LED Color Changing Bird Toy!

by alpe_97 in Living > Pets

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LED Color Changing Bird Toy!

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With a color changing LED, you can make your birds toy more fun! 
Materials:

Soldering gun and solder

Momentary switch (HAS to be able to be pushed with very little force unless your birds weigh a ton)

Battery pack (depends on the LED used)

2 pin color changing LED (out of a garden light)

Wire cutter and stripper

Small wire (Very small. Make sure there is no resistance of the wire and I used magnet wire.)
                    AND/OR other wire.. (Depends on the toy and your cage)

Hot glue gun

Heat shrink

Drill (depends on the toy you want lit up)
                

                 A cage to house the birds and the toys

                 Birds that love colorful objects (and mirrors, in this case)

                 Toys that have a lever like perch
                 (with mirror unless you know another way that can toggle a switch)

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Here are the toys I am talking about.

That orange perch folds/swings down and stops at that position.

I will be using that to toggle the switch.

Place the switch and mark where the switch will be on the white perch.
(I am using the white perch to hold switch up to the fold down perch)

The Switch

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After marking the white perch, take it out of the cage.

Solder two small thin wires on to the switch leads. (I used magnet wire)

Put the smallest dab of hot glue on the switch. Put it on the perch where the mark is.

Drill It.

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The scary part!!

Drill a SMALL hole where the three mirrors come together.

Don't go fast. Put the drill on low speed.

(It is hard to focus with a mirror)

Wire...

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Measure where your bird toy is placed in the cage, from the where you drilled hole(or where you have the LED) of the toy to the bottom of the cage.

Take the conductor out of the insulator.
Now you just have the 'skin' of the old wire.
Take the conductor from the insulator and use it for breadboard jumping... or something else. Let us reuse!

Cut the insulator about 5 inches apart from each other...
It is hard to string the magnet wire through the insulator at great length.

Now string the new magnet wire through. Do that two times... (See images)


Soldering the LED...

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Fish the wire into the hole you made in the mirror (or other special toy)

Solder on the lead, from the wire, to one of the color changing LED.

Take another wire and take out the conductor. (make it a small wire too)
Slide it on the power wire and then solder the other power wire to the LED. 
The insulator of the wire, you just took off, acts like a very small heat shrink. (Don't heat it! It won't shrink)
Make sure nothing touches that should not be touching.

Bend the color changing LED over so it is not in your best friends face, your pet bird! 

Put an extremely small dab of hot glue behind it to hold it in place. (Not shown in image)

Wire the Switch...

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So the bird toy that you want the LED on, measure down to where the bird perch is (With the switch)

Hopefully where you cut the insulator 5 inches apart is close to where the bird perch is.

Pull the insulator apart containing the two wires. Take one wire and cut it.

Heat shrink the switch wires.

Solder the two switch wires to the one wire you cut.

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First, hook up the big mirror with the LED.

Second, hang the other mirror with the lever perch.

Third, place the white perch under the orange perch. (Make sure the switch will be pressed when the bird is on the perch.

Continue wiring. 

Wire the line down the cage.

Connect to the battery pack. It depends on the LED which voltage you need.

You are done. Continue to see bird photos!!
Thanks for surviving the instructable!

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I just held down the shutter button...