LED Badge
Purchase LED Ritual Badge for your Chapter or Associate Chapter
Fixed Price of $850 Includes a Protective Carrying Case and Shipping
Lambda Chi Alpha Historic Badge Story
First, the story begins 80+ years ago when an inspired, yet unknown Lambda Chi brother designed and built an electric badge for Ritual. He shared his design with other Chapters and the blueprint has been used ever since. A picture of the original blueprint is here:
Fast forward to 1979 and the then recent colonization at California Polytechnic. Having the ancient blueprint in hand, Dick Hansen, Phi-Sigma Zeta #6, a Founding Father and first High Delta, began the process of building our first electric Badge. He crafted the 24” Badge face and raised Lambda in wood, but the badge was not quite finished. Recently initiated into the Colony in March of 1979, and then elected the next High Delta, Brother Jeff Witous, Ph-Sigma #70, was determined to complete the project in time for the Spring 1979 Associate Member class Ritual.
Jeff began to craft the back of the wooden Badge, building the compartment to hold the light fixtures and wiring, but at 18 years old, and a Business Major, he needed help with the wiring and power. He enlisted the help of brother Dave Werry, Phi-Sigma #54, another Founding Father, who was a 3rd year Electrical Engineering Major. He also became the High Phi the following year. Dave designed and wired the Badge, installed the light fixtures, and built a nine-switch toggle box to activate the lights. The Badge was then finished with metallic gold paint. A longer story for another day, but that learning experience inspired Jeff to begin classes in Electrical Engineering his 2nd year, changing the trajectory of his collegiate and professional life. Below is a picture of that old original Badge, used by Phi-Sigma Zeta for every ritual from 1979 until the first production LED Badge arrived in 2021. The toggle box Dave built was replaced with standard light switches decades later. As Jeff likes to say, “We were lucky we didn’t burn down the house with that old Badge.”
New LED Electronic Badge Story
In early 2021, working with the historic new San Diego Regional Colony, Jeff found the old Badge blueprint he worked on back in 1979. It is the responsibility of each new Colony to have a full set of Ritual equipment to receive a Charter, including a lit Badge. Note that in April of 2023 the Colony received its Charter as Omicron-Epsilon Zeta. Jeff searched for any innovations over the years and found nothing other than custom Badges made by our various Chapter’s. Partnering with the University of Lublin in Poland, a polytechnic university like Cal Poly, alumni engaged a team of PhD students to design and manufacture production Badges, based on the latest technology. The mission was to design a LED, wireless controlled, electronic Badge, starting only with the ancient blueprint. The engineers were on the Polish National Robotics team, and they had plenty of latitude to innovate with only direction on features required for a functioning Ritual Badge. Dr. Alexander Nawrocki, Chairman of the International Robotics Association of Poland, was critical in identifying the engineers, providing necessary technical guidance, sourcing components, and engaging 3rd parties for component production. All he asked of us in return was that the small margin after costs be donated to the International Robotics Association to help fund teams like those from University of Lublin.
After an initial prototype and testing, the first four production Badges were sent to the USA in June of 2022. Serial number 0001 is the Badge at Lambda Chi Alpha headquarters, 0002 Phi-Sigma Zeta (Cal Poly), 0003 Omicron-Epsilon Zeta (San Diego Regional), and 0004 Pi-Beta Zeta (UC San Diego). That summer Badge 0001 was used by the Lambda Chi Alpha International Ritual Team at the 58th General Assembly in Scottsdale, AZ with an audience of hundreds. The other three Badges have been used by the three Chapters ever since. All Lambda Chi Alpha Chapters and Colonies can now purchase a new production Badge for themselves. (See Below)
Badge Specifications
The production Badges are 24” in diameter and designed with 3D CAD. These designs were then used to produce dies for the extruded aluminum Badge face and raised Lambda, and both pieces are then anodized in gold. They look like the actual gold badge jewelry we wore/wear. The back of the Badge and riser for the Lambda is a black, thick, light weight, composite material. The Badge hanging weight on a wall is less than 5lbs. The lights are LED and covered with custom lens covers. Each Badge has a logic board with an embedded Wifi chip. When connected to power the Badge IP address can be found with any PC or smartphone (like a Wifi router), and once connected to that Badge an app pops up in a browser window with a simple 9-toggle screen to turn each light on and off with a swipe of a finger. You don’t need to be connected to the internet or a cellular network to control the LED Badge.
The production Badges cost $850/each with $50 dollars going to the National Robotics Team of Poland, a philanthropic foundation to promote and fund university robotics teams. The other $800 goes to raw materials, production costs, a carrying bag, and shipping. This is a non-profit endeavor.
Badge Operating Instructions with LED Wireless Control
- Hang the Badge on a wall and connect power supply to an outlet
- Go to the Wifi settings on your smartphone or tablet
- Select SSID: Lambda_Chi_Alpha_LED
- Enter the network password: 12345678
- Once connected to the network (the Badge) open any browser
- In the browser enter the IP address: 192.168.4.22
- The browser window will open with the 9-toggle LED Control
- Lights stay on as you swipe each toggle from 1-9 (Rx order)
How Do We Purchase a Badge for Our Chapter?
For those Chapters who wish to order a LED Badge, please go to this page at the Phi Sigma Zeta House Corporation website: pszhousecorp.org/led-badge/select-payment, or click the button “Order Now” below.
Once on the page, please select your payment method (Paypal, Credit Card, or eCheck) and then fully complete the form for all required contact data and shipping address. Note that PSZ House Corporation does not save your payment data. When you are finished, you click the “PAY NOW” button. When done processing, you can download your payment receipt, or you can wait until you receive an automated email with your attached PDF receipt.
To control the costs, the team compiles a minimum of five Badge orders prior to production, so the time to receive your order may vary. If you want to expedite the production and shipping, please tell your neighboring Chapters & Associate Chapters to order their new Badges.