Author Archives: aerokeith

In a previous post I described the origins of a project to replace the lighting in one of Peter Hazel’s existing sculptures, a 24 foot tall glass and steel Manta ray called Fly By. This was a perfect opportunity for me to try out the new controller hardware I’ve been developing – boards that canContinue reading “Manta Ray (Fly By) Update #1”

The goal of this article is to give you all the information you need to design the wiring for a project that includes one or more addressable LED strips. And you’re thinking: “Does the world really need another article explaining power injection?” Well, yes, but only if you’re not satisfied with generic “rules of thumb”Continue reading “Wiring Design for Addressable LED Strips”

In a previous post I described artist Peter Hazel‘s new plan to create a a 20-foot Mako shark, made from fused glass plates mounted to a brushed-steel exoskeleton, for Burning Man 2022. That’s still the plan, but now Peter has added a couple more projects for this year. The first is really just a renovation.Continue reading “Project Updates”

In two previous blog posts (#1, #2) I described my collaboration with artist Peter Hazel to construct a mock-up (a “maquette”) of a large sculpture (Pele the Fire Goddess) that he proposed to bring to Burning Man 2022. He submitted the proposal and the maquette to the Burning Man art grant committee in the hopeContinue reading “Shark! (RIP Pele)”

Lots of progress to report. I’ve assembled the first prototype and have run a series of tests to validate the design. So far everything has worked almost perfectly and my list of next-revision improvements is very short. One of the most important tests was to confirm the functionality and performance of my “reconfigurable LED driverContinue reading “FLiCr LED Controller – Update #1”

If you read my recent post on the OpenRocket LED controller, you may recall that several key components are not currently available due to the supply chain issues affecting the global electronics sector. Now that I’ve used up my existing stock, I’m forced to redesign it with different parts. But I couldn’t resist making someContinue reading “FLiCr LED Controller”

After another full day of work, the Fire Goddess proposal was submitted to the Burning Man art grant committee. Contrary to what we all thought yesterday, the proposals were due at 5pm, not noon, so Peter and team* had “plenty” of time to make many improvements to the maquette before the final photos/videos were submitted.Continue reading “Fire Goddess – Update #1”

My first art lighting project was a collaboration with Peter Hazel to create Niloticus, a 40-foot ceramic tile and glass crocodile that was displayed at Burning Man 2019. Although the 2020 and 2021 Burns were cancelled, I’m working with Peter again to create an artwork for the 2022 event in late August. His plan isContinue reading “Pele the Fire Goddess”

Now seems like a good time to write about the LED controller that I’ve been using for the last year or so. I based the Olympic Rings project on this controller, but there are several prior and subsequent project that I haven’t posted about yet (stay tuned for those). I originally designed the OpenRocket boardContinue reading “OpenRocket LED Controller”

My wife is a huge Olympics junkie and likes to host large parties to view the opening ceremonies. Jell-O shots in the colors of the Olympic Rings, flip cards to score the costumes in the Parade of Nations, the whole enchilada. So for the 2020 (really 2021) Summer Olympics, I decided too make her anContinue reading “Olympic Rings”