Author Archives: aerokeith

In this article I’ll share my preferred techniques for protecting the components of an outdoor LED lighting system from the elements: rain, humidity, dust, sunlight, etc. I’ve been designing LED lighting systems for outdoor art installations/sculptures since 2019. My first couple of projects were for Burning Man, and my primary concern was ensuring that theContinue reading “Weatherproofing Techniques for LED Lighting Systems”

I just returned from Burning Man, the annual event of epic proportions in the Northern Nevada desert. In case you haven’t seen my previous posts (like this one, and this one), I’ve been working on the lighting for a large glass-and-steel shark sculpture created by artist Peter Hazel. With a lot of dedication and sweatContinue reading “Desert Shark”

There are so many balls in the air right now, but I wanted to give you some updates on three projects that are currently underway. Jerry the Shark First, there’s the 20-foot long glass and steel Mako shark that artist Peter Hazel plans to display at Burning Man in late August. I described the basicsContinue reading “Project Updates: July 2022”

Wow! What an adventure! I just got back from installing the new lighting system in Fly By, a 24-foot all glass and stainless steel Manta ray sculpture that resides in the historic, tiny town of Nipton, California (population < 20). The origin story of Nipton is pretty fascinatingly, and its recent history is no lessContinue reading “Manta Ray (Fly By) Update #2”

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”