[Andy’s] manager just recently returned from a trip to Disneyland with a set of light-up [Mickey Mouse] ears in tow. He stated that during the event, every set of “Glow with the Show” ears in the crowd altered colors in sync with the performance. After he as well as some colleagues speculated on exactly how this was pulled off, [Andy’s] manager provided him a new task – to discover out exactly how the darned things work!

[Andy] very carefully disassembled the ears, sharing his findings as well as speculations with us. Inside, he discovered a little versatile circuit card powered by three AAA batteries. At the center of the gadget resides a TI MSP430G2553 which is tasked with controlling the RGB LEDs embedded in the ears.

In one ear, he identified what he believes to be a Vishay TSMP6000 IR receiver. Vishay-branded or not, he verified that it does undoubtedly pick up IR signals utilizing his oscilloscope as well as a TV remote. In the other ear, he discovered a pair of little IR diodes, which he speculates are utilized to repeat the IR timing/sync signal got in the opposite side of the device.

The synchronization techniques seem totally different than those discovered in the Xylobands we covered a while back, so we’re truly interested to discover out a lot more about innovation behind them.

Stick around to see a video of the light show in action, as well as considering that [Andy] states he’s ready to entertain any type of thoughts on exactly how Disney makes their magic happen, be sure to noise off in the comments.