Tag Archives: mod

Tenergy Lumi Bloom Table Lamp as a Ceiling Fixture

Posted by on September 23, 2019 No comments

The Tenergy Lumi Bloom is a great, inexpensive, modular table lamp, here’s how to convert it to a ceiling fixture.

To accomplish this modification I designed a number of 3D printable parts which you can find on Thingiverse. One could alternately craft these parts out of wood or some other material using the 3D designs as a guide.

The table lamps themselves are great, the branches and bulbs use the same socket base so you can create your own tree-like lamp structure and change it up at any time.

This mod has the lamp running 120 volt bulbs into the house electrical rather than 12 volt bulbs via the included adapter. If you are not comfortable making this change or working with lighting electrical please refrain from undertaking this modification.

While this modification allows you to purchase multiple lamps in order Replica watch best to add more bulbs to one ceiling fixture please take into account the combined wattage of the bulbs that you are using to limit the number of branches and bulbs you include.

Tenergy Lumi Bloom Table Lamp
https://amzn.to/2M1LkOM

Alternate 120 Volt Candelabra Bulbs
https://amzn.to/31U5jFO

Thingiverse 3D Parts
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3874820

Assembly

Bulb_Socket_Spacer_Adapter.stl

This lamp uses 12 volt bulbs, the base of which are longer than 120 volt bulbs. That being the case, 120 volt candelabra-size bulbs will not screw deep enough into the sockets to make the required connection.

To solve this problem I designed a threaded spacer with a hole in the center into which I glued about 3mm of the base of a nail (all but 2mm or so of the pin cut off).

The flat of the nail sits on the center connection of the socket when the shim is screwed in and the pin of the nail is what the bulb’s center lead will sit on when the bulb is screwed in. The nail bridges the electrical connection while the spacer screws tight into the socket and prevents any shorts. I used nails labelled 1″ 2d and Krazy Glue. The nails friction fit quite well, but to be extra caution I glue them anyway. Both the cap and tip of the nail may need to be scraped or sanded after gluing to ensure a good connection.

While one of these shims will be required for each 120 volt candelabra bulb you use with this lamp, when you’re connecting a branch to a socket rather than a bulb you will have to remove the shim. Consequently when you are re-configuring the lamp you’ll end up shuffling the shims from socket to socket.

When inserting these shims, screw them in reverse a couple turns to get them level, then they should screw in properly. Don’t tighten to hard or you’ll risk cracking the shim, snug is good to make the connection.

These shims have a slot so that a flat-head screwdriver can be used to insert and remove them. **Ensure the power to the light is off before remove or inserting any bulbs, shims, or branches.*

Fixture_Spacer_Shim.stl

To use this lamp as a ceiling fixture you must remove the base plate and power adapter socket. Then you can print this shim which will brace the lamp against your ceiling and has holes 89mm apart for connecting to the electrical fixture box in your ceiling. This shim acts as a brace that allows you to tighten the fixture without fear of bowing the plastic base.

Once you’ve printed this shim and checked against your electrical box you can use the holes as guides to drill through the base of the lamp. Drill slowly, and I wouldn’t recommend a punch of any sort since it might crack the plastic.

Bolt_Cap_Base.stl
Bolt_Cap_Cover.stl

This cap and cover allow you to hide the bolts which must go through the base and the shim to connect the lamp to your ceiling electrical fixture box. Insert the bolt into the base, mount the lamp, then place the cover on the base. It should friction fit and give a nice finished look to the fixture.

Power_Adapter_Cover.stl

This small piece is to fill the opening left after you remove the 12 volt adapter socket from the base. It simply slides into place.

Printing

I print rafts with most things, these included, other than that these models are quite simple and you shouldn’t run into any issues.

DIY toddler balance bike headlight

Posted by on July 23, 2017 No comments

Light up your little one’s balance bike with this simple do-it-yourself headlight.

There’s not a lot to say here, glue something ferromagnetic (something magnets stick too) to the front of the balance bike and purchase a puck shaped utility light with a magnet on the back to stick to it. I used a washer and crazy glue, super simple, loads of fun. The light may slide off the washer in the event of a collision — but putting it back on is half the fun!

The balance bike my son has is the Kinderfeets TinyTot Wooden Balance Bike and Tricycle, which converts from a three-wheeled tricycle to a two-wheeled bike when they’re old enough.

Materials

A Maker Wedding

Posted by on June 14, 2013 1 comment

Initially I wasn’t sure how much our wedding was truly going to represent my fiancée and I, after all, we wanted our family and friends to enjoy themselves and feel included — as with any large event there are a lot of expectations to manage. After deciding to craft my own Edison-style light fixtures for our reception I realized that the occasion was, in addition to a celebration of our life-long commitment to each other, an opportunity for us to showcase our creativity and perhaps introduce some of our family and friends to aspects of ourselves they may not have known existed.

In retrospect we probably took on too much, but it allowed us to feel the occasion was a true reflection of ourselves — for me this meant soldering, stripping, crimping, twisting, programming and no small amount of brow furrowing. None of these projects could’ve come together without the help of my wonderful wife Ester, who not only said yes, but also collaborated throughout and trusted me to deliver on some very important aspects of our big day. In addition, a big thanks to my dear old Dad who took time to help me with the lengthy task of wiring the Edison fixtures and to the friends and family who helped us setup and teardown these, and other installations.

Animated Arduino LED matrix lounge table top

Vinyl “flexi” record wedding invitations

XBee remote relay as photobooth RF camera trigger

Bachelor party wireless Arduino accelerometer Stab-O-Meter

JQuery Animated Wedding Website


Various puppet arms available at Obscura Antiques & Oddities, New York

“Spaghetti” IP Cam / Arduino Motion Detect Sprinkler

Posted by on June 17, 2012 33 comments

arduino motion detect sprinkler


After a neighbourhood dog decided my front lawn was a fantastic place to poop on and his owners decided that they don’t care for bylaws I set upon finding a solution. Sure you could try cayenne pepper, mothballs, ammonia or even marking your own territory (take that!) but I already had an IP camera monitoring my front yard for security purposes, so I figured I’d just hook up an Arduino and a sprinkler valve. This yard defense solution has two added benefits, it keeps my lawn healthy (I can set up timed watering through this system) and it sends offending dogs home stinkin’ wet. From me having to shovel dookie off my lawn to negligent owners having to deal with wet dog — perfect.

When the IP camera detects motion in configured regions of its video stream (the rectangles in the screenshot) it triggers one of its General Purpose Input/Output ports (GPIO). The Arduino is listening for this GPIO signal and once its received the Arduino triggers a relay which connects a 24v power supply to the sprinkler solenoid valve. The valve opens when 24v is applied to it and “sprinkles” whatever was responsible for the motion.

The TRENDnet IP camera I employed works great as it already records video of events to network or attached storage, sends email alerts with snapshots and allows manual triggering of its GPIO.

The TRENDnet monitoring plugin only works in IE but after some reverse engineering and C# coding I had an easy to use web interface for all browsers and mobile devices.

If there’s enough interest I’ll post circuit and wiring diagrams. Ensure the valves you get are non-latching 24v solenoids, some 9v valves seem tempting but are magnetic and require a more complex circuit.

Why Spaghetti? Watch more ATHF.

Parts

 
Update: Some folks have asked why not just trigger the valve relay directly from the GPIO on the camera. This could’ve been done, but then I wouldn’t have gotten as much control as I wanted. This way I can configure timing to prevent the sprinkler itself from setting off the motion detector, set up timed watering as well as trigger other devices at various timings (DSLR for reaction shots). Another addition may be an XBee based remote control or hardwired buttons for various functions.

Update: I’ve added a quick circuit diagram and simple Arduino code.

Arduino Code


int gpioPin = 1;       			// GPIO input
int val = 0;           			// value read from GPIO input
int trigPin = 13;      			// solenoid relay output

void setup()
{
	pinMode(trigPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
  val = analogRead(gpioPin);		// read the GPIO input pin
  if (val > 500)
  {
	// GPIO triggered, open the valve
	digitalWrite(trigPin, HIGH);
  }
  else
  {
	// GPIO off, close the valve
	digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
  }
}

30 Second iPad Stand

Posted by on May 23, 2010 1 comment

What can’t coat hangers do? I came up with the idea for this stand and made this video to help advertise my ohDisco! iPad app, a quarter of a million views ain’t bad.