My main concern would be the skin elasticity pressing the button itself when it’s not wanted
I don’t see why you couldn’t make a button in an implant though, I just don’t see it working well
Ah, well, that is a little bit more than a single LED and out of my range of knowledge in this case
On the topic of weird LED ideas for implants, does anyone know the size of the LED chip used in the xSIID or similar?
There are some really small fast-flashing style RGB LEDs available now, and an RGB implant would make for just about the ultimate party trick
The problem I see is that things like momentary buttons and reed switches need to be powered while being activated since they momentarily divert current. This means you would need to be activating the switch while scanning the implant which would be awkward.
I’ve also thought about things like micro switches and flexible dome cap push buttons under our flex material. I think it’s totally possible but has not been tested yet. Part of the problem is that these buttons don’t have a latching feature, or at least none that I’ve seen… so basically if you wanted to use a button to enable a chip for example you would have to hold it while being scanned and that presents kind of a space and logistics problem. It would be cool if you could click a switch on and then scan your chip and then click it off again in a way that was totally mechanical.
You’re not thinking it through: with a latching reed switch, you provide the function, it’s sealed and safe and - most importantly - you incentivize the customer to buy the implantable control accessory: a Titan magnet
Yeah and those glass switches are void inside and extremely fragile. I wouldn’t want to implant something like that as-is. Maybe a reinforced glass enclosure of some kind…
a larger surface of your skin sepparated from the flesh
a larger area to suffer blunt force trauma
a single point of failure
vulnerability to smearing force
a single draw for all the chips
Could be done, but I would go down another route.
I planned for myself a circle of LEDs as part of a tattoo similar to the circle you described. What I’ll do is to use LED nails, individually sealed, and implant them one at a time, over a longer period, to make them settle properly.
Hence the Latching model @anon3825968 posted.
although I totally agree with:
Hence me mentioning earlier “something like a reed, but sturdier”.
There aren’t any LEDs used on flex implants anymore, and you will notice that the flexNExT has been discontinued / all other round flexes no longer offer LEDs as an option. This is due to most of them failing after some length of time . Those ones were actually NFC LED fingernails made in China, so the LED specifications are unknown AFAIK. Also implants that big don’t seem to fare very well due to flexing under the skin, though the flip chip / sticker style assembly uses in the flexNExT was far far worse than the copper coil used in the flexMN and flexMT.
In terms of actually powering multiple LEDs from one antenna, like Eyeux has said, its definitely possible. To add a little bit to the downsides… different coloured LEDs have difference capacitances, currents and forward voltages for a given brightness. It might be possible to have them all in parallel and find an antenna that lights them all up when directly connected, but they definitely wouldn’t have consistent brightness. It’s a lot lot easier to have just one colour / LED type. Obviously adding circuitry / a microcontroller and regulator etc. but that is a lot more complexity and things to go wrong. Some people I know are trying it anyway though , and I’ve considered designing some too (a friend of mine might be working on a project to drive 4 RGBW LEDs )
Could you induce enough current with a magnet or magnetic field in some kind of Hall effect sensor to flip a bit/gate and have a button type functionality that way?
Sure do, but don’t count on it being possible. My blinky is only working still due to the fact it had a nice stable base so it didn’t fold or curl - because the implant I had converted was as-is and massive compared to a Flex.
It’s at least electrically possible to run payment and blinkies simultaneously, which is a good sign. Hopefully a sturdier design will surface eventually
We will soon reach the anniversary of my DF + blinkie:
still working perfectly
has no “solid base”
implanted in a region which sees a lot of stress on a daily basis
I still think that the LED nails, on their own, won’t fail for stress related reasons. (may still fail for other reasons. that’s why I’m keeping mine on hold for an year with regular tests)
The main thing I believe caused us to see so many LED nail fails was the base for the FlexNeXT/similar, which would force them in ways they wouldn’t be forced on their own.
Targeting a single bit with a field might prove very challenging.
But we do have Hall Effect Switches, which might do what you’re trying to achieve (I think)
Oh, that sure changes things!
The LED nails I was mentioning are about 1cm in diameter.
I can’t even think of any “ready-to-convert” LED output which is 1mm wide (larger than that and you probably can’t arrange them in a convincing circle shape. 2mm LEDs inside 1cm diameter will give you a wobbly diamond pattern at best)
It’s doable, but would require some hardcore custom work such as @PaulT 's custom work:
Which is on the making for quite a while now… so maybe Soon™
Also another issue to consider, just expanding on what @DonFire already pointed out very well, is that some colours will cross skin better than others. So to have a homogeneous looking rainbow you’ll also want to pump some colours to the max, while holding some others back a bit.
That said, I do love your idea! says the creep currently sporting rainbow hair
Unfortunately even latching ones of those need power unfortunately, so not sure that a hall effect switch would be much good on it’s own, with a microcontroller it wouldn’t be too hard though (at least with a NTAG I2C plus which has a NFC silence mode).
I had wondered about that, will definitely be interested to hear about your singular flexLEDs too
(so many people called that raibow though… so I’ll count it)
Definitely.
I was following the “Something like Hall Effect” statement. Hall effect cannot occur without electric flow, therefore I assumed being powered would not be an issue.
But I see now where I might have misassumed.
Once travel normalises I’ll get those implanted. gotta meet my artist in Norway for that.
. Those ones were actually NFC LED fingernails made in China, so the LED specifications are unknown AFAIK. Also implants that big don’t seem to fare very well due to flexing under the skin, though the flip chip / sticker style assembly uses in the 
, and I’ve considered designing some too (a friend of mine might be working on a project to drive 4 RGBW LEDs 
!
