Project Luminescence

[Friday, July 17] - Hardware Assembly Complete
Okay so… it’s been a month since my last devlog. I ordered the PCBs June 16th, and they arrived while I was on holiday, but we’re finally back to building!

The PCBs arrived absolutely beautiful. The heart shape clean, and the blue solder mask + white silkscreen looks fabulous.

Soldering was a journey… I got every component on except the battery holder with relative ease (forgot to track the time 🫠). I tested the complete board using an Arduino as a PSU and everything worked perfectly!

There was a lot of residual flux left around the joints (looked like someone sneezed on my board) which I cleaned with an old toothbrush and some hand sanitiser 💀

Next: Solder battery holder, cut the LED legs, then ship!

[Tuesday, Jun 16] - Analog Brightness + PCB Finalized

Firmware is DONE! Got trimpot brightness control working - turn the knob, watch the LED respond beautifully.

Hardware: Rerouted the whole back to fit the trimpot voltage divider properly, added a power switch to toggle it on/off (goodbye battery drain anxiety!). PCB is ready to manufacture!

After many firmware bugs, all three pieces are finally working together: smooth fading firmware + trimpot brightness control + clean power management.

Next: Export Gerbers and ship this to JLCPCB!

[Tuesday, Jun 16] - Smooth fading and PCB polishing.

Firmware: I got the smooth PWM fading working with gamma corrected brightness. The breathing effect is absolutely GORGEOUS and way better than the old blinking.

Hardware: Did some PCB cleaning up. Rescaled the silkscreen text to be bigger and more readable, and repositioned everything to look cleaner on the front.

Both parts are coming together nicely! Firmware is almost done (just need trimpot brightness control), and the PCB design is ready to order soon!

Next up: Integrate analog brightness control from the trimpot.

[Saturday, Jun 6th] - Mode cycling and debouncing.

Core firmware structure updated. Button debouncing is solid (50ms), and mode cycling is working cleanly through OFF, ON and FADE.

Right now, the fade is just blinking, but that’s next on the list. Once I add smooth PWM fading with gamma correction, the breathing effect will be 🤌

Git log (attached) shows my iteration.

We’re getting close to ordering our PCBs!

[Saturday, Jun 6th] - Core Firmware.

Got the basic firmware working. Just simple button press turns LED on/off. Nothing fancy yet, but big things are in the near future.

Next up:
Debouncing, mode cycling (off, on, breathe), and trimpot brightness control. But for now, the core loop works and proves my ATtiny85 isn’t fried lol.

[Friday, Jun 5th] - PCB Designed.

My first devlog! I got my first prototype of the board completed, designed so all the ugly components are on the back. This design features:

• ATTINY85 microcontroller
• A CR2032 battery holder
• 10x 5mm red LEDs
• A trimmer potentiometer from Aliexpress 💀
• A button for switching modes