Spinning Goal Red Light

I have choosen my first Arduino project.

I am going to replicate the Budweiser goal light (MacArthur's Budweiser Red Light Goal - No Lag - Feb 23rd 2013 (HD) - YouTube)

I haven't built anything before but I have a pretty strong programming background so I think I should be able to figure it out as I go.

Not sure where people typically start with projects but the biggest knowledge gap for me is the physical components.

I am thinking that I have three options on the physical side...

  1. Get a working goal lamp from somewhere and then just trigger the lamp with a relay from the arduino
  2. 3D print a goal lamp and base and then line the inside with a few levels of LED strips and fake the rotation by triggering the LED strips in a circular pattern
  3. 3D print a goal lamp and base and have one bright LED and somehow spin a LED to get a real circular light

#1 and #2 seem feasible to me however option #3 seems too difficult as I would have to worry about how to power a LED that is spinning without tangling wires.

Thoughts?

Can I get away with not 3D printing somehow for option #2/#3?

Get creative!

Don't spin the LED, shine it on a mirror and spin the mirror.

If not, what you want to do a spinning light is called a slip ring, which allows electricity to go to a rotating part. You could probably make one or salvage one from something else that spins.

If you can't get the right color LED, use a white one, and filter it through colored plastic wrap, or other translucent material to get the color you want.

Don't have to 3D print, just salvage something already close to what you want. Look for cheap toys with spinning lights on them, and hack that. Check the dollar store.

You could get a mechanics work light http://www.harborfreight.com/drop-light-3489.html and
use it for parts. Maybe there's one at a thrift store or at a garage sale.

Half the fun of projects like this is figuring out inventive ways to get the parts you need without having to buy custom (expensive) parts. Unless you happen to already own a 3D printer, of course.

Have fun,

Thanks for the response...got me thinking and there are lots of red revolving lights on ebay that are super cheap.

e.g. DC24V Red LED Rotating Warning Light Industrial Signal Tower Lamp | eBay

That takes away like 90% of the physical crap that scares me. The only physical thing I would need to build is a base after that. Could go wood or something that is easy to work with for the base pretty easily.

Thanks for mentioning the slip ring too as I wasn't sure how people solved that problem.

That looks like a regular flashing beacon, and as far as I can tell the old ones like that were implemented with a rotating mirror moving round a fixed lamp, and the newer ones are implemented by a strobe. That part seems to me like fairly mundane technology that you should be able to buy cheaply. I'm more perplexed by how the system detected the goal being scored. Any idea how that's achieved?

Yup...have some ideas.

From an architecture standpoint I will have a Ruby on Rails or Node.js server running on a dedicated host. That server will have three jobs...

  1. Build a list of proxy servers from the free proxy directories and qualify that they work then add them to the working list
  2. Using said proxy servers scrape NHL scores every second or 0.5 a second from a scoreboard page (there are several candidates and I would be violating the TOS of any of them I am sure so that is why I want the proxies...the more I have the more often I can refresh the score)
  3. Maintain an open websocket to the arduino and on a goal send an event

The Budweiser one suffers from lag (e.g. goal is scored then like 10 seconds later the light goes off) so I think that is going to be my biggest problem. I think using websockets will reduce the communication lag and the every second or 0.5 a second scoreboard refresh should reduce the lag to like 1.5 seconds for total communication. The part that will likely create the most lag will be the scoreboard source actually updating...not much that can be done about that though I am afraid just have to choose the best source I can or maybe use multiple sources.

Hi, I know its been ages since you posted this but am very curious how you made out and have some very noob questions for my similar project. I want to use a wemos d1 mini hard wired to a Bud goal light to automate my lights within Hoe Assistant. I actually had it working for 15 minutes but fried the wemos as I am learning as I go. I think my error was using a digital GPIO instead of the analogue as I am only using the speaker current as the device automation trigger. But I also have questions while I wait for a new Wemos. I know thee max is 3.3V on the analog pin, but the speaker voltage is AC, does it have to be DC? I have a great system so far using Home Assistant NHL api, but having it automated right from the device will be 10-20 seconds better! youtube video here: #26 Budweiser goal light automation with Home Assistant - YouTube