Like so many projects in life, I got this idea while randomly walking around Hobby Lobby. I came across these cute little glass "light bulbs." They have screw off tops, a flat bottom, and only cost $1.50. Who couldn't pass that up?
My original idea was to try and cram a LED, battery, and switch in there. Yeah, that wasn't ever going to happen. My second idea was to make it solar power because as we all know, everything is better with solar. (Yes, even puppies!)
In a nutshell what I ended up making was a little side box that had a solar panel, joule thief circuit, and a switch on it connected to the glass bulb. Oh yeah.... I threw in a simple dark detecting circuit as well. Just cuz.
A fun beginners project for anyone wanting to do some soldering.
I'm putting together some "Light Detecting Solar Circuit" kits on my gadget webpage, Brown Dog Gadgets. All the electronics you'd need to build one of these. Or, if you don't want to do the work I have some of these for sale on my site... with upgrades...
My original idea was to try and cram a LED, battery, and switch in there. Yeah, that wasn't ever going to happen. My second idea was to make it solar power because as we all know, everything is better with solar. (Yes, even puppies!)
In a nutshell what I ended up making was a little side box that had a solar panel, joule thief circuit, and a switch on it connected to the glass bulb. Oh yeah.... I threw in a simple dark detecting circuit as well. Just cuz.
A fun beginners project for anyone wanting to do some soldering.
I'm putting together some "Light Detecting Solar Circuit" kits on my gadget webpage, Brown Dog Gadgets. All the electronics you'd need to build one of these. Or, if you don't want to do the work I have some of these for sale on my site... with upgrades...
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Signing UpStep 1: What You Need
Hardware:
Hot Glue Gun
Soldering Iron
Drill
Helping Hand (Optional really)
Breadboard (Optional, but super handy.)
Supplies:
Wire - I used 22 Gage Insulated as well as some thick magnet wire. Anything will work.
5K ohm Resistor
1K ohm Resistor
1 Zenger Diode
3 White LEDs
PNP Transistor
NPN Transistor
Toroid
A switch (I used a toggle because toggles are fun to play with...)
4.5V Solar Panel
AAA Battery Holder
AAA NiMh Battery (You could use a AA as well. I just used these for their size.)
Glass Lightbulb from Hobby Lobby
Little Plastic Bead Box that I picked up at Hobby Lobby as well. 6 Pack for $3.
A lot of these supplies can be mixed and matched. AA instead of AAA. Smaller Solar Panel. Different box. Ditch the dark detecting. Blah blah blah. You're all adult, make up your own mind.
Total Cost for parts: $5 or so. I had all these parts on hand to begin with.
Total Time: Less than one hour if you know what you're doing, two hours otherwise.
Hot Glue Gun
Soldering Iron
Drill
Helping Hand (Optional really)
Breadboard (Optional, but super handy.)
Supplies:
Wire - I used 22 Gage Insulated as well as some thick magnet wire. Anything will work.
5K ohm Resistor
1K ohm Resistor
1 Zenger Diode
3 White LEDs
PNP Transistor
NPN Transistor
Toroid
A switch (I used a toggle because toggles are fun to play with...)
4.5V Solar Panel
AAA Battery Holder
AAA NiMh Battery (You could use a AA as well. I just used these for their size.)
Glass Lightbulb from Hobby Lobby
Little Plastic Bead Box that I picked up at Hobby Lobby as well. 6 Pack for $3.
A lot of these supplies can be mixed and matched. AA instead of AAA. Smaller Solar Panel. Different box. Ditch the dark detecting. Blah blah blah. You're all adult, make up your own mind.
Total Cost for parts: $5 or so. I had all these parts on hand to begin with.
Total Time: Less than one hour if you know what you're doing, two hours otherwise.
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i cant get this to work...help!!
i think ive pretty much wired the circuit identical to your on the breadboard but no luck. any suggestions?
The toroid, what "mix" should it be, #44 or...etc.?
By the way, i think it's a wonderful project!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-solar-powered-led-string-lights-/
but one doubt ..tht is.. what if i want to light a meter led strit (12v) for 5 hours....??
what should i do ??
thanks in advance..
The thing you'd need to worry about is your power source. A single AA isn't going to light all those LEDs for long. You'd need to have a large capacity of batteries to back things up.
If you go the solar route that would mean you'd need some decent solar cells or an array of solar cells (a make shift panel) to power things up. Not too difficult or expensive to do.
Five hours of light (which is a good amount) at 80 ma would give you 400 ma of power. One led uses an average of 20 ma in an hour. 400 divided by 20 = hella lot of light. (In theory)
More than enough to get through the night. You could easily power several LEDs.
23 gage insulated wire (not magnet wire, but I have also used that)
You only need to wrap it about 7 or 8 times to get the desired results.
The downside is you'd need a rather big super capacitor to do this. Probably one rated 5-10F at least, and you'd end up paying a lot for it. (10F 2.5 Volt super cap is around $10. I bought my AAAs in bulk so they end up being $0.50 each.)
As much as I love super capacitors, and I do, using NiMh batteries is so much cheaper to do.
Have made it but am looking for some nice solar panels now - you don't happen to know the specs for your panels do you, or the shop you bought them from on ebay??
Thanks for the help,
Anonymouse197
American Science
http://www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm/recommendid/10893
ebay
http://stores.ebay.com/Enginecom?_rdc=1
You can also find them on a lot of hobby electronics sites. The thing is, every time I see them there are different tech specs. Some say 3V, others 4V, some 4.5. Amps from 40 ma to 100 ma. When I tested a couple, both in sun and a lamp, I got 4.5V.
I've used them to make a lot of little projects ranging from Robots to battery chargers. Might as well spend the $35 and buy 30 of them.
Thanks,
anonymouse197
In general I keep an eye on ebay looking for good deals on solar panels. Occasionally you can buy sets of them for low prices. I got ten 6V panels for all of $7 last week.
It never hurts to have extra solar panels around.
Even though they're cheap they have a lot to offer. The only downside, as with any cheap solar garden light, is that the solar panel might not offer many amps. If you really want a good panel you should buy one from elsewhere where you know the strength.
It could be the diference between 10 miliamps and 80 miliamps. A big difference and worth the extra couple of dollars.
In Step 4, it's called a toroid; "torrid" generally refers to hot and steamy affairs from 1940's film noir.
In Step 8, you want to diffuse your LEDs. Unless you're using your circuit to set off explosives, there's no reason to "defuse" it :-)
Step 13 is a great solution to preventing shorts, once you've got the circuit working correctly. If you're interested, the technical term is "potting."
This is well done enough to deserve featuring; please correct the terminology if you can.
I'll get on that later after work. Thanks for letting me know. I was really sleepy when writing this up last evening. I'm surprised I didn't make more mistakes.
I had some issues the first time I did it, but once you figure it out you'll be going "oh duhhhhhh."