Summary of How To Make Two Daft Punk Outfits with Helmets using Arduino
The author and their girlfriend created Daft Punk costumes for a 30th birthday party, featuring jackets with EL wire stitching and helmets with programmable LED arrays. The project involved sewing 175m of wire, using Arduino clones (Seeeduino) to control RGB LEDs, and sourcing materials from UK-based suppliers like Surelight. The result was a high-quality, light-up costume inspired by the electronic music duo.
Parts used in the Daft Punk Costumes:
- Two Pairs of Jeans
- Two Jackets
- One Black Fabric Dye Pack
- 65m of EL Wire
- Four KL10 Power Packs for the EL Wire
- Four 1.5m EL Wire Extension Wires
- Four 1-3 EL Wire Splitters
- 100m of Fishing Wire
- Two Blunt Sewing Needles
- One Box of Plasters
- Four 9v (PP3) Batteries
- Two Black Box Wired Motorcycle Helmets
- Two Black Visors
- Two 5m Lengths of EL Wire
- Two KH4 Battery Packs for the EL Wire
- Two Seeeduino Prototype Boards
- Two Max7221 LED Control Chips
- Two Breadboards
- Two 8x8 RGB Common Anode LED Arrays
- Two Handfuls of Jumper Wires
- Four AA Batteries
For my 30th Birthday I decided to have a D-Themed costume party, my girlfriend Kylie and I decided that we would go as Daft Punk. The costumes were quite involved to make, but we had lots of fun and they looked great!
We used a lot of resources from the internet, including a great article on how to stitch EL wire into clothes that I found here: http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to-add-EL-wire-to-a-coat-or-other-garment/.
I also learned a lot about prototyping boards (particularly the Arduino, and its clone the Seeeduino) and really enjoyed tinkering around with LED Arrays, learning the difference between common cathode and common anode, figuring out how breadboards work, and just generally collecting heaps of post at work from various electronics and EL wire companies.
Here’s a few videos showing the final result, so you can decide whether you want to bother reading any further:
Step 1: Ingredients
Quite a few bits and bobs went into the outfits, here’s a list of what we used.
Before you start, I’d recommend finding a talented, amazing girlfriend who can sew 100m of fishing wire and 75m of EL wire into two outfits and have the result look just like the Daft Punk originals. You can’t have mine though.
Outfits
1. Two Pairs of Jeans.
2. Two Jackets.
3. One Black Fabric Dye Pack.
4. 65m of EL Wire, cut to different lengths and pre-soldered to order.
5. Four KL10 Power Packs for the EL Wire.
6. Four 1.5m EL Wire Extension Wires.
7. Four 1-3 EL Wire Splitters.
8. 100m of Fishing Wire.
9. Two Blunt Sewing Needles.
10. One Box of Plasters.
11. Four 9v (PP3) Batteries.
Helmets
1. Two Black Box WIred Motorcycle Helmets.
2. Two Black Visors (not street legal in the UK).
3. Two 5m Lengths of EL Wire, pre-soldered to order.
4. Two KH4 Battery Packs for the EL Wire.
5. Two Seeeduino (Arduino clone) Prototype Boards.
6. Two Max7221 LED Control Chips.
7. Two Breadboards.
8. Two 8×8 RGB Common Anode (Cathode would have been better) LED Arrays.
9. Two Handfuls of Jumper Wires.
10. Four AA Batteries.
I will upload the code I wrote for the Arduino that controls the LED array so you can use that too if you like. Even if you want to change the display it’s probably easier to start with something that works already.
Step 2: Suppliers
We were lucky that the suppliers we used were great, we ordered everything on-line and turned up in good time and good order.
Note, all the suppliers are UK based, which is great for me living in London, but might not be quite what you’re looking for. They may deliver internationally, but if not I’m sure you can find something that delivers to wherever you are.
EL Wire and Accessories
For EL Wire, extensions, splitters and battery packs we used Surelight http://www.surelight.com/. They’re a friendly bunch based up north somewhere. Sheffield I think.
Surelight sell EL wire either by the metre, or in pre-cut and soldered lengths, which is fantastic if you don’t feel confident cutting and soldering your own wire. (We didn’t).
All the wire we bought was their Super Bright range (2.5mm) in Red (obviously..) and was very high quality. Also they delivered very quickly, within two days from memory.
In pre-cut EL wire lenghts we bought:
4 x 10m (Trousers and Chests, used all of it)
2 x 5m (Helmets, used all of it)
4 x 3m (Sleeves, used 3, one spare)
4 x 1.5m (Gloves, didn’t end up using them in the end, maybe we’ll wire them up for Glastonbury).
For more detail: How To Make Two Daft Punk Outfits with Helmets using Arduino
- What is the best way to stitch EL wire into clothes?
The article recommends finding a talented partner who can sew 100m of fishing wire and 75m of EL wire, noting that pre-soldered wire is available if you lack confidence. - Can I use common cathode LED arrays instead of common anode?
The author notes that while they used common anode arrays, common cathode would have been better for their specific setup. - Does the project require soldering your own EL wire?
No, the author purchased pre-cut and pre-soldered lengths from Surelight because they did not feel confident cutting and soldering their own wire. - How many meters of EL wire were used for the trousers and chests?
The project used four 10m lengths of EL wire specifically for the trousers and chests. - What type of microcontroller boards were used for the helmet LEDs?
The project utilized two Seeeduino prototype boards, which are Arduino clones. - Where can I buy the EL wire and accessories mentioned in the article?
The author sourced EL wire and accessories from Surelight, a UK-based supplier. - Did the authors end up wiring the gloves with EL wire?
No, the author states they bought four 1.5m lengths for gloves but did not end up using them in the final outfit. - Is the code for the Arduino display available for others to use?
The author mentions they will upload the code they wrote for the Arduino so others can use or modify it.
