The Swamp Glow

No Soldering. No Wiring. A Few Minutes.

If you can use tape, you can make this.

Parts

• 1 green LED
• 1 CR2032 coin battery #1 Swamp Glow#2 Route 13
• Electrical tape #1 Swamp Glow#2 Route 13#3 Three-Knock
• 1 clear plastic ball (ornament, capsule toy, Easter egg — anything see-through)

Parts — where to buy each one →

The Circuit

Step 1 — The LED. It has two legs. The long leg is positive (+). The short leg is negative (−). That's the only thing you need to remember.

Step 2 — The battery. The flat side with the + is positive. The bumpy side is negative.

Step 3 — Sandwich. Long leg on the flat side (+). Short leg on the bumpy side (−). It lights up. That's the whole circuit.

The LED only lights when both legs are touching the battery — positive and negative connected at the same time, forming a complete loop. Electricity only travels around complete paths.

Step 4 — Tape it. Wrap electrical tape around the battery and legs to hold it together.

Doesn't light? Flip the LED around — it might be backward. Still nothing? Check that the tape is pressing both legs firmly against the battery.

The Puck

Tuck the whole thing inside any clear ball — plastic ornament, capsule toy shell, clear Easter egg. Seal it, frost it with sandpaper, done. Green LED inside a frosted ball looks swampy without paint.

Want a switch? A tiny slide switch between the long leg and the battery. Slide on, it glows. Slide off, it stops.

Safety: Keep coin batteries away from small children — they're a choking and ingestion hazard.

ATtiny85. Any Pattern. Fits in a Golf Ball.

Same green LED, same housing — but now you control the pattern. A tiny chip smaller than a dime tells the LED what to do.

Parts

• 1 ATtiny85 chip (8-pin DIP) #1 Swamp Glow#2 Route 13#3 Three-Knock
• 1 green LED (same as Version 1)
• 1 resistor, 150Ω #1 Swamp Glow#2 Route 13
• 1 CR2032 coin battery (same as Version 1) #1 Swamp Glow#2 Route 13
• 1 CR2032 battery holder with leads and switch #1 Swamp Glow#2 Route 13#3 Three-Knock
• 1 clear plastic ball (same as Version 1)

Parts — where to buy each one →

Pin Orientation

Hold the chip so the small notch or dot faces left.

Bottom-left is Pin 1. Top-left is Pin 8. Pins count counter-clockwise.

Pin Reference

• Pin 1 — RESET (leave unconnected)
• Pin 2 — PB3
• Pin 3 — PB4
• Pin 4 — GND (ground)
• Pin 5 — PB0 ← LED output
• Pin 6 — PB1
• Pin 7 — PB2
• Pin 8 — VCC (+3V power)

Step 1 — Program the Chip

Use a Tiny AVR Programmer board (~$17) — plug the ATtiny85 into the socket, plug the board into USB, and upload a short program from the Arduino IDE. One time. After that, the chip remembers.

int onMinutes  = 120;              // minutes LED stays on (120 = 2 hours)
int offMinutes = 10;               // minutes LED stays off

void setup() { pinMode(0, OUTPUT); }
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(0, HIGH);
  for (long i = 0; i < (long)onMinutes * 60; i++) { delay(1000); }
  digitalWrite(0, LOW);
  for (long i = 0; i < (long)offMinutes * 60; i++) { delay(1000); }
}

Step 2 — Connect It

Three connections. No soldering. Bend the resistor legs and LED legs directly onto the chip pins — they're long enough.

• Pin 5 (PB0) → either leg of the 150Ω resistor (it works both ways) → other resistor leg to LED long leg (+).
• Pin 8 (VCC) → red wire from battery holder.
• Pin 4 (GND) → black wire from battery holder and LED short leg.

Tape it together with electrical tape. The battery holder has a built-in on/off switch.

Step 3 — Puck It

Same as Version 1 — tuck it in a clear ball, seal it, frost it, done. The ATtiny85 is small enough to fit in a golf ball with the coin battery.

Troubleshooting

Doesn't light? Check LED polarity (long leg to resistor side). Check resistor is between pin 5 and the LED, not bypassed. Check battery is seated. Try flipping the LED.

Tick. ATOM Matrix. Control from Your Phone.

This is the upgrade. A tiny computer with a 5×5 color LED grid, Wi-Fi, and an accelerometer — running Tick. Everything runs on the device itself. No server. No internet. Just the puck and your phone.

What You Need

Parts — where to buy each one →

How to Build It

Step 1 — Plug it in. Connect USB-C to power. The firmware is already on the ATOM Matrix — no flashing, no setup tools. It boots in 2 seconds and starts glowing with default settings.

Step 2 — Configure it. Hold the button for 3 seconds. The device becomes a Wi-Fi hotspot. Connect with your phone and open 192.168.4.1. A setup page loads right from the device. Set the color to swamp green. Dial the brightness down. Program a slow pulse — two hours on, ten minutes dark. Save. Done. Walk away. It runs on its own.

Step 3 — Wi-Fi (optional). If you’ve got a network nearby — your home Wi-Fi, a hotspot, anything — enter the credentials on the setup page. Now you can control every puck from any browser on the network. Change patterns from inside the house. No need to walk out.

Step 4 — Seal it. Same as Version 1 & 2. Tuck the ATOM Matrix inside an ornament ball, LED grid facing out. Run the USB-C cable out through a sealed hole to a battery pack hidden in the roots. Aquarium silicone the seam. Sand it. Green glass paint. Let dry.