In which our hero has no idea what he's doing, but somehow already needs more zip ties...
Project Overview:
I had more to learn than I realized with using some of these components & Arduino so I'm going to focus on a simpler version of my project idea for the contest deadline, then expand it into a longer term project beyond that. I'm new to both Arduino and soldering such teensy components, so rather than try to rush into my full design concept I'll get a simpler version going first. At the very least, this is the best way I can figure out to proceed without rushing at the last minute and frying more than half of these LEDs from Würth Elektronik.
For my project, I want to make an RGB flashlight that can do any color! I've developed (on paper at least) an array of RGB LEDs at the base of a normal flashlight aluminum casing. When controlled by an attached Arduino Zero, this could become a more robust color flashlight than any of the commercially available RGB flashlights I could find, which just have fixed color bulbs that only work one at a time. Not sure how bright I can get it to be with these particular LEDs but it should be at least a working proof of concept; I'll call it a successful experiment if I can get a reliable 1-candle equivalent directional beam at least. I've got some of the theory worked out on paper that I'll prepare for later posts.
This 'RGB Flashlight' concept sparked a more ambitious separate project which I'm going to call Project Honeycomb. It's very mysterious and will take more time than the span of this contest, but I'm really looking forward to it! More on that later :)
I have much to learn, and am worse at staying organized than I am at writing blog posts. To that end, I'm going to kick off my blog series with first taking inventory of my tools and components, and learning goals / needs! This seems like a fun way to stay organized and get a bit of practice with electronics photography.
Project & Learning Goals:
- Get as many RGB LEDs working with the Arduino Zero as possible. Hoping for at least one candle-equivalent illumination, but I'll take what I can get.
- Refresh my skillset on best soldering practices in particular. Haven't done much soldering recently, and never with a smart iron.
- Need to learn basic Arduino coding. I've used a BBC Micro Bit before but never Arduino.
- Portable power supply needed (likely just going to use a commercial battery pack for sake of time). I'd like to get at least 1 hour of continuous use without recharging or changing batteries.
Photos:
An assortment of hand tools. Got some cheap flashlights to gut from Goodwill. Nice new pliers. Borrowing my dad's old 'helping hand' clamp thingamajig that he used to make cuckoo clocks. Always nice to use old tools when you can.
I've settled on using an old work lamp instead of flashlight casings for my prototypes. Just seems a lot more practical to work in while I'm getting this working at all. I have large-ish hands so I don't know how well it'd work trying to prototype directly in a gutted flashlight case that wasn't designed for it. Need a way to attach the Arduino to the flashlight while it's running too. Might need some duct tape. Drastic times call for drastic amounts of cheap fasteners.
Great digital multimeter by Sorand!
I'm planning some optics experiments so I wanted to get a digital light meter as well! Very happy with the performance of this TopTes TS-710 so far.
Also ordered a Colormunki Photo (this will mostly be useful for my longer term project past the scope of this blog contest). Would love to hear any good tutorials you know of for this!
Nice basic student optics kit with lenses. Curious to test how well I can get RGB light homogenized with these.
Ordered a Pinecil smart soldering iron and a suction whatchathingy; it's not my first rodeo with soldering but I've never used a smart iron.
I like these tweezers. These are some nice tweezers.
"Do you expect me to talk, Breaker?"
"No, Mr. Würth, I expect you to fry!"
I can't say enough how much I love the design of this soldering mat. I've never seen anything like this before this contest. One of the best designs I've ever seen. I'll put a link to the Amazon page for it: https://a.co/d/9T8BBCt. I want to solder stuff just to have an excuse to use this mat. Am I weird?
Some extra double-sided breadboards.
I swear these things breed overnight.
And last but not least, the contest kit from Würth Elektronik! I'll go into this more in future posts of course. I just wanted to start off getting organized and outlining my plan for the rest of the blog contest. Looking forward to the rest and really appreciate all the great components! I'm planning to mostly use the 5050 size options for a little easier soldering for my first prototypes.
Do you organize your components? Or just embrace entropy as a lifestyle? I may need to start a support group.
I have other components and tools too but don't want to get bogged down cataloging every single thing. Just getting myself organized as I get ready to actually build this prototype flashlight now. Drawings and testing / documentation and such to follow in my next post. Looking forward to more! Thanks for reading 
Captain's Log:
I love the smell of progress in the morning. It smells a lot like toasted flux. No sign of intelligent organization anywhere. I would abort the mission but I've already forgotten where my phone is. The things I do for science...
