Back in 2022 I had this idea to build an LED Firework and I created one using some drop ceiling wire and other things. It did come out decent, but is not very easy to reassemble when taken apart and was not a uniformed design.
In 2023 some people were asking about making fireworks and someone was showing their process of building theirs in the xLights Support Group on Facebook and was asking about using WLED to control it. I gave them some info on using WLED for their effects and provided them my presets file for them to work off of. She completed the project and posted a build video on youtube . After seeing how she used a porcupine ball as the hub of her firework I decided to redesign mine, building off my past creation and off of hers. This new design has turned out amazingly well and is reasonably easy to build. For anyone interested I have provided a zip file that includes a pdf instruction sheet with pix of the process including all parts needed and my WLED presets file that should work as long as you use the same # of LEDs and use a 30 LED per meter 5m strip (150 LEDs) as your firework launch trail.
My design incorporates wiring for each spike to be wired in parallel (for WLED) or wired in series (for xLights advanced modeling). There are a total of 950 seed pixels on the firework + another 150 for a 5m - 30 per meter launch trail/tail. For a total of 1,100 pixels.
This project is very neat. I work for a small town and I was googling LED fireworks just in hopes that I could make something to go on our streetlights during the 4th of July. Think of how towns hang christmas bells or different things on streetlights during the holidays. I came across your videos on this forum and its exactly what I would like to make. I can follow along with pdf in the zip folder. How are they programmed after you build them? I have never done LED lighting controls. Thanks for any help, and again awesome project!
If you were to make them the same size as the one that I made you should be able to just import the presets file into WLED and play the playlist that gets imported.
If you change the size and use more or less LEDs you would need to either make your own presets and put them all into a playlist or to edit the # of LEDs in the fireworkpresets.json file with a text editor and then import the edited file into WLED.
If you need any more info feel free to ask
If planning to do something like this on a more commercial scale with several fireworks you may want to look at Mattos’s offering: 🦑 Kraken Rigid System – Rigid 25 Tube Starter Kit 🎇 – Mattos Designs LLC
-The only problem then would be programming as all the LEDs would be in series, so you would be better off programming it in xLights if going with the Mattos system.
If you want to make something smaller or to use something stronger than the porcupine fish ball that I used you could use something like this for the center hub:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804594301754.html This is still 26 holes but they are M10 thread (if I remember right). I have one and was thinking of one day maybe creating another using quick connects for like air hoses. (that is actually how the Mattos ones connect)
Here is another option with less holes (18). The good news is they are a common 3/8-16 thread and could be more easily adapted to air hose quick connects: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805261079591.html (I do not own one of these yet)
