Solar moving and blinking eyes - with schematic
Mar 27, 2026•Channel
AI Analysis
Data from YouTube Data API v3•Updated Just now
Video Overview
Video Details
Published2 months ago
Duration15:02
Video IDeAF4R2n9CJA
Languageen
CategoryScience & Technology
PrivacyPublic
Made for KidsNo
Video TypeRegular Video
Performance Metrics
Views40.2K
Likes3K
Comments472
Engagement Rate8.70%
Likes per 100 views7.53
Comments per 1K views11.73
Description
These have been around for a while, but they were always hidden in boxes, and I wondered if the eye movement effect was cheated with a few LEDs. When I came across some sitting loose on the shelf at a local shop I turned one on, and when I saw it was a large matrix of LEDs I bought one for us to explore.
The solar section is fairly standard, but with a bit of smoothing and a zener to cap the open circuit voltage at 5V. The eyes are each formed from a shaped array of 52 LEDs multiplexed on an 8 by 8 matrix (capable of running up to 64 LEDs).
The microcontrollers running the eyes have a simple single wire synchronisation feature that sends a sync pulse once during each pattern cycle to make sure they match up. The PCBs are identical, so any module can be the master or slave unit, and if desired you could theoretically add more eyes to the network.
The software is basic. It follows a short looping animation sequence. It would have been nice to use a randomiser to control the eye position and blinking, and then fill in intermediate frames as needed.
These modules can be run on a voltage between 3V and 5V with the higher voltage resulting in a brighter effect.
These units are branded Smart-solar in the UK, but probably go under other brands elsewhere.
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