Build Instructions

Collapse

• 1

  Wiring it up

  The Fritzing image (original Fritzing file also attached) shows the wiring. With the Circuit Playground, the wiring is pretty simple. All the sensors and LEDs are already connected.
  

  The battery charger is not the same as what I used, which was an inexpensive USB battery bank using a Li-Ion battery and connecting through the USB instead of the battery connector. If you buy a charger board the wiring should be pretty clear. The battery bank I used required me to solder a couple wires to the back of the USB port (actually using a USB cable was too bulky).

  The hookup is pretty straightforward:

  • Bluefruit TX connects to Arduino RX
  • Bluefruit RX connects to Arduino TX
  • Bluefruit CTS connects to ground
  • Charger board + connects to Bluefruit VIN and to VBAT on Arduino
  • Charger board - connects to the middle of the switch
  • Bluefruit ground (gnd) and Arduino ground connect to the side of the switch
  • Finally, the battery + and - connect appropriately to the charger board
• 2

  Breadboard

  I used a tiny breadboard for the Bluefruit module, and the switch. The Circuit Playground is attached on the end with a little double sided tape. The breadboard also comes with double sided foam tape, which we will use to attach it to the inside of the box. This provides support for the Circuit Playground (the battery will support the other side as its just the right height).

  The bread board has enough room on it to support a couple sensors for future enhancements, or any other changes we might want to make.

  The switch is a breadboard friendly switch with a 3 pin right angle header soldered to it, so it can mount sideways on the breadboard. This allows it to extend through a hole on the side.

• 3

  Box it up

  Amac Box

  Who doesn't love Amac boxes? You know the ones. They come in lots of sizes and colors and they have flush lids and they're completely 'square' (no slopes or ridges or anything) and they can stack nicely. I love them. My grandmother always had these in her home full of interesting things and I would explore them for materials I could use. My kids spotted this cool box I made and their curiosity exploded. What is that? Its glowing! And the cycle repeats...

  So it was a natural thing to put this project into an Amac box. Since we are generating light in any color, I had to go with a clear box, even though the colored ones are just so.. beautiful! In retrospect, I could have gotten one clear box and one colored box and used the clear lid with the colored bottom.

  The 2 5/16" x 3 1/16" size "flush lid" box was the perfect size. The height allowed for the battery to stand up and double as support for the Circuit Playground, and the width x depth of the box was just comfortably big enough for the diameter of the Playground board. The lid also is short, about a quarter inch, so the board can be right up on top.

  Make some holes

  I drilled two small holes with a 5/8" drill to create a slot for the charger USB to go through, then used an x-acto knife to cut the bridge between them out and to smooth the holes. I did the same thing for the power switch and again for the USB on the Circuit Playground at the top so I could be reprogrammed without removing it. I did NOT cut a hole in the lid though, so the lid covers this hole when in operation.

View all 6 instructions