An artsy night-light that glows with the phases of a Puerto Rican sunset.
Background
For a few summer months I managed to trick a beautiful blonde dancer into hanging out with me for a while. In my bewilderment I made a night-light as a present for her 30th birthday.
What it does
The sand dollar glows with the main phases of the sunrise (contrary to the project’s name) and looks rad.
What it’s made of
- A sand dollar I plucked from the ocean in Rincon, Puerto Rico
- A photo of the sand dollar in my hand taken with my mobile phone
- An IKEA shadowbox frame
- A large vinyl-coated paperclip
- A USB power supply, cable and extension
- A PIC18F45K20 development board (comes in this bundle)
- A sunrise color palette
- Firmware written in C using MPLABX, compiled by XC8 and loaded using an ICD3
- Custom PCB designed in EAGLE and fabricated at PCBExpress
Theory of operation
A potentiometer on the controller board mounted to the rear of the shadowbox cycles through five colors and ‘off’. Each 1/6 of a turn sends the next color in the palette to an RGB LED controlled by a local PWM driver.
Conclusion
Worked like a champ.