Aurora 18×18 kit and PCB
The kit includes everything you need to build Aurora 18×18, plus mounting screws & nuts. Those screws can also help you when you solder in the LEDs, by giving the PCB a lift off the working surface.
The smallest SMD parts are 0603 size, which is quite tiny. Naturally it’s very easy to lose them while assembling. Since it’s not much fun having to buy those little parts because you lose them, I’m including a few extras for all 0603 size parts. There are a few extra LEDs included as well. Hopefully you won’t have to stop the assembly because you’ve lost a few parts.
- View the technical info here.
- View the soldering/assembly guide.
The kit ships with a PIC microcontroller preprogrammed. So you do not need a compatible PIC programmer to assemble Aurora 18×18 kit.
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This is indeed a challenging kit. The SMT soldering is the easy part; the LEDs are the worst and are very prone to shorts, so I assembled it in sections, testing after each section was completed and fixing any shorts in the section. There were also quite a few “bad LEDs” (maybe some were shorts). But the kit includes enough extra LEDs to take care of it either way. In the end the results are awesome, and worth the effort. Now all I need is some sort of case or display to finish it.
Bottom line; this not a kit for novices, it’s challenging for intermediate level (not a weekend project), and it takes about 12 hours to assemble and debug at expert level.
December 30, 2013 at 5:28 pm
Newbie question: what battery configuration would you recommend for power?
May 19, 2013 at 5:46 pm
Hi do you ship to South Africa?
September 23, 2012 at 6:23 am
Yes I ship worldwide. In fact, I just sent an order to South Africa!
September 23, 2012 at 11:22 am
Also curiosity has struck me, what is the largest possible Aurora you could make without compromising stability?
August 14, 2012 at 7:19 pm
Well there are 10 unused pins on the PIC micro with Aurora 18×18. So I can easily add 10 more circles. If I try hard I can add another two, so 30 total. I did not go that far because of other issues, such as the power supply requirement, and cost :) But maybe some day I will go all the way…
August 14, 2012 at 10:15 pm
Dang a 30… Now that would be extremely impressive (and I assume very difficult to solder) hopefully one day you do reach that feat and when you do I can’t wait to see the result!
August 14, 2012 at 11:00 pm
That would be so cool!!
October 27, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Hi:
I read your plea about being copied by unscrupulous people, I was copied too some time ago with a very unique silk printing squeegee. Some lessons learned: There are oportunist lurking around every corner, you will always be attacked (copied) if you have a good idea, even patents dont fully protect the big companies, your best defense is speed to market, continued creativity, a relentless PR effort, and above average customer support. Every time you will come out the winner, you have a great products, thank you for sharing your talent!
July 9, 2012 at 11:47 am
I need a driver for 10 x 1watt LEDs x2, 20 LEDs total (DIY DRL application) is your Poorman’s Buck – High Power LED driver suitable for this. I believe I would need one for each headlamp side, is that correct, I live in Australia so how much would this be?
June 28, 2012 at 11:31 pm
Do you mean 2 strings (blocks) of 10 LEDs each to control? Then you need 2 Poorman’s Bucks. Each block most likely need to be a pararel connection of 5x serial connected LEDs to keep the forward voltage under the limit – about 20V to be safe. Power supply needs to be at least 2V higher than the LED forward voltage total.
Shipping to Australia is $17 for Priority Mail (not insured) or $35 for Express Mail (insured).
Shipping cart should give you the choice and the correct fee. Let me know if there are problems.
Thanks!
Aki
June 28, 2012 at 11:54 pm
Hello, don’t you sell a ready mounted aurora 18×18, or at least with the smd components already in place?
Thanks
June 7, 2012 at 7:16 pm
I don’t have preassembled ones because it takes a whole day (at least) to assemble one. The price will be too high, I think.
That being said, I might sell one or two assembled units soon. Just not sure how to price them…
Thanks,
Aki
June 9, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Would you consider $200 to assemble one?
July 20, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Oh SHEESH… just learn to solder! You can solder them all at once in an oven for that matter. Soldering is FUN! Enlarge your Skilset! Get that feeling of accomplishment… ( and maybe a burnt finger or two! lol )
October 1, 2012 at 1:18 am
Oh SHEESH Mark, not everyone is comfortable with soldering, and especially at this level. I have been building and designing circuits for a long long time, and I ended up returning this kit because (thanks Aki)as it was WAY to hard to assemble those tiny parts without very good and expensive soldering tools, and a lot of skill.
I too would consider a preassembled “kit”, at least for the tiny parts which I did not feel comfortable installing. So if you get there, I would consider a partially assembled kit as well with the tiny pieces already installed.
February 26, 2014 at 1:50 pm
QUERO COMPRAR
May 16, 2012 at 4:25 pm