I have been interested in LEDs since before blue or white LEDs were available and have always followed LED technology progress, so this road test was was going to be interesting even if I did not manage to be selected as a sponsored participant. Fortunately my proposal was selected, allowing me to enjoy experimenting with some interesting LED technology as well as an MSP430 Launchpad.
My proposal was fairly ambitious for a road test as it undertook to demonstrate about half a dozen applications involving all of the road test kit of parts. The project ended up exceeding the proposal, discussing or demonstrating about 40 applications in 17 blogs and 20 videos. This summary of the project will contain links to all blogs and videos.
The awsome road test kit, sponsored by Texas instruments, Würth Elektronik and element14, included some unique quad-colour LED modules (CC2540TDK-LIGHT) from Texas Instruments that were controllable via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), an MSP-EXP430FR4133MSP-EXP430FR4133 Launchpad from Texas Instruments, a TPS92512EVM-001TPS92512EVM-001 LED driver from Texas Instruments, a generous selection of any Würth Elektronik components we needed and a $200 budget for parts from element14. Many thanks to the sponsors for contributing such a fabulous kit.
This was a valuable road test kit with some great products that I wouldn't normally get to try out. I learned a lot about LED lighting and soldering high power LEDs and had a lot of fun experimenting with different applications. I hope my road test blogs showed how useful these products can be, as I definitely find them to have lots of useful applications. Other participants in this road test also created some very interesting applications which I enjoyed following. I would recommend other members participate in road tests like this – you get a lot of freedom to propose things you are interested in, and road tests are both useful and enjoyable.
Here are some images and links from things I tried in this road test:
Kit
Vehicle Situational Awareness System
VSAS Installed
Induction Heating Reflow Soldering
This concludes my road test summary and my road test.
It was most interesting, fun and educational.
The LED Road Test page is here:
http://www.element14.com/community/roadTests/1481
The Lighting Group page is here:
Here are links to my other blog entries for this road test:
LED Road Test - Proposal - Blog 0 Jan 1, 2016
Light Emitting Diodes Road Test - Blog 1 Nov 1
LED Road Test - 3D Printed Housings - blog 2 Nov 10
LED Road Test - Dodecahedron Light Fixture Blog 3 Nov12
LED Road Test - Wearable Interactive Lights - Blog 4 - Nov 13
LED Road Test - Interactive Trophy - Blog 5 Nov 16
LED Road Test - Making Household Objects Interactive - Blog 6 Nov 22
LED Road Test - Power LEDs - Up & Running - Blog 7 Nov 24
LED Road Test - Star Wars - The Force Awakens - Blog 8 Nov 28
LED Road Test - Selfie Phenomenon - Blog 9 Nov 29
LED Road Test - MSP EXP430FR4133 Launchpad IDE - Blog 10 Dec 6
LED Road Test - Vehicle Situational Awareness System Blog 11 Dec 14
LED Road Test - Vehicle Situational Awareness System Indoor Demo - Blog 12 Dec 20
LED Road Test - Maple Leaf Christmas Decoration - Blog 13 Dec 24
LED Road Test - Reflow Soldering Power LEDs - Blog 15 Jan 10
LED Road Test - Induction Heating Reflow Soldering - Blog 16 Jan12
LED Road Test - Summary - Blog 17 Jan 15
Associated Video Links
Creating a Light Fixture using 123D Design
Wearable Interactive Arc Reactor
Interactive Illuminated Household Objects
Star Wars - Let The Force Be With The Light
Vehicle Situational Awareness System in Operation
Vehicle Situational Awareness System Operating at Night
Induction Heating Reflow Soldering
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