Steampunk Electronics–LED Goggles

I’ve had an idea for embedding 12 LED into a ring structure that will fit into goggles.

The idea is fairly straight forward, 12 x LED, 12 x 100Ω resistors on a PCB ring with a power supply. I want to make the LED array into a single solid unit.

The LED will be arranged in parallel, that is, all of the anodes will be connected to the positive side of the battery and all of the cathodes will be connected to a 100Ω resistor and each of the 12 100Ω resistors will connect to the negative (ground) side of the battery. Also, the LED and resistors will be arranged around a PCB that has been cut into a ring shape.

The battery leads and  the resistors will be soldered onto the bottom of the PCB so that only the PCB and LED will be visible from the “top” of the board.

I will make a silicone mold that will embed the LED side of the project and this will be filled with a clear or slightly opaque resin. The other side of the project will be filled with a black resin (so that the light from the LED doesn’t come back into the eyes).

I’m going to need to make the PCB layout a bit more elegant and the LED equidistant so that it doesn’t look too crappy.

I want to make the LED ring sit inside of the ocular tube of the goggles so that they cast a bright light where the goggles are facing.

12 LED should drain a 9 volt battery fairly quickly, so I don’t expect that this will be a suitable torch, so I’m going with colour instead.

The battery leads will come out on the under side so that they can be attached to the inside of the goggles. I’m going to make a battery clip /pocket out of leather that will attach to the back of the goggles strap. But, first things first. Make the prototype, then make the molds, then see how the LED like being in resin.

The goggles will be another article much later. First I’ll be making the LED ring.