Bottle Bush Project

Mar 2023 ~ by Griz (aka Steve Stovner) ~
This project started with some LEDs I found that flashed pseudo random colors. I thought it would be cool if I had a cluster of them in the garden that came on automatically at night for a few hours. Battery would be recharged by solar panel during the day. But when I wired up a test and viewed it in the dark shop I did not like the fast-changing flash (way to busy). So, I designed a microprocessor based system that I could software program the color change and intensity ramps of 24 LEDs independently. I breadboarded key aspects of the system (LED color & intensity drive hardware, ambient light sensor, solar panel / battery interface, etc.) and was very pleased with the design. I located parts from my stock and acquired parts I did not have for the electronics build.

Before building the actual electronics, I diverted to the physical configuration of the LEDs. String, Star, Globe, etc. was dull. Random scatter on exiting shrubs, plants or trees was boring. Bare LEDs had no character. I settled on housing the LEDs in glass globes or bottles that would resemble flowers on a "bush" of my own design. I had some Drambuie bottles that fit the bill if I cut off their bottoms. Making the flowers was very frustrating until I figured out how to cut glass bottles. I envisioned a bush made of steel with several large leaves and 12 to 24 "flowers", but did not have enough steel rod or rebar. I did have lots of 3/8" soft copper tubing. So, I hardened it.

The bush canes needed a smooth, functional and esthetic curve. I made bending jigs (7.25" to 36" radius). Each cane has at least 3 different radius sections. After making 10 canes it became clear that I liked 6 a lot better than 8 or 10 and one flower per cane vs 2 or 3 on branches.

A few budding cane shoots and signature was fun (all copper).

The all-copper leaf was designed to mount the solar battery charging panel & day-night sensor on top and 1" copper pipe on bottom which holds all the electronics, including battery. Wires from electronics run inside the leaf cane to the base then back up each flower cane, through the bottle cork to the LED.

Before getting very deep into the microprocessor work, I was researching various light intensity and color ramping schemes when I came across an LED that did what I was going to do with software. It is a self-contained unit - apply power and it ramps each color in-turn up then back down slowly. $10 for 100 LEDs out of China. Took 2 weeks to get them but they work great, I scraped the microprocessor design which saved me lots of build, program, test and debug time. I then had to design and built battery monitor, ambient light threshold detector and few other functions that were going to be handled in software by the microprocessor, but I enjoy old-school electronics design work - it was a challenge - it was fun.

I drove a 1" threaded pipe 3' into the garden and screwed "Bottle Bush" onto it. Worked great, for a week, then I noticed the weight of solar panel and 1" copper electronics housing pipe was much heavier than I had anticipated and was pulling the leaf down (2nd pic below). I removed the solar panel and 1" copper pipe, thinking maybe someday I would beef up the leaf cane - but I know I never will - The project is done - I like the bush as it is - It does not need lights - and I have other fish to fry.