Minimal Display Bases for Lit Acrylic Awards

I’ve been making engraved acrylic awards that pair with a lighted base for several years.  They’re unique, attractive, and popular with racers who like something new.  However, the standard round base is a 3-1/4″ diameter 1-1/2″ tall puck powered by either USB or three AA batteries.  Win a few of these and displaying them all is… problematic!

This issue — and a particular racer who wants to display 25 of them so far — has led me to develop a minimal base system that’s both easier to power many awards and much more functional than the originals.  This base will stand by itself on a flat surface or can be secured with a bit of double-sided tape. It can also be taped to a wall so it floats. They are built to daisy chain using JST SM connectors common to LED lighting: each award base has an input and an output, except the “last one” version which only features an input connector.  Every base has eight addressable LEDs illuminating the award and can display an entire palette of colors.

No matter how many awards you want to display in one location, they’re all operated by a Controller.  This small black box takes input from your power supply and has outputs for the awards and power injection (see below).  An ESP computer running WLED controls the lighting.  From the widely used WLED phone app connecting to the Controller’s WiFi network, you define each award and set colors, brightness, and light patterns for each one. Or all of them at once.  You can also set timers, defaults, and put to Controller on your home network.  It is possible to run many Controllers if you want to.

I do not sell the required 5V power supply.  Sizing the power supply depends on the number of bases you will eventually support.  Each base should have a reserved 500 mA (0.5A), including a safety margin.  A 2A power supply will handle 4 bases, a 5A supply covers 10 bases, and so on.  You can get wall wart and laptop brick style power supplies of 5V up to 15A.  Beyond this (that is, more than 30 bases), you can either use a frame mount power supply or multiple smaller units using a supply break bridge.  DO NOT use a second power supply connected to an injection bridge as this would connect the positive leads of the supplies together.  Frame mount supplies are readily available up to 60A and more.  All power connectors on my components are 5.5×2.5mm female jacks, and you will need a matching male plug.

Longer chains of awards require power injection at least every 10 awards.  This involves wiring from your power source to a point in the chain, and to do that I have 1) equipped the Controller with an injection output and 2) developed an injection bridge that you simply plug in between two awards.  The bridge includes another power output so you can chain that to another injection point.  To inject power, you will need one injection bridge at least every 10 awards AND one or more power extension cables, 5.5×2.5mm male to male… one to reach from power to each injection point.