Step 5: Final Thoughts
I guess the one downside (if you see it as a downside) to having a glowing path in front of your house and visible from the street is that it seems to draw in weirdos like moths to a flame. I have on two separate occasions gone out of my garage for a smoke and caught someone on the path--one guy was just standing there staring, and one lady (who was in her forties and clearly on LSD or maybe extasy) was hopping from brick to brick. On the other hand, everyone oohs and aahs over it when they come to visit and I like walking on it, so on the whole it's a good thing.
This was one of the first electronics projects I did after we bought our new house last spring. I'd been moving and unpacking and fixing up little things for a month and a half and was just sick of neglecting my more eccentric hobbies, so this was a nice entry back into doing strange things with multicolored lights. I haven't posted it until now because I had other projects going, and then somewhere during the month of October while I was busy making my proton pack extra awesome, a big wind storm came through and knocked the solar light out from under the newspaper box, banging it up a bit. It's still attached, but the lights don't work all the time. I finally rigged up some battery power for the lights so I could take some decent pictures of the path. My plan is to either repair it or replace it with one of the other ones I picked up. I hope I can repair it, as I'd like to add more lights around the yard once I've done more with the landscaping.
As always, thank you for looking! Please take the time to leave a rating and a comment, they are always appreciated. I would also love to see pictures if you decide to make something like this yourself. If you post your pictures in the comments section, I'll send you a DIY patch!
****UPDATE 1-1-11
If you are the first person to post a picture of your completed light-up walkway to the comments, I've got a 3 month pro membership to instructables that's all yours!
This was one of the first electronics projects I did after we bought our new house last spring. I'd been moving and unpacking and fixing up little things for a month and a half and was just sick of neglecting my more eccentric hobbies, so this was a nice entry back into doing strange things with multicolored lights. I haven't posted it until now because I had other projects going, and then somewhere during the month of October while I was busy making my proton pack extra awesome, a big wind storm came through and knocked the solar light out from under the newspaper box, banging it up a bit. It's still attached, but the lights don't work all the time. I finally rigged up some battery power for the lights so I could take some decent pictures of the path. My plan is to either repair it or replace it with one of the other ones I picked up. I hope I can repair it, as I'd like to add more lights around the yard once I've done more with the landscaping.
As always, thank you for looking! Please take the time to leave a rating and a comment, they are always appreciated. I would also love to see pictures if you decide to make something like this yourself. If you post your pictures in the comments section, I'll send you a DIY patch!
****UPDATE 1-1-11
If you are the first person to post a picture of your completed light-up walkway to the comments, I've got a 3 month pro membership to instructables that's all yours!
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Keep building and being awesome!!!
On the other hand, I had one lady who was out walking her dogs compliment all the lights in my yard, and later on that summer asked me to come visit a science museum summer camp and teach kids about being a maker. So like I say, some good, some bad, but mostly good!
I've done something similar disassembling a solar landscape set & conch shells.
But I'm going to us this one for sure at the canal lot. Love it!
Cheers
Caribsailor
Thanks for commenting, and if you do make something like this, please post a picture or two so I can see it!
I know it may not be possible since you've already completed the project, but to anyone else who is making the project, pics would be appreciated. Thanx.
The bad news is I have no pictures of the detailed electronic work. The good news is, this is a super simple soldering project.
For equipment, don't use one of those big gun looking soldering irons--go to Radioshack and buy the cheap-o 25 watt pen style iron and the thinnest solder you can find. Practice soldering and desoldering on some broken electronics, or something you can pick up for cheap at the goodwill or salvation army before you start this project.
When you remove the LEDs, I find it's best to put gentle pressure on one side of the LED and melt the solder on one of the leads. The LED will push up a little bit. Repeat this on the other side, going back and forth until the LED comes off the circuit board.
It's also important to realize that LEDs have a positive and a negative side--almost without fail the negative side of the LED itself will have a flat spot. When adding the speaker wire to extend the LED, make sure that you keep track of which side is positive and which is negative--I always use the silvery side of the speaker wire for negative and the coppery side for positive.
When soldering the wire to the board, you simple put stripped ends of wire through the circuit board and solder it to the copper pad on the circuit board. This is usually very simple, as the solder will adhere both to the pad and the wire nicely.
The only other soldering work you'll have to do is extending wires, splicing wires, and soldering LEDs on the ends of the wires. I like to simply twist the bare ends of wire or LED lead together, dab on a little solder, and since this is an outdoor job try to protect the bare wire with both epoxy and electrical tape (to keep the water out).
I suspect this will be a good beginner soldering project. It's pretty straightforward and easy to do. The first soldering project I ever attempted was the Magnetic Fridge Lights instructable, and let me tell you, that was HARD!
Good luck on this, Eeloie! If you have any more questions or if I haven't answered everything here, just ask. If you do end up building something like this, please post some pictures!
Ian
I'm glad you liked it, thanks for the comment!
You'd also probably have to be cautious not to split a block open with a shovel or scraper.
I think this is a great idea. Love the green and blue. I will be making this soon!
If you do make some of these, please post a picture, I'd love to see the results.
Your project is great!. I like the way you write. It is funny about the lady that "was hopping from brick to brick" :)
RL
I would use plastic blocks instead (safety) and would try to run the leds in parallel, requiring just 2 wires for a whole chain. Connect all the panels in parallel and use a single gel cell for batteries.
Or something like that! Anyway, thanks for the inspiration!
You might consider drilling a small hole in the glass block, inserting the LED and connection, throwing in a grommet, and then sealing with silicone caulk. That way, the connections would be weather-tight and well-protected. Drilling glass is easy with the correct bit. See my 'ible for drilling suggestions.
I did originally plan on drilling a hole in the block, but I didn't realize at the time that you could get special bits for drilling glass--I tried it with regular drill bits and failed, of course!
By the way, those bottle lights look great!
sure it looks super the way it is..no doubt.. but just thought about that..
and as KEUrban said weather seal it cuz when rain comes ur leads are still abit exposed even under the the gravel and dirt
=)
but congrats!.. wish i had a house to do smthin like that :D