Blinkyclove

If there are any smokers left out there this is a neat little hack to turn one into a blinky flower. First I built a small multivibrator circuit to create a pulse. I then took a piece of wire with an LED on the end and fed it through a cigarette. The filter was then broken up along with the paper to create a pedal effect. I stole the flower idea from the movie "Awake" if anyone saw it. Movie was horrible but worth the 10 bucks for project inspiration.

Circuit

This uses a simple astable multivibrator circuit. For those who are interested in learning how transistors work this circuit is a good place to start. The reason I went with this over a 555 or something with less solder points is that I like the symmetry of its design and aesthetics were considered since the circuitry would be exposed.

The resistors and caps were soldered on a proto board and I did my best to minimize wire jumpers by using solder bridges. Large caps were used as I also wanted the effect of the electronic components looking like they were growing out of the ground at the base of the flower.

Construction

Once the circuit is made the construction is easy, just take an empty clove box and glue the prototype board inside. I cut open a little flap so that electronics can be viewed from teh top. For power I used two AA batteries which is plenty to drive the leds for a long time. There is no off switch so to turn the blinky off you need to remove one of them.

The flower is a cigarrette with the stuff inside removed. The paper is then wrapped around a wire connected to an LED. Using a razor blade cut small strips from the paper and spread out the filter into pedals.