A quick visit to AliExpress confirms that LED earrings have wide availability, and they cost no more than a dollar a pair, but their design is just a single LED with a fake gem on top. Mitxela on YouTube decided he could optimize those earrings, and created an LED matrix of 52 lights using the 0201 format. The most impressive thing? Mitxela didn't think twice when correcting an LED manually…
The concept of wearables or wearable devices goes far beyond the smartwatches marketed by big brands. For years, DIY enthusiasts have shared all kinds of projects including LED lights, electroluminescent cables, and battery packs directly integrated into clothing, but the advantages in miniaturization have given rise to ready-to-use products, and among them, LED earrings stand out.
Now… the truth is that there is no great science behind its design. All they need is a battery, a resistor, an LED, and some kind of switch to control its operation. However, Mitxela on YouTube (whom we remember for building a video game console with an oscilloscope, and the best 'worst' steampunk HDMI screen in the world) has been experimenting with LED jewelry in recent months, and his latest project was to place an entire LED matrix in the earrings.
A 52-LED Matrix in a Single Earring
Mitxela's goal is quite clear: take one of those LED earrings sold online, remove the fake gem, and replace the factory LED with an entire matrix using 0201 LEDs. Don't let the number fool you: 0201 LEDs measure 0.65 x 0.35 x 0.20 millimeters, and working with them freehand is a true electronic nightmare. So how did Mitxela install a total of 52 LEDs on a custom PCB 9 millimeters in diameter? With a robotic pick and place system. Although it's not exactly accessible to the average hobbyist, we must recognize that it has dropped a lot in price (the model Mitxela uses here costs $3,600 including shipping).
The rest of the hardware was integrated with a second PCB, so the new earring is a kind of sandwich, with LEDs in front and the controller in the back. The pick and place machine is impressive and works perfectly even exceeding its original specifications. The tricky part for Mitxela was applying the paste: the stencil didn't help, and the lack of uniformity affected (a little) the alignment of the LEDs. To finish, one of the LEDs came off the pads, and Mitxela reinstalled it by improvising a micro-soldering iron with a piece of copper. I have to try that trick.
Official project site: Click here
