to compare a minute of a song with 32-48 bands, you will have to take four whole hours.
  - Animated Lighting is much more expensive, but easier to handle. Some residential garland demos also opt for Animated Lighting.
  - D-Lights is the second least expensive option, but you will need to familiarize yourself with information about control systems and electrical engineering.
  - Hinkle's Lighting Sequencer is free software that is easy to use yet powerful in lighting bulbs, LEDs and RGB LEDs.
Create your own decoration. Create outdoor decorations. You need to include the following common elements:
- Mini lights or naked garlands that extend throughout the garden area.
- Light icicles or garlands-moons that hang from the roof.
- Mini trees are two or three foot trees made from a tomato cage that needs to be wrapped in garlands of one or more colors. Arranged in a line or in a triangle, they are often used in animated scenery.
- The megatree usually consists of a large pole adorned with garlands that extend from the top to a large ring around the base. Again, it is used in animated scenery.
- Frames - metal frames, decorated with garlands. Compressed forms - plastic luminous sculptures of deer, Santa, etc. Often they are placed throughout the yard.
- Garlands C9 - bulbous, convex and multi-colored lights, which are usually placed around the perimeter of the yard.
Program your show. And here you have to sweat! Select the music to which you will synchronize the twinkling of the garlands. And then start programming on the timeline. Don't take on everything at once. It will most likely take a couple of months, depending on the length of your show and the number of bands available. The show will depend on which software you choose.
Let them hear you. Enjoy an effect that will create a great sound that keeps everyone calm. Playing the same music over and over again on the speakers will infuriate the neighbors, so in most cases you will need to broadcast music on the FM frequency. Please see the Warnings section at the end of this article.
- Be sure to inform the neighbors of your intentions to create an animated demonstration. It is important that you have the support of your neighbors if you want your demonstration to last long enough for other people to see it.
- Run one show at the top of every hour, as well as once or twice a night. If the neighbors find out that the show is only three minutes long and will air at 8 or 9 p.m., they will be more understanding than if you run it from 6 to 9.

In order to have a party at home, you need to think in advance about creating an appropriate atmosphere, reminiscent of night club. One of its main elements is color music. If purchased in company store, it will be quite an expensive pleasure. Therefore, in such situations, the question often arises of how to make color music out of a garland. As a rule, this operation does not require special skills and special knowledge of electrical engineering. Enough to have on hand necessary materials and be able to work with simple tools.

Preparatory stage

For Assembly the simplest color music you need to prepare the following materials:

LEDs 5 mm
Electrical wire
Transistor brand KT817
3.5mm headphone cable
12V adapter
Plexiglas or plexiglass
Sandpaper, fine-grained
Hot glue gun.

First you need to make a box of plexiglass. Usually it is made in the form of a parallelepiped. For this, 4 large and 2 small plates are cut out. It is best to choose average sizes so that they are not large and not small. When cutting plates, you need to make sure that there are no distortions, otherwise problems may arise during assembly.

In one of the walls, which will be the back, it is necessary to pre-drill holes for the power cable and headphone cable. After all operations, the box must be made matte with sandpaper.

The next step will be installation. Their number is calculated depending on the output operating voltage of the adapter and the rated operating voltage of one LED. It is not recommended to use high power LEDs and power supply with a voltage of more than 12V.

Assembly of color music

It is not difficult to assemble a ready-made scheme, you just need to know exactly the procedure. When deciding how to make color music out of a garland, you must first of all pass the audio cord through the hole. Only the center wire and one of the channels are used.

After that, the LEDs are connected. It is necessary to carefully monitor the polarity so as not to confuse the conclusions. The transistor includes an emitter, collector and base. The installed plug is fixed with a glue gun.

After assembling the color music, the scheme must be checked for operability. To do this, the plug is connected to a power source. If everything functions normally, then the assembly was completed correctly. At the end of all operations, it remains only to fix top cover boxes. Hand-picked color music will be an excellent addition not only to the party itself, but also to the entire interior of the room.