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In this instructable I will describe to you how I made a solar powered prank for April fools day.
The goal of the device was to be at least 50% recycled materials and to cost no more then $5 per unit to make. As a side effect these devices can be mass produced for a larger distribution of the prank or to intensify it in one area.
The simplest idea that I came up with to meet these goals was to use a trashed solar garden light attached to a 3v piezo buzzer. When in the sun the device will produce a rather annoying buzz.
The solar cell from the garden light was removed and the housing and circuitry was retained for future use.
Before buying any additional part I did some research on how much power I had to work with.
Using my multimeter in voltage mode I recorded an open circuit voltage of 2.8v in moderate light and 3.5v in full light.
Then I switched the multimeter over to current mode and measured the short circuit current to be 50ma in moderate sun and 75ma in bright sun.
The goal of the device was to be at least 50% recycled materials and to cost no more then $5 per unit to make. As a side effect these devices can be mass produced for a larger distribution of the prank or to intensify it in one area.
The simplest idea that I came up with to meet these goals was to use a trashed solar garden light attached to a 3v piezo buzzer. When in the sun the device will produce a rather annoying buzz.
The solar cell from the garden light was removed and the housing and circuitry was retained for future use.
Before buying any additional part I did some research on how much power I had to work with.
Using my multimeter in voltage mode I recorded an open circuit voltage of 2.8v in moderate light and 3.5v in full light.
Then I switched the multimeter over to current mode and measured the short circuit current to be 50ma in moderate sun and 75ma in bright sun.
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Knowing that my solar cell will output 3.5V at 75mA in bright light and 2.8v at 50mA, I purchased a radioshack part #273-0053 3V Mini Buzzer. ~$3.75
The specifications met the power supplied of the solar cell.
Voltage rating 1.5-3V
Current Consumption 15mA MAX at 3V
These numbers indicate that I could run 3 of the buzzers in parallel simultaneously off of one cell.
1 buzzer consumes 15mA.
The solar cell provides 50mA in moderate sun.
50mA / 15mA = 3 and 1/3 buzzers.
To keep things simple I stuck to one buzzer per unit.
For mounting purposes, I found a piece of scrap wire on the street. You could substitute any sort of wire including coat hanger wire.
Overall the bill of materials include:
1 X Solar Cell salvaged from solar garden light
1 X Piezo Buzzer
1 X Scrap wire
Tools to build this project are
A soldering iron
A glue gun
possibly a multimeter
The specifications met the power supplied of the solar cell.
Voltage rating 1.5-3V
Current Consumption 15mA MAX at 3V
These numbers indicate that I could run 3 of the buzzers in parallel simultaneously off of one cell.
1 buzzer consumes 15mA.
The solar cell provides 50mA in moderate sun.
50mA / 15mA = 3 and 1/3 buzzers.
To keep things simple I stuck to one buzzer per unit.
For mounting purposes, I found a piece of scrap wire on the street. You could substitute any sort of wire including coat hanger wire.
Overall the bill of materials include:
1 X Solar Cell salvaged from solar garden light
1 X Piezo Buzzer
1 X Scrap wire
Tools to build this project are
A soldering iron
A glue gun
possibly a multimeter
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Several of them hanging in a small copse, each playing a different note, could be rather pleasant.
And for the intermittent idea, wouldn't a single flashing LED (FLED) do the trick? If you don't want it seen, wrap it in insulation tape.
I will also look into something that plays a specific note. This is sounding more like urban sound graffiti!
BTW i saw a box of "twinkling led christmas lights" at BIG LOTS. It was advertised to be "randomly" twinkling which makkes me think that every led was a FLED. 60 lights for $10 so $0.60 per led and you dont have to wait for shipping
It was a fairly warm Dec. 26.
The cricket was chirping reeeaalllyyy ssllooooooooowwwwlllyyyyy.
If that is possible, you could have a nice tune.