Retrofit an Antique Miner's Lantern with RGB LED's

Background:  I've been really needing a creative/technical outlet since college, and have started working on fun little projects to keep my skills sharp and just because I really enjoy the act of making things. However, despite having a small stockpile of ideas, it took me a while to actually get going until I set up a schedule for myself to complete these projects, complete with deadlines where I told a bunch of people that I would be finishing my project and showing them. This public project deadline is key, in my mind, because though others may not actually care about seeing an LED lantern, the fear of mockery is a great motivator. :D

This is my second project since I began my public project deadline framework, and my first instructable. The first project wasn't extremely technical, so I don't really feel that it is necessary to make an instructable for it.

Project: I wanted to start out with something simple that could just be a fun conversation piece, and came up with the idea with a user controlled RGB LED lantern. To make it a bit more interesting and coffee table worthy, I housed the electronics in an antique lantern body that I picked up at an Antique store. It turned out pretty well, and got the appropriate "oohs" and "aahs" when handed around for people to play with. There is a photo of the finished product below, as well as a lantern showing the ways a user can affect the lantern's operation.

There are two "Modes" that the lantern operates in. The first mode is simply color cycling. The user can change the speed the colors change and the brightness. The second mode is a solid color, and the user can change the color and the brightness.

Step 1 Materials

For this project, the parts I used were:

Antique Miner's Lantern (~$20)
Arduino Pro ($19.95)
2x RGB LED's (2 x $1.95 = $3.90)
Battery Holder - 4xAA Square ($1.95)
JST Jumper Wire ($0.95)
2x Rotary Encoders  (2 x $1.08 = $2.16)
1/8" plastic sheet ($3.45)
3 resistors: from my toolbox. I don't remember what values I used, but will look them up and update this later.
6 capacitors: I used 1microF, but 10picoF is what I was aiming for. I only had larger values on hand, and my deadline was fast approaching, so I used a slightly less than optimal solution.
6 screws: 4 for attaching the Arduino, 2 for the plastic. I tapped the holes in the wood, but if you had some short wood screws, that could work, too.
4 standoffs: These are small standoffs to screw the Arduino into.
Scrap wood
Wire
Epoxy or some other glue for plastic to metal and metal to metal.

Comments

[codyg102]

Nice project! I look forward to you "filling in the blanks" as indicated in your write-up (commented code, etc.).

I have a minor quibble with the description however. I believe this type of lantern is correctly referred to as a "(metal) hurricane lantern". A "miner's lantern" is a somewhat different beast - if you want to compare, search each term on Google and compare the images and descriptions. (I'm just nit-picking really.)

All said though, well done! I'm sure it will spawn some variations from other members as well. Look forward to seeing more from you as well.

[oldsod]

Oh, Bravo!!!

I like that you kept the beaten and "well-used" look of the original

I've got an oil lamp like yours out in my garage - found it in my in-laws basement when we were clearing the house and meant to convert it to LEDs but haven't gotten past the idea stage yet.

Thanks for the inspiration and a *kick* to get me started.

And I like the idea of using the wick adjustment wheel to control the circuit!

[jimthree]

Awesomeness. You have my idea exactly. I have one of these old oil lamps in my garden already. It was one of the reasons I built these: http://www.instructables.com/id/Ghetto-Pixels-Building-an-open-source-BlinkM/

I'll post a pic once I have my lamp converted. Any thoughts about making it solar powered? I want to hang mine in a tree!

[themusicdan]

:) Thanks for sharing your instructable. I think that it would work fine solar powered, that shouldn't be too big a problem. The biggest problem with incorporating solar would be trying to find a way to make the solar panel inconspicuous. I think you could easily feed it through the oil reservoir screw top, but I'm not sure how you would go about wiring it up to make both the wires and the solar panel not distract from the antique look.

[dchall8]

Nice idea. Something to think about...I bought a yard light because it had a candle flicker effect. Took it apart and found it had one always-on LED and one randomly blinking LED. They were yellowish inside a frosted housing. Candle flicker effect was very convincing. Got to get the colors of LEDs right, though.

[themusicdan]

Hmm, yeah. That would be another neat feature. I kind of wanted to do something like this, but I think it would require different LED's to use the technique you're talking about. I could possibly do some variable dimming to make it flicker a bit, but it would not have the constant presence and movement that a candle flame would. Thanks for your input.

[gwehry]

Applause, applause. Woo hoo - very nice job! And it was very fun to play with!!