Sunny Surprise Guide

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Overview

You'll be surprised by how bright this board is!


This is part of out Alpenglow Beginning Soldering weather-themed series. It is a solder-it-yourself through-hole board that uses self-flashing yellow LEDs.


This board has a few more LEDs than our Happy Rain Cloud, Angry Storm Cloud, and Chilly Snow Cloud, and provides the opportunity to learn how to solder them at a right angle! When you're done with this one, check out our Radiant Rainbow.


V1 boards use clear soldermask, so the sun is exposed gold-plated copper and the background is the clear-covered copper.  V2 boards use a bright yellow soldermask.  V1 boards are shown in the photos below.

Thru-Hole Soldering Kits Sale V2

Thru-Hole Soldering Kits Sale V2
$
5.47
 
$
10.95

Solder the Switch and the Battery Holder

The design on this board is super simple so you can solder the components on in any order. Personally, We like to start with the switch and battery holder. We made the holes for the battery holder snug so with a little pressure it should snap into place for easy soldering!


If you're having trouble keeping the board from moving when soldering you can use a piece of tape to hold the board down. Just be sure not to have the tape too close to where you are soldering your joint!


*Note: The battery holder and switch are made of metal so they get hot when soldering. Be careful touching them during and directly after soldering!


** Updated board design now has a 3-pin switch that is easier to solder!

*3V USB Adapter Board Soldering instructions

Line up the adapter board on the back of the PCB. We find it helpful to use a piece of tape to hold the adapter board in place while soldering it. Solder each end marked with a + on the board, then remove the tape and solder the 3rd point in the middle of the board to the large GND pad.

Solder the LEDs

Insert LEDs up to the little notches then bend into a right angle. Repeat this step for all the LEDs then solder into place


*Note: LEDs are directional!  be sure to match the long and short legs with the long and short indicators.

Insert Battery and Turn On!

You did it! Turn your board on and enjoy the bright, sunny LEDs!

The switch is marked with ON and OFF.

Match the + side of the battery to the + side of the battery holder.

Place Adhesive Pin (optional)

If you'd like to wear your badge, you can use the ahdesive back pin provided in your kit. Remove the strip covering the adhesive and firmly press to the battery holder. You can then pin the badge to your shirt.

Backstory

Is there a story behind "Sunny Surprise"?
Indeed there is! Back when Carrie was in college (Harvey Mudd), there was a crew of miscreants that lived in a corner room on West Dorm. As students were walking back from their morning classes, they'd pass underneath this corner of the dorm. Unwary folks whose brains were full of Science would suddenly hear a delighted and somewhat maniacal falsetto voice yell "Sunny Surprise!!!" and find themselves blinded by a mirror reflecting the morning sun straight into their eyes. Now, some people were really Not in the Mood and were a bit grumpy about this. But Carrie always thought it was kind of hilarious. While our Sun isn't quite as shiny and blinding, we gave it a fun little surprised face so that you can experience your very own Sunny Surprise, and retain your eyesight.

Downloads

How to download our BOM from GitHub:
1. Click the BOM button above
2. Right click over the raw data
3. Select save as and save the CSV file
Have any questions?  Contact us!