LED Flower

What Is It?

A glowing golden flower with nine petals. I decided to make this after an earlier attempt at an LED flower as part of my early explorations into the art of circuit sculpture.

The Crafts Side

Brass wire is used to provide support and electrical interconnect. I started by making a to-scale template in Inkscape to ensure uniform proportions. This template was printed out and placed under glass to protect it from the head of the soldering iron. The outer LEDs are 3 mm while the inner ones are 5 mm. This non-uniformity makes the design appear more organic.

The Technology Side

The circuit itself is not very complex. Each petal of the flower is made up of two LEDs in parallel with one another. Both share a single current-limiting resistor. Each LED draws 20 mA, which is well within the limits of the 250 mW resistor at 5 V, which would allow 50 mA. The circuit is supported and powered by a micro USB socket.

This sculpture does not strictly follow the USB specification, as the total design draws 360 mA. USB devices cannot draw more than 200 mA without permission from the host, but most power bricks can easily supply 1 A or more, so this is not a significant issue.