LED Bus

The article presented shows an LED Bus sculpture. 

The wiring is a simple pair of bright LEDs connected in series with a button and a 3 V power source. 

I thought of this idea when I received a solar USB charger kit from China. There were missing parts and I could not complete the kit. Thus I decided the use the kit just for the parts.

One of those parts was a bright LED component. Usually a LED needs no more and no less than 2 V. However, the bright LED source from the kit seemed to dim even at 2.5 V. This is why I increased the power supply to 3 V (such voltage would burn a typical bright LED).

You can see my sculpture working in this video:

Step 1: Make the Bus

I made the bus from packaging foam, masking tape, high power wires and metal pipes.

My hobby solder would not stick to the bright LED PCB (Printed Circuit Board) inputs. Thus I soldered the wires directly to LEDs. You can see the plus sign on the left contact of the right LED.

I used pliers to cut the high power wire and hack saw to cut the pipe in half for the wheels.

Step 2: Make the Button

I made the button from an old AFL (Australian Football League) official merchandise figurine spring.

Step 3: Attach Light Covers

I attached light covers with blue tack. The light covers were included in the solar USB charger kit.

Step 4: Testing

At first the LED source was not ON. Thus I switched the polarity of the wires.

You can see my LED bus working at night in this video: