Lit up dance floor.

[zedman3d]

This is only an idea. PS: Move if not appropriate place.

Lit up dance floor using pc moding parts for the lighting. Im trying to make this AS CHEAP as possible while still looking good.

Was looking into 1mx1m blocks, either 3x3 blocks or 4x4 blocks to be used. Two colors, with every second block being different. Each block is made of a wood casing, perspex top with no frame showing from the top, and inside 6x 30cm cold cathode sticks like you would put into a computer that are sound activated. Since they dont use much power i can just run them all from a stand alone 430W computer PSU.

I can get the sticks for $9.50AUD for a pair, so each 1m2 block only costs like $29 to light including the sound activators (they can be a bit sloppy and inaccurate doesnt bother me, as long as there is some sort of flashing).

Its unlikely that this will actually become reaility. I wanted to see if anyone here had a better/cheaper way, or could comment on some of the probems like waterproofing for outdoor use etc.

 

[MindoverMaster]

I've seen those on the Makeover: Home Edition. Ask Ty...

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

If this can be driven via a PC you can use software to customize the light patterns similar to my RGB PC fan. You can use transistors and a microcontroller to drive the lights (or you can use LED's, if you use LED's you can make each panel change color). If you use a microcontroller you can hook it to a serial port on a PC and send it custom patterns (either fade patterns or to music, I made a small app in Processing that analyzes the audio stream and flashes the LED's on my fan). That's a complex way but it would give good results. If you only need basic audio you could use the light flashing modules, but hooked to the same audio source they will probably all flash the same, a computer (with some programming) could detect beat and alternate rows/columns or flash different segments to different frequencies (this is what I'm doing as it is easy to get a spectrum and pull numbers from it).

Then again, I'm a computer engineer, I like going crazy with electronics.

 

[zedman3d]

If this can be driven via a PC you can use software to customize the light patterns similar to my RGB PC fan. You can use transistors and a microcontroller to drive the lights (or you can use LED's, if you use LED's you can make each panel change color). If you use a microcontroller you can hook it to a serial port on a PC and send it custom patterns (either fade patterns or to music, I made a small app in Processing that analyzes the audio stream and flashes the LED's on my fan). That's a complex way but it would give good results. If you only need basic audio you could use the light flashing modules, but hooked to the same audio source they will probably all flash the same, a computer (with some programming) could detect beat and alternate rows/columns or flash different segments to different frequencies (this is what I'm doing as it is easy to get a spectrum and pull numbers from it).

Then again, I'm a computer engineer, I like going crazy with electronics.

I get what you mean but how much is it and how difficult?