What is this thing? Well it was support to be a bug with blinking eyes. Ah like the blinky bugs.

However for some reason or another I decided to slap on a solar panel and a super cap to power this design instead of a normal cell battery.

Apparently this bug did blink, however due to the insulated wire being reclaimed from by burning, it did not remove all the paint off it. This means I can't get this bug to flash properly. :/

Step 1: The Parts and the Steps

The parts i used...

A calculator solar panel

A 0.10f semi?-supercap (salvaged from those crap shaking torch, you can get em for $5 AUS)

Two led

A long thin conductive wire for the antenna

Tough conductive wire

Blue tack

duct tape

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For the head

1.I got the '+' lead from each lead and twist them together
2. I then insulated half of the twist, the other half is to touch the - side of the supercap.
3. I then put a tough wire around the recent insulation, extending it up ward just as high as the super cap.
4. Bend the tough wire so that it bend downward towards the -" terminal
5. Bend a thin antenna wire around the tough wire, so that it end in a V shape like the picture below.
6. Bend the other wire from each led to a o shape around each antenna wire.

Well that how i describe it, if it doesn't make sense, just find out about blinky bugs.

To construct this bug, you now just need to hook the solar panel "-" contact to the '+' side of the led, so that it flows to the '-' side of the supercap. Do the same with the '+' contact on the '+' side of the supercap.

Now slide the supercap(you can charge it before you put it in), and ta da! Well now you just need blue tack, with some wires for legs, and of course duct tape. Now it is finish!

Step 2: Improvement?

What’s the point of this?
Well its makes a pretty long lasting desk toy!

However it could be made better by having two solar panels wired in series (it might look like a fly though). You can also increase its capacity by increasing the supercaps storage, to 0.5 f or even a 1f caps or more ;).

It can also be a self recharging vibration throwies! A great bonus for the environment, as well as making a point about the future of throwies.

Either way, i hope this project success 'Falure?', can inspire you lot to make electronic that is fun as well as interesting in concept! :)