UCBeacon

We need a new beacon to identify a campsite in a dark location, so it needs to be more subtle than the previous Burning Man-oriented designs.

Project Status

2016-09: Bought a kit to make silicone parts, the ring of SatinIce acrylic is way too thin-walled to be useful, so going to try to make it out of platinum silicone instead.
2016-09-07: Hackvana PCB price (all USD): green soldermask 5 boards $71, 10 boards $100, black soldermask 5 boards $98, 10 boards $127.
2016-09-06: Completed checklist and CAM, sent quote request to Hackvana as this will be >$200 just for PCBs at OSH Park, so need to find elsewhere to get them done.
2016-08-27: Added silkscreen and started checklist run.
2016-08-22: Completed routing board, need to do silk and checklist.
2016-08-17: Completed schematic checklist, added USB power option, started working on routing the PCB.
2016-08-04: Completed the schematic, pending checklist.
2016-08-03: Completed the charging section, last major section left is the power supply.
2016-08-02: Started putting basic schematic and BOM together.
2016-06-13: Ordered a 12" section of 8" diameter SatinIce acrylic tube to use for the ring.
2016-06-12: Started looking at how to source the acrylic for the LED ring.
2016-06-04: Started talking about a need for this and thinking about designs.

Small portable-ish unit that can sit on top of the trailer at camp.
LED ring like on ParkAssist lights, but all RGB
Round solar panel inside ring to power it?
- Turns out to be hard to find, so may not be able to do this
LT3652 solar charging IC
2x 18500 LiFePo4 cylindrical batteries in parallel
Remote control to go from "subtle help-us-find-camp beacon" to a brighter mode, or disable when not at camp
Arduino-compatible, based on ATMega328P
On at dusk and off at dawn based on solar panel voltage rather than a separate sensor
Need to think about weatherproofing and drainage since it will get rained on and the ring design would otherwise trap water