How to Make a Magic Switch Box!

In this tutorial I present to you the construction of a magic box that you can present to your colleagues or friends, having a special impact on them!

Spectators will see how an electric circuit works in an amazing way coordinated by some colored papers! Sounds amazing, doesn't it?

Practice a few times and you can make a real show in front of an audience with this box!

1.Arduino Nano

2 4xSwitch

3 4x220 ohm resistors

4 4xLED

5 Arduino IDE

6 Visuino software

During the demonstration, keep calm and leave sufficient breaks between movements, especially when reset times are necessary as you will see below. How does it work?

1. Whenever the device is powered, (always with the switches in the "off" position), it starts in the learning sequence, starting from LED 1. Place the colored cards in any order you want. One color for the LEDs and one for the switches.

1. Turn on the switches starting from LED color 1 in order up to LED 4. Turn on the corresponding color switch from LED no.1. For example, if led no. 1 has a red card, turn on the switch with the same color first. Next is the color from led no. 2, we turn on the switch with the same color. Then in order 3, 4, following the colors. It is always learned starting from led no.1...4. At this moment the buttons are "learned"and each one will light up in correspondence with the corresponding colored card, and you can turn them off or on in any order you want. If switch No. 1 is switched last to the "off" position and is held in this position for 3 seconds or more, the device enters the learning process again.Move the cards in any order you want, the learning process begins again, and the spectators will be amazed how the lights turn on in a different order.For a successful show, move the cards to the LEDs and to the switches, ask one of the spectators to place them in any order they want. You will be amazed to see how each color on the switch will turn on the corresponding light of the switch color, changing the order.Amazing, right?
2. 
   
3. Before moving on to trick no. 2, turn off switch no. 3, the last one, and wait 3 seconds or more. Let's go to trick no. 2

2. If switch no.3 is turned off last and is kept in the off position for 3 seconds or more, the device goes to trick number no.2. Keep any of the switches off for 4 seconds or more and it becomes inactive. Switch back to the off position and wait 4 seconds or more, it becomes active again. Attention: at this moment of the demonstration, at least one of the switches must be in the "on" position

1. Turn the switches on and off a few times. Leave one of them, any one, in the "off" position and the other 3 in the "on" position. Wait 4 seconds or more, during this time remove the colored cardboard either from the switch or from the corresponding color LED. Put the switch in the on position, and the LED will stop lighting up. Spectators will see that if the color is missing, the LED does not light up. Amazing, right? Let's move on: put the switch in the "off" position again, wait 4 seconds or more, during which you talk to the spectators and put the colored cardboard back. Turn on the switch and amazingly, the light will come back on! The effect is maximum! Practice until you turn off 3 of the lights, turning off the switches in turn and removing the colored cards.
2. Turn the last switch to the "off" position. Remove the colored cardboard. At this moment, none of the LEDs will light up. Turn all the switches to the "on" position and move on to trick no. 3!

3. Turn all 4 switches to the "off" position, wait 5 seconds and the device locks in sequence 1234. You can light the LEDs in any order you want, but only with the switch assigned in front of it, during which you place the colored cards of the LEDs and switches in the same order. The color of led no.1 should be the same as that of switch no.1, the color of led no.2, the same as that of switch no.2, ....and so on until led no.4

1. At this moment you can hand the device to the audience you are giving the demonstration to. It is blocked and can no longer enter any programming sequence and behaves normally like a classic circuit.

4. To unlock, you can remove the battery or turn switch no. 2, 5 times or more consecutively from the off/on position. The other switch must be in the off position. At this moment, the device is active again in switch learning positions.

1. The electrical diagram is extremely simple and requires no explanation. Power the Arduino board on the Vin pin with a 6...12 volt battery.
2. Observe the order of the LEDs and switches.

I assembled everything in a plastic box, drilled holes for the 4 LEDs and the 4 switches. Obviously, you have to hide the contents of the box from the audience. You can choose any other version, you can replace the LEDs with bulbs that you can color and you can move them from the sockets instead of moving the colored papers. Initially, I used colored shrink tubes mounted on the switch lever, but they came out very hard, so I chose the version with colored paper.

1. The code is compiled in the Visuino program, but you can find the code in Arduino IDE format as well as Visuino in the attachment. If you use the Arduino IDE, copy the "Mitov" folder to the Arduino libraries folder on your computer. Find the link for bookstores below.
2. The code has a lot of digital components, timers, flip flops, logic gates, counters. These code components print the methodology for presenting the 4 tricks of the magic box.
3. Load the code into Visuino or Arduino IDE, choose the correct port and load it into the Arduino board.
4. Link to libraries: https://app.box.com/s/pr8lmc4atj1pcmxd332pwrka6papuw4v

1. Connect the battery to the Vin pin of the Arduino board. At this moment, the device is ready for operation, starting with trick no.1
2. Attention: repeat the demonstration scenario several times for sure success. Although it seems like an extremely easy project to do, it has a major impact on the audience in front of whom the trick is presented!

1. 
   
2. I wish you success and I look forward to any questions in the comments section!