Introduction: Solar Rechargeable Decor
Phoenix Fire Lily: Solar rechargeable battery connected to a flickering LED inside an artificial lily flower residing in a hand-crafted wooden vase.
Step 1: Discount Hackables!
I don’t know about you, but I rarely have money to spend on projects and whenever possible reusing and re-purposing junk is ideal. Many of my projects contain parts I’ve purchased at local dollar stores and items found through eBay.
Step 2: Parts and Pistils
Parts:
- Artificial Lily Flower
- Flickering LED
- Thermostat Wire
- 100-330ohm Resistor
- Mini switch
- Solar-panel ~ 5vDC
- Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery
- Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger = TP4056 Mini USB 1A Lithium Battery Charger Module
- USB to mini USB ~ 5ft. cord
- Optional ~ hand-crafted vase station
Step 3: Remove the Wire
Cut the end of the stem and remove the wire.
Gut the Artificial Lily Flower by removing its pistil.
Using a 8-10″ length of Thermostat Wire that extends just beyond the end of the lily’s stem, solder a 100-330ohm resistor to flickering LED and/or later near the mini switch inside the recycled case.
Do I really need a resistor?
- Clear LED without resistor = 30mA @ 3vDC
- Flickering Yellow LED ~ 6mA @ 3vDC
- salvaged 10 LED string of lights = 6mA @ 3vDC
Carefully thread the wired LED through the lily and down her stem.
Step 4: Rechargeable Battery Pack
Add a piece of heat-shrink tubing, solder jumper wires, and attach connector header.
Solder a set of short jumper wires to the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger output.
Solder the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger output short jumper wires, resistor, to the mini switch and recycled case ( two “AA” batteries ).
Solder the coin-cell battery holder to the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger
Insert the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery into the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger.
Step 5: Making a Case
A look inside the inexpensive battery case.
Gut everything from the case! Drill a few holes.
- One for the solar panel wires, and the other for USB connector.
Step 6: Solder the Solar Panel
Solder a simple switching diode, such as 1N4148, to the positive side.Using short jumper wires, solder the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger input to the solar panel ~ 5vDC.
Insert the switch and wrap wires so they lay flat inside the case.
Test the output.
Optionally, attach USB to mini USB cord to the charger
Step 7: Store Inside a Hand-crafted Vase Station.
Store inside a hand-crafted vase station.
Learn more and follow my work at hydroMazing.com