Digital LED Flower

The digital LED flower uses two water bottle caps for a disk, with 8 pedals made out of LEDs, the pedals are glass vials with LEDs wrapped in wire mesh, and a button located in the center of the flower’s disk, which changes the LED sequences. An Arduino Mini that is hidden within the small confines of the flower’s disk controls the sequences; a 9V battery powers the entire unit.

I wanted to write an Instructable that would be beneficial to those who want to learn how to use a micro-controller and provide some basic electronics for the beginner. Please remember, I claim no expertise.

This Instructable was written to help those who are just getting into building and working with electronics and micro-controllers. Being self-taught, I cannot claim any more expertise than the devices I build that work as designed. For those who know the information already, you can skip ahead, glean the code, design and make something cool. If you know a better way to skin this cat, you can post suggestions.

When I first started writing this Instructable, I had plans on commenting and explaining the process of coding and basic electronics for the beginner. I wanted to help anyone who is interested in tinkering with electronics and micro-controllers to get more comprehensive instructions including extensive code comments . If time permits I will post the entire instructions in a file called Flower_V1_0.pdf.



There is a video of the flower during programming and testing taken using a Nikon Coolpix, the problem I am having is that the video is too big. Once I get it smaller, I will post it here.  I finished this project in time to use it on Halloween, but I did not get any video of it that night, and the crowds downtown were merciless; so I need to repair two LEDs and I will post a video after the fix.

Step 1 Components, Tools, and Tips

COMPONENTS

1      Arduino Mini

1     10K-ohm resistor 1/4 watt (used as a pull-down resistor)

1     150-ohm resistor 1/4 watt

8     glass vials

8     LEDs - 2 red, 2 blue, 2 green, 2 yellow

2    plastic bottle caps from 1 gallon Crystal Geyser water bottles

1     round circuit board (Radio Shack)

1     spool red 32 AWG Teflon hookup wire

1     spool blue 32 AWG Teflon hookup wire

1     Spool red 24 AWG strand wire

1     Spool blue 24 AWG strand wire

1     mini push button

1     9V battery clip with leads

10    jumper pins (taken from old computer motherboard)

2     yellow LEDs (for the flower disk)

1     Sheet fine copper mesh

2     Rare Earth magnet

TOOLS

    Soldering iron

    Small wire cutting pliers

    Wire strippers (optional, but worth having)

    Helping hands (not an option if you are serious)

    Heat gun

    Shrink tubing, two of the smallest sizes available 3/32"

    Hot glue gun and glue

    LED (use when programming the mini

    Arduino Diecimila or NG board, or Mini USB adapter

    USB cable

    Computer

     Arduino compiler software - free download from Arduino site

    Drill

    Multi-hole drill bit (multi-hole is best but they cost)

     breadboard (if you do not own one, get one)

    Jumper wires with alligator clips on each end

    Magnifying glass on stand or magnifying glasses (Optional)

    Needle nose pliers

 

NOTES ON PARTS, TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

The Teflon hookup wire is expensive, sorry, but is necessary for the small confines of the flower’s disk. Maybe there is less expensive wire of that gauge, but I could not find it locally.

Having helping hands is mandatory if you are serious about tinkering. With a hot soldering iron in one hand and the solder in the other, holding the work with your mouth is not recommended. The helping hands are so invaluable to me I named mine Igor.

To make Igor better, I added some heat shrink tubing to the teeth of the alligator clips. This provides a good grip on wires and keeps them from marring circuit boards and other delicate parts; it provides electrical isolation as well. Igor is a very good lab assistant but can be very ornery at times. 

After building many sub-standard electronic projects, it was apparent early on that electrical tape prevented quality in the work; a good heat gun and shrink tubing are necessary if you plan on creating quality work that fails less.

A medium size bread board is also irreplaceable, the larger the better, you would be surprised at how easy it is to use up space on even a modest sized proto-board. Currently I have three I use continually; correction, two, one of the three has a project stuck in prototype without time to finish, so it sits populated with future today. 

Jumper wires with alligator clips, for faster prototyping and testing beats trying to hold unsoldered wires together with my three hands.

A good soldering iron is important for the serious tinker, though I do not want to sell any specific product, I have to go with what I know, which is, I really love my Weller WES50.

Magnifying glass or glasses, and for the eagle eye, wouldn’t it be great to be an eagle with binoculars? It really helps increase the quality of your work.

Tinning the iron is accomplished by wiping around the iron tip of the iron on a wet sponge cleaning off any residual solder, then applying a small amount of solder to the iron and cleaning it once more on the sponge, leaving a silver coated tip, no lumps of solder. Tinning is also done to the end of wire strand in order to hold the twisted ends together and make then stiff.



Drink water.