I have an itch for a wee project. I want to make a lighted address box for my house. I made a terrible picture.
The box will be steel, and the faces (both sides) will also be steel with my house number cut out very roughly with a torch. Think like Mythbusters opening credits style. Then a milk or translucent plexi diffuser behind the numbers, then 12v flicker/flame bulbs in the middle, like these: LED 12v flicker flame bulbs
Those particular bulbs listed above are 4w and an awful 1300K amber. The ones I have are 1800K and 3w. Multiply by 3 bulbs, so to be safe looking at 10w that I want to work for 5-6 hours, that's (again adding a cushion) 75w/h which is 6.25 Ah or 6250 mAh.
That's as far as I got.
I found some hobby/diy solar cells, and I figured 18650 batteries would be fine.
How do I make solar A charge battery B?
I'd start here: https://www.adafruit.com/product/4755
Adafruit and Sparkfun are great sources for easy-to-use small electronics stuff.
A thought - you could probably get the same illumination with two bulbs if you lined the box with something reflective.
Keith Tanner said:
A thought - you could probably get the same illumination with two bulbs if you lined the box with something reflective.
That is a wise thought. Since it will be two-sided I could only line the sides, top, and bottom. My primary reason for including three bulbs was visual. I figured two of those flicker/flame bulbs would draw the eye and look more obviously fake, but three would cause the eye to see a potentially more random pattern and look more like an actual flame. That's one of the reasons I chose three 3w bulbs instead of two 4w bulbs.
It's an old theater lighting design trick that makes randomness work in your favor.
Keith Tanner said:
I'd start here: https://www.adafruit.com/product/4755
Adafruit and Sparkfun are great sources for easy-to-use small electronics stuff.
YES. Thank you . Amazon was failing me, and I'm not good at the component part. I have some 18650s, and I can find photovoltaic cells, but the whole regulator/photosensor part was a bit scary to me
Adafruit usually has excellent examples and use guides for their products which makes them a lot easier to use than random stuff from random sellers on the Amazon storefront.
You can often source Adafruit parts from Adafruit through Amazon as well - I'll sometimes do that because the company is in NY and I can get my fix quicker from the Amazon warehouse :)
I once took apart a solar walkway light to get all the electronics I need for something similar.
Stampie's recommendation is a good one- those solar lights typically use NiMH or Lithium Iron Phosphate cells which stand up to cold temperatures far better than typical NMC Lithium-Ion. I would also second Kieth's recommendation of Adafruit parts- I have a couple of the Amazon "solar charge controllers" that I bought from a reseller, and despite what they claim they are extremely poor quality and don't do Lithium well unless you hack them to control charging voltage. Go quality or get a fire, when it comes to those.
Also, since where you work is getting new computers look out for broken laptops and LCD screens. They all have a plastic polarizing layer that could get you the soft light affect you're looking for.
Stampie said:
I once took apart a solar walkway light to get all the electronics I need for something similar.
I actually did buy a set of four solar/battery flicker lanterns. They ended up being a non-starter. They were not only an awful color, they are dim and only last about 10 minutes when the sun goes down. They were also impossible to get apart. Everything was glued/plastic welded, so you couldn't extract the solar cells or the battery without destroying it.
I can try again with a different set but I'm afraid I'll have to do some expensive trial and error before I get what I want.
In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :
Great info on the batteries and the laptop screens.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah, no problem man. If you've got one, an old laptop battery floating around can donate some usable cells for a project like this.
GIRTHQUAKE said:
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah, no problem man. If you've got one, an old laptop battery floating around can donate some usable cells for a project like this.
Somehow I have inherited a bunch of broken cordless tools over the last few years, so I have no shortage of 18650s. They're pretty handy at the theater for handheld props that need to do something.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
My primary reason for including three bulbs was visual. I figured two of those flicker/flame bulbs would draw the eye and look more obviously fake, but three would cause the eye to see a potentially more random pattern and look more like an actual flame. That's one of the reasons I chose three 3w bulbs instead of two 4w bulbs.
It's an old theater lighting design trick that makes randomness work in your favor.
My mind kinda knew that, but that was an excellent explanation! Never thought it out before, and now you have done that for me. Always fun to read your stuff.
