LED Lasso small project

So after I saw on tested, tried it out myself and got the parts. I used a 600mm filament LED 12V . (from aliexpress) and a ramp up usb step up/step down power supply module from ebay. Although in retrospect, I probably should have gone for the 950mm or 1200mm. The filament is a bit shorter than 600mm .








Difficulty: super easy.

Woah. Very cool. That’s really slick.

That is great! I love light up equipment of any kind for figured and photos. Great tip

That is fantastic, also replaces any need to add post processing CG effects and lighting as it's as realistic as it can be. A lot of potential in there. If you hide that supply module in a custom characters backpack for example, you can make glowy clothing/armor/etc!

yes, If you're more inclined, you can add some small wires and wire it up. They come in different sizes, the 300mm ones usually sell in packs of 10 i think. Also there are a variety of colors ranging from red, gold, white, green, blue and purple. In fact I only have this at just under 11 v and it's plenty bright. The specs are for 12 v and you can pump that up as well as the mAmps to get it even brighter. Just be careful not to push it too high as it can burn out the leds faster. A good test is if it starts getting warm, then you should lower it. Some people use these for light sabers as well, but you'd need to do a bit of soldering to connect the leads and hide the wiring.

Not gonna take credit for this, I saw it on this youtube vid from tested. I believe he used the 1200mm one here. You can see the more extensive diorama build here. I plan to use it with my golden armor as well when it arrives. =D.

Wow, I love that! It looks awesome!

I actually could have a use for something like this, thank you for sharing!

I agree, super impressive, works beautifully! Thanks for sharing.

skywalkersaga wrote:Wow, I love that! It looks awesome!

I actually could have a use for something like this, thank you for sharing!

Nps! Would love to see what other uses fellow collectors come up with! Someone mentioned this could be used for Dr strange too! or maybe Whiplash's whips!

Wooooo that is such a cool idea, and the result is stunning!!!

That's very cool. I did not know of these LED filaments. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks guys. Here are a couple more pics I was just testing out. I used a wire to make it longer and had thought it would be washed out in the dark, but I guess I have to hide it better. I had all the lights out, so all the light is coming from the LED filament itself and it's not even turned up to max. Should be cool when i get the golden armor =D.

Still looks really cool. Do they make longer filaments?

It looks great!
I cannot really see the color of the wire, but possibly a wire with darker isolation could help to hide it better. Well, I'm stating the obvious

Stryker2011 wrote:Still looks really cool. Do they make longer filaments?

csyeung mentioned there are also 1200mm available.

Thinking about getting one. But I would also need such a practical power supply module then

wohoooo - that IS cool.
I am a fan of light effects (but mostly forget to add some when taking pics ), so I suppose I will get one - or more - of these sooner or later…

I tried to look this up but not sure how to find it?

Stryker2011 wrote:Still looks really cool. Do they make longer filaments?

I have found 950mm and 1200mm on aliexpress search. They are individually more expensive, but I may order one. I think 950 would be perfect. 1200 is if you want to have it rope between 2 figures like in the youtube vid. I had thought 600mm would be enough slack, but it's technically a bit shorter. Also for the 950 and 1200, you'll need to dial it up to 21v-24v for it to push through. The power module I posted should be able to do that. I didn't realize there was a 950 until after I ordered the 600s and the 1200 in the vid looked a bit too long.

Randam Hajile wrote:It looks great!
I cannot really see the color of the wire, but possibly a wire with darker isolation could help to hide it better. Well, I'm stating the obvious

It's black heh.

Valiarde wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:Still looks really cool. Do they make longer filaments?

csyeung mentioned there are also 1200mm available.

Thinking about getting one. But I would also need such a practical power supply module then

Yea you'll need to grab that power module in the first post. They are about 10-15 bucks USD shipped on ebay, different stores may vary; maybe cheaper on aliexpress. They are readily available on ebay and aliexpress. Then if you have a usb outlet / extension just plug to outlet or computer.

Illusion wrote:wohoooo - that IS cool.
I am a fan of light effects (but mostly forget to add some when taking pics ), so I suppose I will get one - or more - of these sooner or later…

would love to see pics if you do!

skywalkersaga wrote:I tried to look this up but not sure how to find it?

Here is the link to where I bought mine https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003212758937.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.4ec618021yycDI

It is a little difficult to find, but there is also another store. 300mm & 600mm are the common ones and usually sell in packs, the 950 and 1200 are a bit more expensive and sell individually. I grabbed the module separately on ebay myself. It may be easier to search clicking the suggested links underneath. Took me a while to find the different sizes as well.

The power supply you can search for "USB DC 5V to 3.3-24V 15W Adjustable Step Up&Down Boost Buck Power Supply Module" on ebay.

Of course this idea had to come (or be made popular at least) by tested, thanks for the video. Know someone who made Ahsoka lightsabers with these based on this video:


Darkness pics look great!

Lightsaber is one thing but if you wanna do Darth Indiana the lightwhip comes in handy..

Darthiana Solo?

I'd love to be able to make custom lightsaber blades, but not even sure how one would do that and be able to hide the power source. I'm cool with just photoshopping it, much easier.

And thanks for link, Randam. Hopefully I can pick one of these up at some point. : )

To be totally honest, I was even more impressed with the first photos -- sure, the lit lasso is more striking in the dark, but then you see less of the figure and more of the effect. And onscreen, the lasso is clearly lit even in relatively light conditions. That is part of what makes it so neat. But it is definitely a very impressive achievement either way. So would be the light up lightsaber. I'm too skittish with electronics to try, but I believe our own Ephiane might have tackled that one and hope she would share.

Valiarde, Darth Indiana with the lightwhip sounds like an excellent plot twist.

I agree with Ian that the first batch of photos are better than the darker ones. I think you dont need total darkness for that thing to impress

GubernatorFan wrote:To be totally honest, I was even more impressed with the first photos -- sure, the lit lasso is more striking in the dark, but then you see less of the figure and more of the effect. And onscreen, the lasso is clearly lit even in relatively light conditions. That is part of what makes it so neat. But it is definitely a very impressive achievement either way. So would be the light up lightsaber. I'm too skittish with electronics to try, but I believe our own Ephiane might have tackled that one and hope she would share.

Valiarde, Darth Indiana with the lightwhip sounds like an excellent plot twist.

Valiarde wrote:I agree with Ian that the first batch of photos are better than the darker ones. I think you dont need total darkness for that thing to impress

I agree, thanks for the input. It was at night and wanted to see if the background would be dark enough to hide the wire. I've hidden the wire now behind the crotchgrabber stand.

Those light sabers are cool! I think I've stumbled on a few of those videos in the past but seems a bit more advanced than what I feel comfortable. I think the drilling out the saber is what's bothering me the most haha. I've seen a customiser use fishing lure batteries as an alternative power source that slot into the hilt instead. Some of them are rechargable as well. That way there are no wires to hide. Here's a pic of how the battery looks like (not sure if this is the exact one but they are tiny and can fit in fishing lures to make them spin or whatever):



I think some third party used this as well for an accessory. I wanna say it was like a light up Thor Axe I think, but not completely sure. I think my buddy got it but they didn't include the battery =/.

That's amazing, I wasn't aware the filament existed like that. There's a lot of opportunity to make some really incredible things (neon signs anyone?) and similar things.