Basic Instructions
Before you start remember these three important ground rules.
1. Never connect power (attach battery) to your AA circuit unless you have already connected LEDs to the orange and green wires properly. Neglecting this rule will damage you circuit.
2. Connect no fewer than 7 LEDs to this AA circuit. Powering fewer than 7 LEDs will send too much current to each LED and most likely damage or burn out the LEDs.
3. Never connect power (attach battery) to your AA circuit in the reverse polarity. This WILL damage you circuit.
Here is a diagram showing basic connections: Click circuit diagram picture to enlarge.
To Upgrade an existing ProdMod LED Hoop:
For this you will need an existing ProdMod LED hoop and the AA Battery Upgrade. You can buy the upgrade here.
Pull out the switch from your LED hoop and also pull out both the positive and negative wires that lead to the LEDs. Connect the orange wire to the positive LED wire. If you followed my LED hoop making instructions the wire from the switch should be positive. So remove it from the switch and connect it to the orange wire. If you made your hoop, you will have to know which wire is positive.
The other wire from the LEDs, should then be your negative wire. Cut your negative LED wire so that you can attach it to the the green wire of the AA circuit.
Now you still have wire in your tube leading to the battery area. Connect that remaining wire to the black wire of the AA circuit so that it reaches through your tubing connector and into the battery area. That is your negative battery wire and must connect to the negative part of the battery holder you will attach later.
The red wire from the AA circuit must attach to the switch. And the other side of your switch should already be connected to the remaining wire leading out through the connector and to the battery area. That wire must be lead to the positive side of the battery.
After connections are made you can push the AA circuit in through the switch hole and seat the switch. The remaining wire on the other side of the tube connector must be attached to the battery holder with the correct polarity. Your battery holder now replaces your old non-rechargeable battery. Whatever you do, make sure that the red wire of the battery holder is leading to the red wire of the AA circuit. See diagram. Never connect power with reverse polarity.
Making a new ProdMod LED hoop with AA module:
For this you will need a Maker Kit with the AA module and battery holder. You can buy the kit here.
Begin assembling your hoop by following the standard LED hoop instructions like you normally would up to and including Step Eight. But before fishing the wire through in Step Nine, you could connect only the AA circuit (orange and green) to the appropriate polarity of the LED wire just after your last LED where the switch would go. Then take some extra wire (used for you LEDs) and connect the other end of the AA circuit (red and black) to the proper polarity of that extra wire. Usually the clear wire with a white strip is negative and the other is positive. Those extra wires from the Red and Black side of the circuit is what will eventually connect to the battery holder. But don’t attach the battery holder yet.
Now you can fish that new wire through the tube as you normally would. But at Step 10 you must be sure to pull the red wire through the switch hole and connect the red wire only to the switch as shown in the diagram.
Add the connector in Step Eleven.
Then in Step Twelve, instead of attaching a plain battery you will be attaching the battery holder.
16 comments
leigh says:
May 2, 2009 at 2:23 pm (UTC -4 )
can a lithium battery be used with this setup?
cara says:
August 29, 2009 at 3:29 pm (UTC -4 )
does the other side of the led wire (the one that was not labeled and has no slack) come into play anywhere? or should i just leave that end alone?
prodmod says:
September 1, 2009 at 2:04 am (UTC -4 )
the other side of the LED wire doesnt attach to anything. trim the excess wire and make sure the copper inside each wire does not touch the other. cover each wire with tape if necessary
Hoop Kyttn says:
September 5, 2009 at 2:25 pm (UTC -4 )
We are thinking about using 30 LED’s… Would you need a more powerful battery, or more than one battery to power more LED’s? (Digital camera rechargeable?) We want to be able to throw in rechargeable batteries on the go.
Kristen says:
September 25, 2009 at 3:13 pm (UTC -4 )
I normally hoop with the 5/8″ HDPE tubing. Could I use this kit with the 5/8″ tubing?
lia says:
October 9, 2009 at 12:32 pm (UTC -4 )
Hi Prodmod.
Does this mean that during when you are attching the LEDs to the wire you have to have at least 7 attached before you to test the LEDs?
Because I have just been trying to test the one (before reading this bit!) and it did not light- so I should just do 7, and then test them?
Thanks
lia says:
October 9, 2009 at 1:27 pm (UTC -4 )
Hi again.
I just attached about ten LEDs to my wire and tested them, and again, nothing happened. However I just read something about not attaching the battery unless you have the orange and green wires sorted. So does this mean I have to wait until I get to this stage to test anything?
Thanks
Lia
prodmod says:
October 9, 2009 at 6:11 pm (UTC -4 )
You can power one LED with this circuit as long as its just for a quick second. You just dont want to leave it connected to less than 7 LEDs. If it did not light your first LED then something is wrong. The positive side of the battery has to be connected to the red wire, negative side of battery to the black wire. And the orange wire connects to the positive side of the LED, Green connects to the negative side of the LED.
you can make these connections temporarily, for testing LEDs, by twisting the wires together as needed.
Tyler says:
July 15, 2010 at 2:43 pm (UTC -4 )
Hi, I was wondering what sort of circuit module you are using in this setup. Could you explain what this part does?
beth says:
August 18, 2010 at 10:10 am (UTC -4 )
i am also curious as to what the circuit module does and why dont you need it for your basic hoop circuit using the regular (nonrecharging) battery?
thanks!
prodmod says:
August 18, 2010 at 10:47 pm (UTC -4 )
This little circuit boosts your 1.2V or 1.5V AA battery up to around 3 Volts so that you can power the LEDs.
The non rechargeable battery is already 3.6V so it doesn’t need a boost circuit.
Tyler says:
August 23, 2010 at 10:50 am (UTC -4 )
Interesting — so couldn’t you just link two AA batteries together instead? is there a benefit to using the circuit module?
prodmod says:
August 23, 2010 at 12:08 pm (UTC -4 )
Space and voltage. 2 batteries dont fit in tube next to each other. So you’d have to place them in series which takes space away from your leds.
2 alkaline batteries give 3v but not for long, and 2 rechargeable nimh batts only give 2.4v. Not enough for these leds . So the AA circuit also gives u flexibility in addition to space and proper voltage
Gregory says:
April 30, 2011 at 7:06 pm (UTC -4 )
Hey man.
this all seems very do able. but where do i find the circuit module?
prodmod says:
May 19, 2011 at 10:22 pm (UTC -4 )
The AA module circuit alone is not available. You can buy it along with a battery holder for $25 on the accessories page
http://prodmod.com/buy/accessories-and-upgrades/
Frank says:
June 28, 2011 at 4:55 pm (UTC -4 )
What is the optimum nuumber of LEDs to use with your AA MOD to get the best brightness from your LEDs and the longest battery life?