Fireflies

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Parts

Jars (Mason, Baby Food, etc.)
LED Lights (12 per jar)
- Ebay: [1]
Microcontrollers
- Sparkfun: [2]
Light Sensors
- Sparkfun: [3]
Batteries
- Microbattery: [4]
- Sparkfun: [5]
Solar Panels (1 per jar)
- Futurlec: [6]

Actual Part List

Attiny85 [7]
TEPT5600 (Phototransistor) [8]
12X SMD Green LED's (Ebay)
100K Resistor
Magnet Wire [9]
Optional USB connectors for voltage
Optional Diode for reverse voltage protection

Program

All source code is at http://dev.xkyle.com/fireflies/

Individual stubbornness variable
A random decision for each tick cycle

Instructions

Fireflies Simply plug in the firefly jar to a standard outlet and wait till it is dark and the fireflies will come out and start to flash. Their pattern is dynamic: sometimes with lone flashers and sometimes with hyperactivity.

The fireflies don’t come out as soon as it gets dark, it takes a while.
If you don’t have a dark place or you want to enjoy the fireflies all the time, you can simply cover the light sensor on top with a piece of dark tape.
If you want to open the jar to see how it works, be very careful when handling the flies, they are very fragile. Also try not to trap moisture in the jar.
The power source converter is just USB, you can use it in a computer or alternative power source if you want.
The threshold of light is purposely set high so that it doesn’t have to be pitch black to enjoy the fireflies.
If you disconnect the top connector, make sure you plug it back in with the correct orientation.
In a very rare case it is possible that the flies might stop flashing. If it has been a few days and they still don’t light up even in pitch black, you can reset the flies by unplugging them, waiting 30 seconds and then plugging them back in.
The fireflies are reprogrammable. If some day you get bored of their flashing pattern you can carefully open up the jar, extract the chip (very carefully), and mail it to me (Kyle). I will reprogram it with new behavior (more dynamic, more subtle, whatever you want) and send it back to you.

Kyle and Cody