The Fibonacci earrings are now available with a rechargeable super capacitor: Click here -> rechargeable super capacitor

What is it?

These earrings are remarkable. 104 LED's are strategically placed by using the golden angle. The Fibonacci numbers are used to create different spirals and can be combined to create a phenomenal light show from just this small piece of jewelry. This piece of art meets all the needs of the math fanatics, tech guru's and EDM lovers that are looking for a wearable that makes them stand out in the crowd. Literally in the heart of this earring is a powerful micro-controller. Power is delivered by the two size 675 zinc-air coin cell batteries. These batteries are commonly used in hearing aid, and widely available. On the back of the earring a push button can be used to change settings. In manual mode the user first selects one of the Fibonacci number; 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34. Next the number of spirals is selected, and the clockwise or counter clockwise direction. In the last two steps the speed and brightness can be changed. In theory up to 2560 different combinations are possible! Besides the manual mode there are 3 different auto modes:

• Demo mode shows a sequence of pre-programmed spiral patterns.
• Random mode creates the spiral patterns, speed and brightness randomly.
• Party mode is very similar to the random mode, but in this mode the patterns change at 120 BPM to synchronize with most EDM music.

Why did you make it?

I have seen Fibonacci LED rings before where Neopixels were used. Unfortunately the power consumption of neopixels and the voltage forwarding required for the blue LED's in the neopixels are too high to work of some coin cell batteries, so instead I decided to make it with regular LED's. While I was studying some sunflowers, where the Fibonacci sequence and golden angle can be applied to the pattern, I noticed that the spirals within the pattern would be perfect for an LED matrix. I mentioned it in the KiCAD forum on Facebook and someone responded with: "So will you do it?", so I had to make it.

What makes it special?

The entire pattern is a large 8x13 LED matrix, resulting in 104 LED's which can be controlled individually. I was expecting a higher power consumption than the previous earrings I designed, so I changed the power source to Zinc-Air instead of Lithium coin cells. But since the voltage of a single Zinc-Air battery is too low I had to place two in series. I was a little off about the power consumption and as a result you can run these earrings from a single pair of batteries for about a month. The 120 BPM mode is pretty cool since it cycles through 4 different patterns randomly and updates every 4 seconds to a different pattern to give it a festival style light show that seems to be in sync with them music.

Specifications

Diameter dimension: 29mm (1-1/8")

Weight with batteries: 6.5 gram (0.23 oz), slightly more than a US quarter, but less than the One Euro coin

Micro-Controller: ATtiny1617

Batteries: 2x size 675 zinc-air hearing aid batteries for each side

Battery life: up to 1000 hours* (yes, I over-engineered the batteries ... )

I have been testing these earrings with the same batteries for weeks, and they just keep going. Zinc-air is used, instead of lithium batteries I usually use, because of the higher energy capacity. Unfortunately zinc-air batteries "dry out" over time, so wear these this summer daily, but don't expect these to work after storing the batteries for a year. Fortunately the hearing aid batteries are widely available in most drugstores.