LED Parachuties

A LED Parachutie is basically a LED Throwie with a small parachute attached to it. You can toss it out from a tall building, bridge, mountain etc.
When it's dark, you don't see the parachute itself, but only a flying light. It looks pretty cool.

This is a great little project for kids, since it's easy to make and it doesn't require any soldering.

Here is some videos. It looks much better in reality than it does in the video.



I'm sorry for the bad video, but a car drove by, when the LED Parachutie was going to land.

NOTE: The annoying "rrrrrrrrrr" sound in the video is just my camera, when it zooms.



The parachute used in this video was thicker and heavier than the one used in the other video. That's the reason why it descents faster than the one in the other video.

You can control the speed of the descent by changing the size of the parachute. The bigger the parachute the longer "hang time" in the air.

To make one LED Parachutie you'll need:

• A LED. Use any size and color you like. I used a 5mm superbright blue diffused LED.
• A 3V Lithium coincell battery. These are available in many different sizes. The most common though is the CR2032 which is also the type used in the original LED Throwies.
• Some tape.
• A chewed chewing gum or a small piece of clay (a chewing gum works best).
• A garbage bag.
• Some sewing thread.

In this step, I'll show you how to make the parachute. It couldn't be much simpler. Just grab a garbage bag and cut out a square using a pair of scissors. Remember that the size of the parachute determines the descent rate. I cut a 50x50cm (20x20 inches) square, which gives a nice and slow descent rate without being too big.

In this step, I'll show you how to add the 4 pieces of sewing thread to your parachute. You'll need to cut out 4 pieces of sewing thread. Cut them in the same length as the width of your parachute. In my case, it's 50cm (20 inches).

Move your mouse over the yellow boxes on the pictures to get a more detailed instruction.

In this step I'll show you how to make a LED Throwie. Well. It's not really a throwie, since it doesn't have any magnet attached to it, but it's almost the same.

In this step, I'll show you how to finish your LED Parachutie by attaching the LED Throwie to your parachute. It's very easy. just take a look at the pictures.

Congratulations. You've now made a LED Parachutie. Now find a place high above the ground and set it free. It looks really awesome.