ProdMod ™

I am selling packs of LEDs for those of you who want to customize their hoops or use them for other projects. You can see what colors are offered on the accessories page.

This includes LEDs used in the LED Camera Light Kit.

I finished writing instructions that show how you can use the Rechargeable Upgrade Kit to make your LED hoop rechargeable. Now you can enjoy 6 hours of lit hoop time and charge it in only about 1 hour.

The instructions were written to show a way to add the DC power Jack without having it interfere with anything, and to keep the modification of your hoop down to a minimum. The end result is the DC jack is recessing into the inner diameter surface of your hoop. This is a clean look. You can barely see the jack and wont be able to tell the difference from your old hoop.

It does involve soldering, and gluing.

There might be easier ways to add a DC jack to the hoop, it’s likely not look as pretty.

Please review the instructions and give me some feedback. If you think this looks way to hard let me know and I will find alternative methods. You can leave comments on the instruction page as well.

I encourage you to give this upgrade a try. The kit is available for $39.99.

I found a better charger for the upcoming LED Hula Hoop Upgrade Kit which only takes 1 hour to charge!! I think this is awesome since you’ll never suffer significant downtime. My supplies for the rechargeable upgrade kit for your ProdMod LED Hula Hoop are on their way in limited quantity as a trial, a handful of you have been clamoring for it but I can never be sure how many will actually buy. So I decided to open it up for pre-orders. This also prevents me from ordering too many parts from my suppliers. The first shipment of kits should be ready for shipment in the first week of July which is only 2 weeks away. There are only 3 available to ship that week. So if you want it fast you need to pre-order. Otherwise it will likely be an extra week before I get more parts.

I have priced out the kit as best I can at $39 plus $8 shipping. Since this is so new and does involve some prep work on my end I cannot guarantee the price will stay this low after the pre-order. So pre-ordering allows you to lock in the low price.

Instructions are up , it involves drilling a hole in your tube, soldering connections, and using some hot glue and possibly epoxy or silicone (window sealant). If I get enough complaints about soldering I might consider offering a solder-less version that allows you to just twist wires together.

Here is what is in the kit:

Rechargeable battery with wires attached - This will fit in the same spot as your lithium battery
DC Jack - I’ll post instructions on where you can put this jack in your tube
Switch - just in case you need a new one since you’ll be connecting it to the DC Jack a certain way
Some extra wire to make connections

Hoop Required:

1 inch thickness - only!!! This battery will NOT fit in the slimmer 3/4 hoop offered on this site.

Tools you’ll need:

Soldering Iron
Needle nose pliers
Hot glue
Electrical tape

Optional Tools:
Silicone (Window Sealant)
Epoxy

Buy the kit only here

It’s back! I have confirmed a few dates for the next ProdMod LED Hula Hoop Workshops. They will be held at 3rd Ward on July 19th and July 26th from 2pm to 6pm. (You’ll probably be done early.) This gives you plenty of time to get your hoop built before heading out to burningman which is at the end of August.

Renting space at 3rd Ward isn’t free, but I have worked out a deal so you only have to pay $20 to sign up. I am also discounting the material fee from $59 to $49 to offset that cost. In total you spend less than you would online, considering shipping costs, and you walk out of class with a working LED hoop!

You can enroll and buy materials on their page.

(if their page has the wrong fee amount you will be refunded accordingly)

You’ll have to make two separate transactions. Enrollment button pays to 3rd ward, Buy Now button pays to me.

Please sign up soon to reserve your spot and give me time to buy all the material!

If you are curious to see how much fun the last workshop was you can read the article with some great feedback, comments, and photos.

Details on the class is at 3rd Wards site. Let me know if you have any questions.

And please review the assembly steps to know what to expect

So the event for “An Evening At Maker Faire” for Internet Week NY on June 5th went very well. I had a spot near the center of the room so it was easy to get everyone’s attention. Nearly everyone who passed wanted to try it out. I had two hoops both the same standard size 40 inch diameter by 1 inch thick versions but one was powered by a standard lithium battery and the other was my new rechargeable version. Everyone I asked said they couldnt tell the difference by weight and felt they were both fairly balanced. I did have one lady tell me it felt too light. But she was used to exercising with a 3 lb hoop. My hoops are only about 1.5 lbs. But for others who were just dancing/performing with it, the weight seemed ok. If you need to you can always add weight to it when you build your own.

I hooped for Channel 4 News, and really embarrassed myself. Then I was interviewed by Intenet Week NY, they asked what I did, why I did it, and what I thought of the future. I remember it going very well but I haven’t seen the footage yet. So hopefully I didnt say anything too stupid. I do remember stating that the next cool gadget won’t come from Apple or Microsoft but from Independant Makers working in their homes, garages, or studio apartments like myself. I’ll post a link to the video as soon as it goes live on their site.  Of course they asked me to hoop for them, embarrassed again, but this time I had some help from my wife.

I also had a sign posted above my table that you dont need advanced tools or a workshop to make your own products. I work out of a 400 sq ft studio apartment. My most common work surfaces are my floor, my bed, and a 16inch fold up table from Target. My most valuable tools are a leatherman multitool, a battery powered screwdriver with drill bits, and a very supporting wife. I think some people got a kick out of that.

As usual it was funny to hear people’s first reactions to the product. Some grab it, try it and immediately love it and never give it back. Others grab it and pause to ask “what does it do?” And I say … “its a hula hoop with lights in it”. When I see their dissapointment I show them photos of other people making streaming colors and then they say “wow. cool!” and hoop for the next 5 minutes. But some are also asking if it reacts to your movements or creates patterns. Currently 7 of the 21 LEDs slowly cycle through the colors independant of your motion.  But this is a DIY kit that is supposed to encourage creation and modification. You can definitely add a microprocessor to it to control colors and react to motion, but I dont have a kit for that just yet. I met someone towards the end of the show that wants to add some intelligence to the hoop and hopes to showcase it at my next workshop (most likely at the end on July). Maybe he’d be willing to help someone add it to their hoop as well.

One thing I think I might change is start to offer fast changing color LEDs, because some didnt notice the LEDs slowly changing colors.

Here is my Flickr set of the photos I took that day. There are some cool videos too. Some highlights are the cute brother and sister duo that were my best promoters. They hooped for 10 minutes straight, then came back later to do another 15 minutes. Also keep an eye out for the two pregnant ladies who showed us how to hoop above your belly!! I wonder what the babies were thinking

If you have any photos from that day or anything you took of your own ProdMod Hula hoop, please add them to our brand new Flickr Group - Prodmod LED Hula Hoop. If you dont have or want to use flickr you can send them to me hulaphotos@prodmod.com