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[Question] How to build from ground up solar led/optic fiber lightning? [Hardware][Electronics][Coding] (lemmy.ml)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/28250870

Hello everyone !

I'm seeding/cross-post this in 3 communities because I think I will get better answers in each respective one (Hardware, coding, electronics).

As the title say I'm want to learn to build from the ground up those cheap solar led/optic fiber lightning, here some images to get what I mean:

They come in bundles but after awhile they just die out without repair ability which kinda sucks and because they are cheap my mum keeps buying them... So, I would like to build ones I'm able to repair and customize :). However I have absolutely NO idea where to begin and what exactly I'm searching for... I'm lacking the skills and knowledge on the 3 fronts !

What hardware I'm looking for ?

What kind of electronics ?

What programming language to glue everything together?

.... ?

I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty and learn how to micro-solder, learn some coding skills to get everything neatly glued together software wise, learn the necessary hardware or other important and necessary stuff to achieve this goal ! I'm looking for every good and reliable advice to get me started !

One thing though, If i have to learn some hardware/low level coding skills I would prefer a language that would be useful for other stuff in the long run.

Thank you in advance and I'm already sorry if I'm very slow to respond, I'm not native and the flood amount of information I will probably get, will surpass my ability to respond to everyone right away.

Also every other directions are welcome, like:

how to repair the old ones? Do I need to flash their proprietary software/hardware?

Thank you !

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I'll respond since no one has commented yet. Maybe it'll trigger more responses. I've seen these lamps and they are super cool to look at.

I'm not sure where one could find these optic fiber strands but if it is the lights on your previously working lamps that have failed, you can look at replacing the existing circuit with a microcontroller based one. Look for nodemcu (ESP8266) or ESP32 ones. They are super cheap and super easy to program (connect to computer over USB) and can run RGB LEDs to create colors of your choice. You can also find GitHub repositories for code you can directly use to let you control the light and color over WiFi.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Thank you ! So ESP32/ESP8266 microcontrollers are the first lead I need to investigate.

After further searching I found this DIY-Solar-Mason-Jar-Lamp/

While this is a cool hands on project, however I really want to go a bit deeper (how to solder the PCB, understand what pieces are needed, circuit understanding and solar power cells...)

Thanks for your answer :))

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

That Mason Jar light looks like a good project to dip your toes into. You can always tinker and improve/modify, for example by adding the microcontroller into the mix. In the initial stages you can use jumper wires and breadboards which are great for learning. When you know you have it right, you can go for soldering the circuit. Trying to solder everything in the beginning can be a little frustrating if you want to change things and experiment. That's not to say you can't do it that way though. If you think you'll have more fun learning to solder, then go for it.