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You may recall that last year I set up lots of lights on my
house synchronized to music. I did the same this year and even expanded the
lights quite a bit. One of the new lighting features I added was a ball of my
own design. I didn't make a ball  thinking about the New Year's Eve one in Times
Square, it was more that I wanted something that was different than what others
do. The dimensions of the ball are based on the length of the strings of lights
I used to make them fit correctly. It turns out that my ball is roughly 6 feet
in  diameter, a coincidence as that is the same size as the Times Square ball
was until 2009, when it doubled in size to a diameter of 12 feet.
My ball is made of 24 PVC pipes (sorry,
no Waterford crystals) and a metal frame. The PVC pipes are secured at both
ends and bent around to form the arc of the ball, although it isn't perfect.
The hubs at the top and bottom of the ball were the hardest part of the
build. To make them I used the round
part from old brake drums. I welded on
steel spokes and a rim to form 24 pockets that notched PVC pipe would slot
into. In the center of the hubs I welded
metal pipe that would slide over the central metal mast and allow for
adjustment.
 Once assembled, I painted all the PVC pipes black and fitted
them with strings of RGB LED bulbs, which totaled 1,800 bulbs. Each of the 12
strings has 150 bulbs and is double backed at the top so  each string forms two
columns of the ball.
The bulbs themselves are of the WS2812B variety and use a
single SanDevices E6804
to control them. I used two old computer power supplies to provide the 5V
necessary to run the lights. Each bulb
can be addressed individually and are coordinated to create patterns, have text
pictures, or even video displayed on the ball.
A Raspberry Pi connects to the SanDevice via Ethernet and runs the ball
as well as the other roughly 6,000 bulbs on my house this year.
Here are some videos of my lights this year; the ball can be
seen on the right side although it looks very small from the camera view.
Ball Close Up
All I Want for Xmas
Dominick the Donkey
Festivus Song
You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch
Wizards in Winter
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Re: Building a Lighted Ball
