We've been working on testing our Sunceram Solarcells for real-world performance. Our first test is under direct sunlight, and we tried our best to get accurate data under ideal conditions - summer solstice, during the brightest hours of the day. As we're located in Calgary (lat:51.050N), Canada, you may get slightly different results due to […]
3D Printed Treetop Star
Solar botics
December 9, 2014
Initially inspired by the Moravian Star on Instructables and the fact that we now carry all kinds of 3D printing filament, we decided to make one of our own glowy holiday star. We have used this thing as source files to create a similar treetop decoration of our own.
After some trial and error (due to the Slicer not cooperating)...
...we printed a whole forest of perfect wintery spiky star-ends.
And, well, we just had to have someone live there for a bit. In this case, a snowman:
Our addressable 5mm LEDs were well suited to light this contraption. We drilled a hole in the bottom of each spike..
..to fit the LED's domed part:
And then wired everything up. It wasn't pretty but the WS2812 LED that we used made it much easier than a conventional RGB LED: rather than 3 separate channels, the WS2812 LED only has a data in and data out. Chain them all together and they work like a charm!
And here's the final product, ready to light up our office with wonderful glowing lights!
MORE POSTS
SparkFun Free-Day Aftermath
After last year's meltdown of servers during SparkFun's 1st "Free Day", we sent them flowers of condolence. This year, after seeing that little image of a burning computer on their error webpage , we felt he urgent need to send down the entire Canadian fire brigade (yup, both extinguishers). And who better to put out […]
Friday New Product: Synapse, OpenBeam an...
Lets contabulate! And that means, as I recently learned, to cover with boards, which in our case are - breadboards. Today's breadboard coverage is only partial, as we have other stuff to show off too: Synapse "Getting Started" Transmitter Bundle $49.99 Add a Wii Nunchuck and battery to this bundle and you'll have a simple […]
Junkbots available!
We're proud to announce that we just got our shipment of 'Junkbots, Bugbots, and Bots on Wheels' tonight! The first 100 books will come signed by Dave Hrynkiw, and come with a free GM2 or GM3 gearmotor!
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!
Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.
Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.