Timelapse video of LED jacket assembly
I don't work with the older style of LEDs very much anymore (since I've been more focused on RGB LED pixels), but for some designs it still makes more sense to use individually mounted single-color LEDs.
In this case, the client wanted a high density of warm white LEDs, with relatively simple animation effects that did not require color changes, or independent control of every single light in the coat. The chasing patterns are achieved with several different groups (wired in parallel) that are animated with 5-channel chasing effects at different speeds. A manual mode switch allows the user to change the overall speed and effect.
There is also a page in our gallery with more photos and video of the finished jacket.
The clip below shows ten days of studio work condensed to twelve minutes, showing my process for planning the layout of the LEDs, mounting them at each point, creating wire harnesses, wiring the lights together, and connecting them to the LED controllers, battery packs, and switches.