I was inspired by this creator and discovered a whole world of tiny electronics designs. The internet can be such an amazing place to learn new skills.
I tried to “copy” the designs and had a lot of fun creating my own versions.
I already had a good grasp of some of the prerequisites like Arduino and soldering and programming, but it still was a challenge to get it all to work as expected.
I was frustrated by some of the components which I purchased on the internet which required some hardcore programming. (at least for me). Flashing a new bootloader on a completely blank chip was a new experience.
It uses an ATTINY85, which is similar to the Arduino things I have used before but in a very small package and also consumes very little energy. Especially when in sleep mode.
It uses brass wires as the structure and part of the electronic circuit. The soldering is a bit tricky as the parts are so small and difficult to hold. I am pleased with my first attempt.
I used some small calculator-type solar panels as the sole source of energy and supercapacitors to provide for energy storage. The chip is programmed so that it is in sleep mode for a couple of seconds or so, then wake up to blink one led or more, then goes back to sleep, forever.
I have programmed the ATTINY so that it blinks all the time, day and night. The voltage and power are very low overall, but ATTINY is managing it very well. I had to set up some brownout fuses, but the code is fairly simple.
I started with the cube version and then made the “lander” version. Today my favourite is the lander. I am looking to make more copies and improve my overall design.
I am currently exploring how to increase the voltage on the circuits so that I can use coloured LEDs which require a slightly higher voltage than the current circuit allows for.
I have discovered that it is not as simple as double the size of the capacitors or doubling the size of the panels etc….been playing with the new oscilloscope to track what is going on in the electronics.
So much to learn still.
Update Feb. 2023: Sometimes the sun is too weak to fill the capacitor, I then use my bench power supply to fill the capacitor and restart the chip. I simply apply 2.5 Volts on the capacitor leads.
