Shenanigans in series

Howdy,

This puzzling video was posted to my hackerspace's mailing list:

Looking at the schematic, the switches should have the same effect on all the 3 series LEDs. So what's the catch? Simply video editing trickery or is this a clever hack?

Cheers,

Drew

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Tags: puzzle, magic, trick

Eavesdropper

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1. Jan 4, 2012 1:23 PM (in response to Drew Fustini)
Re: Shenanigans in series

That schematic is not the actual schematic. Note at 2:05 an LED glows when the person touches a wire. At 2:14 there seems to be a video jump.

Like all DC electronics, they still work when you cut the power, right?

I am sure the real schematic is much more complicated.

E

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YT2095

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2. Jan 4, 2012 1:32 PM (in response to Drew Fustini)
Re: Shenanigans in series

my GUESS, would be some sort of I2C(ish) usage, the switches simply enabling an Address, but do they even Make I2C LEDs???
eitherway, it`s pretty clever if it`s Not video manipulation, and I can see plenty of neat uses for it

as I typed I wondered if there might have been some sort of SMD/SMT inductor under each led soldered in place, and Osc in the battery pack and the switches to complete a resonant cct, whereby Only the LED with the correct inductor would see power?
again, just a Guess.

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Drew Fustini
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3. Jan 4, 2012 2:26 PM (in response to Eavesdropper)
Re: Shenanigans in series

Good catch on 2:05. It does look like they light up dimly. It seems more than juts lighting in the room reflecting off the lens. And, yeah, I can see how it could be an edit at 2:14 since the hands leave the frame.

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Drew Fustini
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4. Jan 4, 2012 2:37 PM (in response to YT2095)
Re: Shenanigans in series

Even if it's just an editing trick, I've been having fun reading others' ideas of how it could actually be working. The switches are good candidates as they have alot of volume to conceal other components. Inductor idea is interesting, and there's not a high-res closeup of the LEDs to give it away.

Here's one of the ideas I thought was interesting from our hackerspace list - a AC signal generator and diodes:

http://groups.google.com/group/pumping-station-one-public/msg/d6e822998b33cec9

Cheers,
Drew

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YT2095

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5. Jan 6, 2012 7:09 AM (in response to Drew Fustini)
Re: Shenanigans in series

turns out I wasn`t far off!, Just this second posted on Hackaday.

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Drew Fustini
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6. Jan 6, 2012 11:26 AM (in response to YT2095)
Re: Shenanigans in series

very nice, i just came across that link, too. nice job by alan yates (@vk2zay). he does lots of great projects if other haven't seen before: http://www.vk2zay.net/.

cheers,
drew

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Drew Fustini
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7. Jan 6, 2012 11:33 AM (in response to Drew Fustini)
Re: Shenanigans in series

Also just read interesting comment in response to Alan from the guy who made the original video:

http://www.youtube.com/comment?lc=R31N_XwBKEXocmK5RH6mDc5kmD5lOc5IQeoxllzxDoQ

@vk2zay Well, very close….

The main schematic is the same. I just added a few pF to LED3 to have better LC resonance. In my design HF=~8MHz. VLF=~100…200Hz. Both generators built on one 74132 (are hidden in the battery connector…). Congratulations again!

Fredzislaw100

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YT2095

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8. Jan 6, 2012 11:38 AM (in response to Drew Fustini)
Re: Shenanigans in series

I don`t feel so bad about all those years "wasted" playing about with RF now

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