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Plasma ball box construction

Started by Hypnotic10, April 06, 2018, 07:43:14 AM

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Hypnotic10

Hi.
I'm constructing a wooden box for a plasma ball I am swapping out the plastic holder it comes with. I have a free questions.
1. How can I swap the generic on and off switch from the mother board to a toggle switch outside the box.
2. I also want to etch out a design on the box I am making a see through design on the box and will add led lights inside the box. How can I attach led lights to the plasma ball ac adapter. 9v.
The led lights I have are 5v is this possible to use the same current?
In all I want to make a box that has the plasma ball with led lights that is powered by one source and one on and off switch. Thanks

von Corax

How comfortable are you with a soldering iron?
By the power of caffeine do I set my mind in motion
By the Beans of Life do my thoughts acquire speed
My hands acquire a shaking
The shaking becomes a warning
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The Leverkusen Institute of Paleocybernetics is 5842 km from Reading

Anselmofanzero

You clip the wires, replace the switch, add paralleled LEDs (with matching resistors for 9V), shrink-tube the connections, and done.

Ephriam Lunchwaiste

Replacing the switch should be fairly straightforward, just solder the leads that go to the old switch to the posts on the new one and you should be fine.

Be aware that even the desktop Plasma globes use a fair amount of current to run, and there may be some components inside that could give you a good jolt. Do your homework- some electronics have capacitors that can hold a potent charge even when the item isn't powered. I don't know if the Plasma Ball has anything like that, but it's best to get familiar with what's inside before you go too far.

This video might be helpful (although admittedly I haven't watched it yet, Adafruit usually does a nice job explaining things).
https://blog.adafruit.com/2016/12/01/usb-plasma-ball-teardown-with-rf-energy-demo/

Anselmofanzero

As long as its just the switch, it should be alright.
Adding LEDs means connecting them to the switch as well, so no reason to mess with anything else.