Animated Noel Sign

Here's a project that's easy and fun to do... It makes a very large animated sign -- nearly an entire garage door width.

Materials:

• An old mattress spring from a queen-size bed
• 9-gauge galvanized wire (Lowes)
• Rope Light
• MetalCast paint (to paint the rope light)
• Black electrical tape
• Zip ties
• 675-Plus or other controller

Assembly:

• Dismantle the mattress to get the large spring grid frame that's the foundation for the mattress.
• Shape 3 bells out of the 9-gauge wire; weld each bell together, but keep the bells separate.
• Wrap the rope light onto the mattress frame to spell out "Noel." We decided cursive was easier than block lettering.
• Zip-tie the rope light to the frame. Use the black electrical tape to cover sections you don't want to show.
• Zip-tie rope light onto each bell.
• Zip-tie the bells to the frame - overlap how you like.
• Mount the controller, wire the 675-Plus's outputs to the bells and the "Noel" text.
• Set the 675's firmware to turn channel 1 on continuously (for "Noel") and animate only channels 2-3-4. When the 675 is powered on, it will light and keep "Noel" on but animate the 3 bells.
• Spray the rope light with MetalCast paint if you want bright colors.

Noel Sign Firmware for the 12F675 chip (both asm and HEX files included)

File:NoelSign675Firmware.zip

• Note

The DIGWDF 675 controller is not a necessity -- one could just as easily use any AC controller (for AC ropelight) or DC controller (for LED ropelight) that allowed individual circuit control. In this build, four "channels" were used: one for the "NOEL" and three for the three bells. Any controller that has 4-channel capability could suffice to control this display.

Photos: