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The goal of this project was to create a simple fiber optic lamp using an Attiny 85 an RGB LED, and some Fiber Optic tubing. I originally wanted it to be solar powered, but I didn't have enough solar panels, so I instead connected it to a battery pack containing 2 1.5V batteries, giving 3 volts total. The Attiny85 chip I am using is a variant designed for low power operation, it is capable of operating with just 1.8V.
I could have used a lot more fiber optic cable, the lamp looks quite spartan. I didn't realise how thin it actually was. Working with it was interesting though, this is the exact same type of material they usse to make high speed data and telecommunications cables. I could have fairly easily used it to connect two chips together to send and receive data using pulses of light.
This is probably my simplest project, the RGB LED is connected to the strands of cut Fiber Optic cable using some heat shrink tubing (which proved to be very effective, this is my first time using heat shrink tubing). It is controlled from the Attiny85, which is powered directly from the battery pack. The housing is made from perspex and some plastic end cap sections that I had from a previous project.
The LED changes colour on a continuous loop, and in the dark the lamp looks really good.
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