LED Light Wand

I had some filament LED's left over from my last project so I thought I'd have another go at using some again in this build.

For those that don't know, LED filaments contain rows of tiny LED's - all covered with a flexible material. In this project I use 300mm long filaments (about a foot) to make my very own LED wand! I also included a 3mm LED in the end of the wand so the wand can either be all lit up or you can just have the tip lit-up!

The project isn't too hard, you'll need to do some delicate soldering though as I use thin copper wire to connect the LED's to the switches.

It's a fun project and the end result look pretty amazing, especially at night.

I've also included a YouTube vid so check that out as well.

Onto the build.

Supplies

PARTS:

1. 300mm LED filaments - Ali Express. You can get these in multiple colours so choose a few different ones.
2. 3mm LED (your choice of colour) - Ali Express
3. Battery Charging Module - Ali Express
4. Li-po battery - Ali Express
5. Momentary micro switches (2) - Ali Express
6. Thin copper wire. I used the thin copper wire inside a small motor. You can also just buy it on Ali Express. go with the '0.2mm' thickness - that should be good to use.
7. Normal wire - the thinner the better. I used computer ribbon wire for most projects like this. You can usually pick it up for free at e-waste centres.
8. White Polystyrene Tube - 4.8mm (3/16") - Available at most hobby shops. Just put into google - Evergreen 226 tube and you'll find it.
9. White Polystyrene Tube - 6.3mm (1/4") - Available at most hobby shops. Just put into google - Evergreen 228 tube and you'll find it.
10. 15mm PVC pipe - Most hardware stores will stock it. You could use 3/4" pipe if in the US
11. 15mm PVC Caps - Most hardware stores will stock them
12. Heat Shrink- Ali Express

TOOLS

1. Soldering Iron
2. Stanley Knife
3. Hot Glue
4. Super Glue
5. Pipe Cutter (you can also just use a saw or grinder or whatever else you may have. It's to cut the PVC
6. Drill
7. Small Files

Step 1: Cutting the PVC to Size

The 15mm PVC is used to make the handle. If you are in the US then you'll probably need to use 3/4" tubing as you need to fit the battery and charging module inside the tube and 1/2" won't have a big enough diameter.

STEPS:

1. Use a pipe cutter and cut a piece of the tube to a length of aprox 200mm
2. Place the 2 end caps on the tube to make sure they fit after the tube has been cut. There shouldn't be any issues but you might need to clean-up the ends a little.
3. Find the centre on one of the caps (as close as possible to the centre will do) and drill a hole the same width (or even a little smaller) then the while polystyrene tube.

Step 2: Adding the Tube Section

The initial wand that I made snapped right at the PVC cap section. It was because I was waving it around a little too violently but it also showed that that section was a weak spot. To fix this, I decided to add a slightly larger piece of polystyrene tube into the cap and then put the smaller tube inside giving it more strength at the base.

1. Push the larger tube into the cap. It should be a very tight fit. You may need to file a little material away around the hole in order for the tube to fit. Push it in so it is even with the bottom of the cap.
2. Use some hot glue to secure the tube inside the cap. Make sure you don't get any around the inside walls of the cap. If you do, remove it as it will effect how it goes into the 15mm PVC tube.
3. Cut the tube so there is aprox 30mm sticking out of the top of the cap. The best way I found to cut the polystyrene tube is to run a stanley knife across the tube whilst rolling it on a table.
4. You can now add the thinner tube inside the larger one. Use some superglue to attach it to the inside of the larger tube.
5. The last thing to do is to trim the tube a little longer than the 300mm LED. I made it about 310mm. This leaves enough room for the 3mm LED as well

Step 3: Wiring the LED's

The next thing to do is to wire up both the filament and 3mm LED's together and add the copper wires. As mentioned in the intro, the copper wires are very thin so it can be a little tricky to solder them onto the LED's. I have a couple tips below so hopefully that helps. The reason why they are so thin is they need to go through the tube along with the filament. If they are thicker then you'll see them when the LED lights up. So the thinner the better.

STEPS:

1. Identify which is the positive and which is the negative end on the LED filament. The easiest way to do this is to connect 3V's to the ends. Some of the filaments also indicate positive with a small hole in the end of the solder point.
2. The first thing to do is to remove some of the enamel on the copper wire. Place the end of the copper wires on your finger and run a small file along the end of the copper wire. You will notice that the red is removed and you should see silver. flip it over and do the same on the other side of the wire.
3. Add some solder to the filed section of the wire (tin the end) and wrap it around the positive solder point on the LED filament. This will make a strong connection and will allow you to solder the 3mm leg easily to the same solder point.
4. Grab a 3mm LED (your choice of colour) and cut the positive led so only about 5mm is left.
5. Add some solder to the LED leg and carefully solder this to the LED and copper wire solder point.
6. Trim the negative leg on the 3mm LED and solder another piece of long copper wire to this leg.
7. For the negative end of the LED filament, you can use some normal wire for this as it will be going through the handle and won't affect the LED's. I use computer ribbon wire which is thin but strong.
8. Test to make sure all of the connections work
9. Add a small piece of heat shrink around the soldered sections.

Step 4: Threading the Wires and LED's Through the Polystyrene White Tube

So now you have everything wires to the LED's it's time to thread the LED's through the white tube.

STEPS:

1. The 3mm LED has a small lip on the bottom. Use a file to remove this so the LED will fit into the tube. Do a test fir to make sure the LED fits into the tube.
2. Carefully gather up the ends of the wiring and start to thread them through the top of the tube.
3. Keep threading them through the tube and then start to thread the LED filament through the end
4. Once the wires come out of the cap, you can carefully pull on the wires which will pull the filament through the tube.
5. Once the filament has been threaded right through , carefully push the 3mm LED into the top of the tube.

Step 5: Adding & Wiring the Switches

The switches are momentary micro switches which need to be connected to the negative wires connected to the LED's.

The diagram at the start shows you how everything is wired-up. I've also included a schematic (not a true one but it will give you a good idea on how it is all wired up!)

STEPS:

1. You first need to drill a couple of holes into the handle (the15mm PVC pipe) so the legs of the switches can go through. To decide where to add the switches on the handle, hold it in your hand and work out where your thumb is best placed to push the 2 buttons.
2. Mark where the legs touch the handle and drill holes with a small drill piece.
3. Thread a couple of wires (these can be normal wires but it need to be thin) through the holes made for the switches and out the bottom of the handle. A wire for each switch. These will be connected to the battery a little later on.
4. Solder a leg of each of the switches to the wires you just threaded through the PVC pipe.
5. Right - so now you need to thread the negative wires from the wand section into the small switch holes! The best way to thread the copper wires is to push a piece of thicker copper wire through the hole, wrap the thin copper wire around it and pull out the thicker wire which will thread it through the hole.
6. The other wire which is the normal kind should be pretty easy to thread through the hole.
7. Solder these to the other legs on the switch.
8. At this stage you can also push on the cap with the wand section onto the handle as well. Make sure you thread the positive wire from the LED's through the handle.
9. Push the switch legs into the holes and add a dab of superglue to the bottom of the switch so it will stick down to the PVC handle.

NOTE: actually hold off gluing and make sure everything works first.

Step 6: Battery and Charging Module

The battery and charging module should fit perfectly into the handle of the wand (15mm PVC pipe).

STEPS:

1. Solder the wires from the battery to the battery solder points on the module.
2. Add a little super glue to the bottom of the module and glue this to the battery. It should be glued to the end of the battery as shown in the images below.
3. You also need to add a resistor to the negative solder point on the module. I used 2 X 10 Ohm resistors in parallel which gave me 5 Ohm resistance. There is also a chance that the resistors will get warm over long periods of usage. To help protect the battery, I added a small heat shrink made from a piece of aluminum strip.

Step 7: Connecting the Wires All Together

STEPS:

1. Check out the diagram at the start of the step. This should give you a good visual on how everything is wired up.
2. The positive wire from the LED's needs to be connected to the positive solder point on the charging module.
3. Trim if necessary, remove some of the enamel at the end and solder to the positive solder point on the module.
4. Connect both the ground wires to the resister leg connected to ground on the charging module
5. Now you should have everything soldered-up it's time to do a test. One of the buttons should activate the 3mm LED and the other the filament. If nothing happens (or only 1 LED lights up) check you wiring and connections and try again.
6. You can glue the switches down if everything works.

Step 8: Securing the Battery and Making a Hole in the Cap for the USB Charging Module

You need someway to be able to easily access the battery charger module. Making a small cut in the back of the cap allows you access to the micro USB.

STEPS:

1. Place the battery and charger inside the PVC tube (handle) and have it so it is sticking out
2. Place the cap next to it and eyeball where you will need to make the cut in the cap for the USB.
3. Drill out the section in the cap with a drill piece around the same width as the micro USB
4. Use some small files to clean up the drilled section. You are looking to make the cut large enough so a micro USB cord can access the charger through the hole
5. Place the cap onto the handle and push it on and check that it aligns with the micro USB
6. If everything is good, add some superglue to the battery and the sides of the micro USB charger. This will hold it in place. NOTE - there is no going back after this point (you will not be able to remove the battery without damaging it) so make sure everything is good before gluing.
7. Place the cap back onto the end

That is it! You're LED Light Wand is now complete.

Step 9: Bonus - Making a Stand

There's no need to make a stand but ot's a great way to display the wand!

STEPS:

1. First you'll need another 15mm cap. You need to remove the round bottom section. You could cut it off but I just used a belt sander to remove it.
2. Next you need to cut it in half. Well just about in half. Again I used a belt sander to do this. Clean up the edges with an exacto knife
3. Drill a hole into the bottom of the cut piece of cap which will be large enough to fit a piece of 1/4" tube into. Add a little superglue to keep it into place
4. For the stand I used a piece of hard wood. Drill a hole into that and push the 1/4" tube into it. Add some superglue to the bottom to hold it in place
5. Now you can just push the wand into the cut setion of cap and it will hold it in place.