LED Owl and 5 LED Pumpkins Sing Raffi

We already had plans for 5 LED pumpkins, when Raffi's newly released Owl Sing Along song created the need to quickly animate a Dalen plastic backyard owl for Halloween. Here the LED-eyed owl leads a band of 5 LED pumpkins. Vocals by the Great LED Light Bulb pumpkin, joined by two LED flickering pumpkins and the tiny Snap-O-Lantern courtesy the EvilMadScientist.com. Joining the rotation is the Great Pie Tin Pumpkin, a work in progress.

Supplies:

Dalen plastic Owl Scarecrow

LilyPad white LED's (Sparkfun)

LilyTiny for blinky eyes (Sparkfun Pre-Progtrammed ATtiny chip)

LED Flicking Light Pumpkin Kits (EvilMadScientist.com)

Snap-O-Lantern Kit (EvilMadScientist.com)

Great LED Light Bulb Pumpkin (with Flux Smart Bulb - see Instructable)

Great Pie Tin Pumpkin with GE iTwinkle Lights (future Instructable)

We borrowed a basic Dalen plastic owl at the last minute, but these are widely available (eg; Amazon.com).

Positive and negative lead wires were soldered to each of two white LilyPad LED's available from SparkFun. Note that the LilyPad LED's already have resistors on their small, round PC board. A nominal 1/8-inch hole was drilled into the plastic behind each removable eye on the Dalen owl. The lead wires were passed thru the hollow body of the owl and soldered onto a LilyTiny chip at the #0 connection which provides a pre-programmed fading/blinking action. A rechargeable lithium battery (3.7 volt) was used for power to the LilyTiny chip.

As far as wiring logic, the positive leads from both LEDs were soldered onto the #0 connection of the LilyTiny. The negative leads from both LEDs were soldered onto the Negative connection of the LilyTiny. The battery positive and negative leads are soldered onto the Positive and Negative connections of the LilyTiny.

The completed LilyTiny/battery assembly is easily hidden away inside the body of the owl, which can then be put on a stake.

This display consists of three music-activated color changing LED products: two Flux LED bulbs (one inside each large pumpkin) and the GE iTwinkle holiday lights (all Bluetooth versions). However, the pie tin pumpkin was set to constant orange outside lights, constant purple inside light. There's a spider on the face of the LED bulb pumpkin, consistent with the tunes selected.

Raffi song medley used on iPad for Halloween pumpkin animation:

Five Little Pumpkins

Owl Sing Along (new release)

Spider on the Floor

Skin and Bones