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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Apr 19

Luminescent Artist Palette Earrings: Wearable LED Color Sculptures - Rechargeable

Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Apr 3

I am designing a matching pendant on the left side for the Fibonacci earrings on the right. The pendant is using PWM outputs to the LEDs, allowing a much smoother animation. You can clearly see the "frames" on right side, while the left has a much smoother transition for the same pattern and speed.

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Feb 26

Such a nice alternative to the coin cell battery holder!

Alpenglow Industries (Carrie) @alpenglow.bsky.social · Feb 25

Hey soldering kit makers! Struggling with new coin cell regulations and have a pile of PCBs with coin cell battery holder patterns on them? I made a thing for ours that converts them to USB power, maybe it's handy for you. 🧵

Two round circuit boards with white soldermask and blue silkscreen, left shows a CR2032 holder and the right shows a USB adapter board soldered into its place instead.

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Feb 18

The art palette earrings now use a supercapacitor instead of coin cell batteries.
They are designed with two components: main board and "face plate". A recent prototype with a ceramic face plate turned out well. I'm leaning towards using a PCB for the front due to its practicality and durability.

3D image of the new prototype boards, created with KiCAD

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Feb 13

I made these GlowCaps! They let you easily add RGB LEDs to things like candle holders or light up your fursuit. They're powered by a supercapacitor, so they charge in just minutes and can run for hours or even days.

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Feb 1

I just posted my Amoracci necklace! For that design a placed the supercapacitor horizontally so that the pedant will not tilt to one side.

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Feb 1

Exploring the interplay of love and mathematics, especially in the spirit of February, the month of Valentines, the Amoracci pendant is a visual meditation on the beauty of these interconnected concepts. Its design is inspired by the Fibonacci sequence. #Fibonacci #JewelryDesign #Love #Mathematics

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Reposted by Sander van de Bor - California STEAM

بلبل يوسف @chipperdoodles.bsky.social · Jan 30

My hand drawn circuit talk i'll talk a little bit about anwaar which will cover some of my use of Hybrid caps! @californiasteam.bsky.social has done wonderful jewelry work with hybrid caps and a lot of the tech we use overlap. If you're planning on going to #teardown2025 def consider these talks!

Alpenglow Industries (Carrie) @alpenglow.bsky.social · Jan 30

Also, my battery talk is going to dovetail nicely with @californiasteam.bsky.social 's talk on using supercapacitors in jewelry designs, and @chipperdoodles.bsky.social may have some cool stuff to share about hybrid capacitors too! So much good info to dig into. Let me know if you plan on coming! 👇

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Reposted by Sander van de Bor - California STEAM

Lectronz: The new maker marketplace. @lectronz.com · Jan 30

Now in stock on Lectronz: LED Cube 6x6x6 https://lectronz.com/products/led-cube-6x6x6
#Displays #LEDs #Lights

LED Cube 6x6x6

6x6x6 LED cube with 216 WS2812 addressable RGB LEDs

lectronz.com

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Reposted by Sander van de Bor - California STEAM

Freya Holmér @freya.bsky.social · Jan 31

not that anyone asked but here's a phyllotaxis distribution of n points in the unit disk

www.desmos.com/calculator/g...

screenshot of the dots arranged in desmos, the graphing tool

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Jan 31

I will be speaking @crowdsupply.bsky.social
#Teardown2025 together with these wonderful friends working on similar projects.

Alpenglow Industries (Carrie) @alpenglow.bsky.social · Jan 30

Also, my battery talk is going to dovetail nicely with @californiasteam.bsky.social 's talk on using supercapacitors in jewelry designs, and @chipperdoodles.bsky.social may have some cool stuff to share about hybrid capacitors too! So much good info to dig into. Let me know if you plan on coming! 👇

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Jan 15

These Fibonacci earrings are a little bit different. These have ultra-bright LEDs, each enhanced with a focused lens.
The earrings have 104 LEDs per side, which can be programmed to display a variety of patterns, brightness and speed.

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Jan 5

How much charge does a 15F Hybrid supercapacitor actual hold? Here is a graph of data taken with the NRF Power Profiler that shows that the charge in this 15F capacitor was 15.2c from 3.8V down to 2.8V, which exceeds the specifications.

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Jan 1

Happy New Year everyone!

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 25

Check out these unique PCB designs!

jeremycook.bsky.social @jeremycook.bsky.social · Dec 24

Working on an article involving PCB art. Anyone have great examples (or even just examples) that you'd like to share and that I can potentially include?

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 25

This design utilizes 18 RGB LEDs, controlled directly by the microcontroller's PWM outputs. Since these are non-addressable LEDs I had to connect each LED to the microcontroller. The actual traces connecting each LED form the structure of the tree itself.

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 22

My journey with wearable electronics began with these small red LED spiral earrings – 12 LEDs, a microcontroller, and a coin cell battery. Today, I'm pushing the boundaries with designs featuring up to 104 LEDs, still powered by a microcontroller, but now utilizing a supercapacitor instead.

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 22

Just love how these small LED strips now allow you to add 2D to a small surface like a headband!

GeekMomProjects @geekmomprojects.com · Dec 21

Found a 2.7mm thin Neopixel strip with a silicone coating and decided to cram as many rows as would fit (5) onto a headband. Added a Pixelblaze Pico controller and an off the shelf holder for an AA-sized Li-Ion battery. I intend to be "light headed" for the holidays!

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 22

Just love these traces on this PCB!

بلبل يوسف @chipperdoodles.bsky.social · Dec 22

Here's the WIP. Still gotta finish up the front and clean up the back but i'm very excited about this one!!!

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 22

Lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) are a special kind of supercapacitor. Typically, they have a voltage limit of 3.8V, but recently, I discovered a new type that can handle up to 4.2V! This voltage increase can significantly boost their energy storage capacity by tripling it.

Showing two LIC capacitors. The blue version is a 3.8V 40F capacitor and the purple version is a new 4.2V 90F capacitor. This purple capacitor is only 5mm longer but contains 3x more capacity.

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 21

The subdued glow of the purple/UV LEDs on these Fibonacci tech earrings lends a touch of magic, transforming the environment into a dreamlike realm.

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 19

You might have noticed that none of my wearables use current-limiting resistors for LEDs.

Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 18

Do LEDs really need current-limiting resistors?

LED earrings in different colors powered by a coin cell battery.

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 18

Do LEDs really need current-limiting resistors?

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 18

Definitely! And @chipperdoodles.bsky.social does use a supercapacitor in their Anwaar wearable as well!

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Sander van de Bor - California STEAM @californiasteam.bsky.social · Dec 18

I use an ATtiny1616 and charlieplex all these (regular 0603) LEDs to get the lowest power consumption. In the modes from the video the power consumption is around 1mA. You won't be able to get that low with the WS2812b since each pixel will consume around 1mA already just to power the internal IC.

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