The Stranger Things light wall, from two chips
Six coloured LEDs light one at a time in a loop, like the Christmas light wall in Stranger Things. A 555 timer and a counter.
Free build sheet
The parts, every wire with its length and bend points, a bend guide, both sides of the board and checkboxes to track your progress. Print it or keep it open at the bench.
Open the build sheetWhat you need
13 parts on a perfboard 17 × 28 holes, plus hookup wire.
| Qty | Part | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Electrolytic Cap10uF C1 | Buy Electrolytic Cap on Amazon |
| 1 | Power Input (2-pin) J1 | |
| 1 | LEDRed LED1 | Buy LED on Amazon |
| 1 | LEDYellow LED2 | Buy LED on Amazon |
| 1 | LEDBlue LED3 | Buy LED on Amazon |
| 1 | LEDGreen LED4 | Buy LED on Amazon |
| 1 | LEDOrange LED5 | Buy LED on Amazon |
| 1 | LEDPink LED6 | Buy LED on Amazon |
| 1 | Resistor (axial)1k R1 | Buy Resistor (axial) on Amazon |
| 1 | Resistor (axial)10k R2 | Buy Resistor (axial) on Amazon |
| 1 | Resistor (axial)47k R3 | Buy Resistor (axial) on Amazon |
| 1 | DIP-16 U1 | |
| 1 | DIP-8 U2 |
Check every pin against the datasheet of the exact part in your hands before wiring.
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Cut list
28 wires, 725 mm (28.5 in) in total, in the order the build sheet cuts them. Wire numbers match the build sheet. Each length includes 5 mm per end to go through the hole.
| Wire | Colour and net | Length | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | BlackLEDK H9 → F9 | H9 → F9 | 15mm | Straight |
| 12 | BlackDISCH I24 → E24 | I24 → E24 | 20mm | Straight |
| 24 | BlackGND O9 → L12 | O9 → L12 | 21mm | Straight |
| 6 | BlackQ3 J4 → J11 | J4 → J11 | 28mm | Straight |
| 17 | BlueLEDK K6 → J9 | K6 → J9 | 20mm | 13mm (90°) |
| 5 | BlueQ0 F4 → F11 | F4 → F11 | 28mm | Straight |
| 23 | Blue9V K20 → N25 | K20 → N25 | 30mm | 18mm (90°) |
| 11 | BlueTIMING N20 → E20 | N20 → E20 | 38mm | 8mm (90°), 30mm (90°) |
| 16 | GreenLEDK F5 → D5 | F5 → D5 | 15mm | Straight |
| 4 | GreenQ2 H8 → G11 | H8 → G11 | 20mm | 8mm (90°) |
| 10 | GreenTIMING L25 → F24 | L25 → F24 | 28mm | 20mm (90°) |
| 22 | Green9V C23 → C14 | C23 → C14 | 33mm | Straight |
| 28 | GreenGND M22 → D20 | M22 → D20 | 38mm | 18mm (90°), 23mm (90°) |
| 1 | RedQ1 D8 → E11 | D8 → E11 | 20mm | 13mm (90°) |
| 19 | RedLEDK I10 → M10 | I10 → M10 | 20mm | Straight |
| 13 | RedDISCH K24 → L19 | K24 → L19 | 25mm | 18mm (90°) |
| 7 | RedQ5 B4 → C12 | B4 → C12 | 33mm | 25mm (90°) |
| 25 | RedGND K11 → G15 | K11 → G15 | 40mm | 10mm (90°), 20mm (90°) |
| 15 | WhiteLEDK J5 → H5 | J5 → H5 | 15mm | Straight |
| 9 | WhiteTIMING M24 → M21 | M24 → M21 | 18mm | Straight |
| 27 | WhiteGND N23 → O25 | N23 → O25 | 18mm | 8mm (90°) |
| 21 | White9V H21 → D24 | H21 → D24 | 28mm | 13mm (90°) |
| 3 | WhiteRST H11 → E15 | H11 → E15 | 38mm | 18mm (90°), 28mm (90°) |
| 20 | Yellow9V I20 → G20 | I20 → G20 | 15mm | Straight |
| 14 | YellowLEDK N4 → L5 | N4 → L5 | 18mm | 10mm (90°) |
| 2 | YellowCLK F20 → F15 | F20 → F15 | 23mm | Straight |
| 8 | YellowQ4 L8 → J15 | L8 → J15 | 33mm | 23mm (90°) |
| 26 | YellowGND P8 → O22 | P8 → O22 | 48mm | 41mm (90°) |
About this build
A recreation of the Christmas light wall effect from Stranger Things, built from two chips. A 555 timer clocks a CD4017 decade counter, and each count lights the next of six LEDs, one at a time, like the wall spelling out a message.
The counter's seventh output wires back to its reset, so it loops through the six lights forever. The LEDs are red, yellow, blue, green, orange and pink, and since only one is lit at a time they share one 1k resistor. A 10k and a 47k resistor with a 10uF cap set the speed, and it runs on 9V.
This is a bench recreation of the effect, not a claim about how the show made it. Stranger Things is a trademark of its owners, and PerfBoard is not affiliated with or endorsed by Netflix or the show's makers.
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