Disco lights DIY

Why??? They are so cheap these days compared to what they used to cost, why would you even bother to build your own fixtures? You will have more invested in parts and time then just buying them outright.

I did build some disco lights in 1990′s. Nowadays you can buy many disco lights more cheaply than you could buy the components. DIY is makes often sense only as a learning experience or if you need something really special that is not available ready made (and can cost time and money to make). Here is my small light control board that consists of two 300W light dimmers.

One device I used a lot was a color organ circuit to control your light colors with sound frequencies, lows, mids and highs on different colors. Microphone, pre amp, frequency filters and a switch to flash different color lights based on the music frequency. I used an older version (slightly different case) of Velleman K8017 kit that controlled a set of 230V 150W halogen floodlights with color filters. If you are building light organs nowadays, it might be a good idea to have a LED color organ circuit powered with safer low voltage.

For single channel light dimming I built aDC-OHJATTU HIMMENNIN K8064. When I needed more channels, I built Four channel dimmer rack based on Velleman K2634 Quad Triac Card Kit. I used the same Velleman K2634 Quad Triac Card Kit to build a four channel light switch box that could be controlled with 5V or 10V on/off control signals.

Here are links to some circuits I have used:

https://www.epanorama.net/index2.php?section=circuits&index=light

Archive of disco Light circuits plans from “Canada’s largest manufacturer of disco lighting controllers in the 70s.”
https://www.epanorama.net/schematicsforfree/Lights/index.php

DMX allows you to control lights further though, like a full stage system
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2019/10/20/enttec-open-dmx-diy/

DMX 512 control board DMX 192 repair
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2021/03/15/dmx-512-control-board-dmx-192-repair/

Enttec Open DMX DIY
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2019/10/20/enttec-open-dmx-diy/

Four channel DMX-512 light dimmer
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2016/06/13/four-channel-dmx-512-light-dimmer/

DMX-512 decoder for RGB LED
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2017/03/07/dmx-512-decoder-for-rgb-led/

DMX-512 led light teardown
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2019/10/16/dmx-512-led-light-teardown/

LED DMX-512 lamp teardown
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2019/10/21/led-dmx-512-lamp-teardown/

Amplifier rack
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2021/06/19/pa-amplifier-rack/