• Connect Sparkle to the battery holder using conductive thread, conductive paint, or regular wire.
• Use two seperate threads, one for plus and one for minus.
• Go through each hole 4-6 times to make a good connection, not just once
• Make sure there is no short circuit
• Insert a 3 volt battery. It should start flashing.

• Next, with the power on, add the two LEDs on the left.
• The one closest to Sparkle has its + side up, and the outer one has its + side down.
• Use two seperate threads, one for plus and one for minus.
• Make sure these two LEDs are also flashing before adding the two on the right.
• You can use other LEDs, up to 20, in any color combination.

surface mount use with conductive paint and paper based projects	LED board the default flat and easy to sew	LED sequin elegant look, a bit brittle need sewing expertise	5mm LED more visible from a distance commonly available

 

 

The tiny red light never goes all the way off: it stays on when Sparkle is running, flashes rapidly when waiting for a program, and flashes once per second while sleeping. If you cannot see this light at all, try a fresh battery and double-check your connections. Look for places where two threads might be touching.

If you can't quickly figure it out, it's best to totally undo the circuit, and sew only two things: Sparkle, and battery. Once this works, you can start adding other leds, one by one, testing each time you add one.

 

In this case, the first thing to do would be to reset Sparkle, to make Sparkle's center light flash:

turn Sparkle over connect the plus and minus holes to a 3V battery briefly connect the reset pad to the reset hole with tweezers or needle wait 1 second repeat steps 1-3 until Sparkle's center flashes again You can do this even after the project is sewn down, just use a pair of tweezers.

 

 

• Hold your pinky, a needle, or tweezers to the strip under the tiny red LED
• After 1 second, the tiny red LED should start flashing
• Keep your finger on the touch strip for more than 1 second
• The red LED will fade off, and Sparkle will go to sleep
• Press the touch strip again to wake it up.
• Check out the video for more

• Hold your pinky, a needle, or tweezers to the strip under the tiny red LED.
• After 1 second, the tiny red LED should start flashing.
• Put Sparkle in front of the icon on the screen and press send.
• Check out the video for more

The touch strip measures the capacitance in your finger. It might help to use a needle or paperclip for better contact. Moistening your finger works too.

• Hold Sparkle closer to the screen.
• Make the screen brighter or change the contrast.
• Dim the lights; a brightly lit environment overpowers the sensor.
• If your web browser is playing a video or doing some other activity, it throws off the timing.
  Close all other browser windows and see if this solves the problem.

Choose a flashing pattern and speed from the NORMAL side.
The SPECIAL menu doesn't work in basic mode.
 

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You can also use Airtext in this mode to create a persistence-of-vision (DISPLAY).

... more coming soon...

 
 

• Connect Sparkle to the battery holder using conductive thread, conductive paint, or regular wire.
• Use two seperate threads, one for plus and one for minus.
• Make sure there is no short circuit
• Insert a 3 volt battery. It should start flashing.

while it's still connected to the battery, turn Sparkle over briefly connect the reset pad to the reset hole with tweezers or needle wait 1 second repeat steps 1-3 until Sparkle's center stops, but the tiny red LED stays on You can do this even after the project is sewn down, just use a pair of tweezers.

• Next, with the power on, add a lightboard (with single dot) to the right of Sparkle
• Use two seperate threads, one for plus and one for minus.
• Make sure lightboard plus is connected to the top right hole on Sparkle
• Make sure lightboard minus is connected to the bottom right hole on Sparkle
• Go through each holes 4-6 times to make a good connection, not just once
• When this lightboard is flashing, add the other lightboards in the same way

• You can connect lightboards on either side of Sparkle
• You can use up to 20 lightboards, in any color combination.
• For sensors, the text is the plus side

This system uses the same pair of wires to connect all the pieces, which reduces the chances of short circuits - very important for a 3-dimensional medium like clothing. As a result, these sensors work only with lightboards, not with regular LEDs, and you can use only compatible components (most likely from our store). Furthermore, this mode uses up more energy, so you'd need a large CR2032 battery or 2 AA batteries in series. 3 volts only.

The tiny red light never goes all the way off: it stays on when Sparkle is running, flashes rapidly when waiting for a program, and flashes once per second while sleeping. If you cannot see this light at all, try a fresh battery and double-check your connections. Look for places where two threads might be touching.

Look to make sure all the lightboards have their pluses connected to the top left (or top right) holes on Sparkle, and their minuses to the bottom left (or bottom right) hole on Sparkle. Do the same for sensors: for sensors, the text indicates plus.

If you can't quickly figure it out, it's best to totally undo the circuit, and sew only two things: Sparkle, and battery. Once this works, you can start adding other lightboards, one by one, testing each time you add one.

 

In this case, the first thing to do would be to reset Sparkle, to make Sparkle's center light STOP flashing. You want only the tiny red LED to be lit.

turn Sparkle over connect the plus and minus holes to a 3V battery briefly connect the reset pad to the reset hole with tweezers or needle wait 1 second repeat steps 1-3 until Sparkle's center stops, but the lightboards flash You can do this even after the project is sewn down, just use a pair of tweezers.

 

 

 

Sound, light, temperature, custom (connect to fabric sensors), accelerometer, and touch.

 
 

You can use one sensor from this picture AND one touch switch in a project, but not two sensors at the same time.

The custom sensor senses resistance, so you can connect (e.g.) resistive fabric to the two holes to make a pressure sensor, or stretch sensor. Its built in resistance is 100 kilo-ohms.

The accelerometer normally measures movement, but if you connect these two holes, it will detect 1 of 6 orientations. Tutorial coming soon.

With this switch, Sparkle can react to your touch. You can also connect the hole on the side to a patch of conductive cloth to create a larger touch pad.

Because sensors need to communicate with Sparkle, we have to use lightboards  instead of plain LEDs or sequins. Each one has an ID (1-5), marked by the number of strokes or dots it has. Connect up to 20 in any color combination.

 

 

• Hold your pinky, a needle, or tweezers to the strip under the tiny red LED
• After 1 second, the tiny red LED should start flashing
• Keep your finger on the touch strip for more than 1 second
• The red LED will fade off, and Sparkle will go to sleep
• Press the touch strip again to wake it up.
• Check out the video for more

• Hold your pinky, a needle, or tweezers to the strip under the tiny red LED.
• After 1 second, the tiny red LED should start flashing.
• Put Sparkle in front of the icon on the screen and press send.
• Check out the video for more

The touch strip measures the capacitance in your finger. It might help to use a needle or paperclip for better contact. Moistening your finger works too.

• Hold Sparkle closer to the screen.
• Make the screen brighter or change the contrast.
• Dim the lights; a brightly lit environment overpowers the sensor.
• If your web browser is playing a video or doing some other activity, it throws off the timing.
  Close all other browser windows and see if this solves the problem.

Choose a flashing pattern and speed from the NORMAL side. Then choose a pattern, speed, and repetition from the SPECIAL side.
 

 

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To make Sparkle act like a sensor meter (turn on more lights when there's lounder sound or higher temperatures), choose this screen.  
 
 
 

Detect a wide range, like completely dark to very bright.	Detect a small range, like changes in room temperature.	Set a high threshold, so Sparkle responds only when it gets really loud.

Turn on only one light at a time.	Turn on multiple lights, like a sound meter.	Turn off the lights as the sensor gets louder.
Light up to match the current sensor value.	Light up briefly only when there is change in sensor value.

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There is also a textual programming language, so you could write simple programs like these:  
 

(always   (if (touched)     (twinkle 2)     (center 30))	(always   (if (> sensor 5)     (twinkle 2)     (center 30))
This tells Sparkle to do the twinkle action when you touch the touch sensor, otherwise glow its center light slowly (30-second duration).	This tells Sparkle to do the twinkle action when the sensor level rises above 5, otherwise glow its center light slowly (30-second duration). It doesn't matter if it's a sound sensor, light sensor, or accelerometer; the lights will flash when the level of sound, light, or motion rises above a certain threshold (the minimum is 1 and the maximum is 10).

 
Get more in-depth with programming.