How to make a LED tree with your own hands. DIY LED trees

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Currently, there is a huge range of decorative lighting products that are successfully used to decorate premises and streets. LED trees are becoming especially popular different types, which serve not only as decoration, but also perfectly complement the illumination of buildings with adjacent territories. Due to their qualities, they fit perfectly into almost any interior. In the daytime, artificial trees look quite natural, and with the onset of darkness they begin to delight those around them with all colors and shades.

There are a large number of finished products, however, if you wish, you can make an LED tree with your own hands. Low energy consumption is an important positive factor, which is why such trees are increasingly used for decoration in offices, shops and restaurants, attracting the attention of potential customers.

LED tree for home or apartment

Most often with self-production for indoor LED trees, there are two main methods.

Tree with LED garland

The manufacturing process begins with a frame for which the best way fits aluminum wire... It bends easily at any angle, giving any configuration to the future design. A more realistic color is obtained by wrapping black electrical tape around the white wire insulation.

Then, the finished frame is evenly wrapped with a garland, fixed to the wire with black electrical tape. If you wish, you can create additional decorations for LEDs in the form of decorative nozzles made of transparent plastic. Upon completion of the work, the manufactured tree just needs to be connected to electrical network and believe its performance. Thus, the question of how to make an LED tree with your own hands can be considered resolved.

The main advantage of this method is the ease of manufacture. The main disadvantage is the impossibility of making large wood. This is due to standard length a garland that is not enough to fit the entire tree. Therefore, this method is most suitable for the manufacture of miniature products, which are also very popular.

LED tree

Making wood from individual LEDs is considered a more time consuming process. However, this method does not have the disadvantages inherent in finished garlands, which makes it possible to manufacture structures of any shape and size. The main material is 5mm LEDs. Resistors are needed to equalize the voltage.

Direct manufacturing begins with soldering. The LED contacts have different lengths, so the resistor legs are pre-shortened on one side. You need to solder the contacts of both elements very quickly so as not to damage the LED.

Heat shrink tubing is then cut for the wires to cover the solder joints and resistors. It is necessary to leave a place for soldering the supply wire. The tube is inserted on the leg of the resistor and warmed up a little with a lighter to give the insulation the required shape. This operation is performed with each LED.

After that, you can start making the tree itself. Most often, the trunk is made of thin plumbing pipes, and the branches are made of wire, about 50 cm long. The main part of the branch takes 45 cm, and 5 cm remains for attaching it to the trunk. Small branches are cut up to 10 cm in size. The number of LEDs on one branch must be calculated in advance.

In the next step, small branches are attached with electrical tape to large branches. It is recommended to set the number of LEDs on each small branch equal to the number of LEDs on the large branch. Each LED is secured with electrical tape.

The wires must be stretched along the entire length of the main branches, after which they are cut taking into account the bends of the small branches. The ends are tied to the trunk, after which all the pros and cons on each branch are connected. Their number must match the total number of branches. Wire connections are insulated. It remains only to hang evenly decorative ornaments and connect the finished tree to the electrical network.

Outdoor LED trees

Artificial trees with LEDs can be installed in any place to decorate the landscape and surrounding areas. The attractive power of beauty actively attracts visitors to restaurants and cafes, shopping centers and boutiques, offices and other public places. Each glowing tree in its configuration in many ways resembles real plants, and sometimes they completely imitate them. Artificial bark is used to cover the metal branches. The maximum similarity is achieved thanks to silicone or plastic leaves and flowers, made in full size.

The entire structure of the artificial tree is decorated with multi-colored LEDs. Most often they operate from the electrical network, but in some cases self-powered power can be used, which leads to a slight increase in the cost of the structure. LED strings are sometimes used, but they do not have the same effect as LEDs used alone.

Advantages of LED artificial trees:

Long service life of at least 5 years.
Artificial structures do not require the care required by real trees.
Low power consumption. Even the largest trees consume no more than 700 watts of electricity.
The simplicity of the design allows you to do it yourself without involving specialists.
Resistance of the structure to low temperatures, dust, high humidity and other negative influences.
In the event of a burnout of one or more LEDs, the rest of the chain will continue to work, and the defective elements can be easily replaced with others.
Right choice artificial trees and bushes allows you to favorably emphasize and complement the elements.

Sakura is especially popular among LED plants. These trees are especially beautiful due to the highly durable plastic coating of the branches or aluminum alloy... Their appearance as close as possible to the present. Despite its relatively small size, this tree provides just as much light as taller structures. Sakura has a soft and delicate range of colors, mainly white, pink and golden tones.

Self-made wood for the street

When making wood with LEDs for outdoor use, be sure to take into account the aggressive influence environment... Therefore, before you start making an LED tree with your own hands for the street, you need to determine the entire procedure in advance.

The general scheme of work will be approximately the same as for conventional designs intended for indoor use. In the street version, it is recommended to pay attention to a more thorough coating of the trunk and branches with high-quality materials.

It is necessary to take care of the good insulation of the LEDs after soldering them to the resistors. Heat shrink tubing must completely hide each pair. If necessary, all unreliable places can be additionally insulated with black electrical tape. The same goes for wire connections at the plus and minus points. Decor items should be fastened more efficiently so that they are not ripped off by strong gusts of wind.

Master class: DIY glowing tree

Shrubs and trees glowing in the dark are a new fashionable trend in lighting technology. Such lamps not only fulfill their main function - they illuminate the streets in dark time days, but also decorate the city, emphasizing the features of the general atmosphere and placing the necessary accents.

Glowing trees for the street - a "useful" splendor
LED trees can be installed almost anywhere, but most often such unusual lamps flaunt at the entrance to the cafe, shopping center, restaurant, cinema, boutique, etc. Thus, they become the very attractive highlight that lures visitors to these cultural places. Glowing shrubs and trees are very similar to real ones, they completely mimic the shape of their prototype plant. The metal branches of the LED miracle are covered with artificial bark, plastic or silicone leaves and life-size flowers are attached to them. Small single-color or color LEDs are the crown of this whole design. Such decorative trees can operate from the network, but more often they are supplied with an autonomous power supply, which somewhat increases the cost of the structure. You can, of course, just decorate an ordinary tree with an LED garland (for example, you can use street garlands with solar panels), but the effect will not be good enough. What are the advantages of using exactly LED trees?

Pluses: Durability, these lighting serve for at least five years; Artificial trees do not require the care that is so necessary for the present; A small amount of electricity consumed, even to illuminate the largest giants, a maximum of 700 W is required; Easy to install, here you can easily do without the help of specialists; Impact resistant design low temperatures, high humidity and dust; If one or more LEDs burn out, the rest of the lamp continues to burn, and the LEDs can be easily replaced with new ones; Correctly selected bushes and trees can favorably emphasize the design of the landscape, become part of the overall decor.

These exotic trees they are usually made at least 2 meters in height and can be painted in any color. More simple models made in such a way that the trunk smoothly turns into spreading branches and its structure and color is identical to the crown. In more expensive palms, the texture and color of the pillar is close to natural wood, and the leaves completely repeat the shape of the real ones. Among themselves, such lamps can also differ in the number of branches, the thickness of the trunk, the presence or absence of artificial nuts or fruits. Palm trees are most popular in sanatoriums, boarding houses, hotels and other recreational areas, because they successfully create an atmosphere of sultry fun and freshness of the sea breeze. The average price of luminous palms is 50-160 thousand rubles.

Willow
A weeping willow that glows in the dark gives lovers the opportunity to enjoy a date under a spreading tree at any time of the day, without taking their enchanted gaze from each other. This wonderful lantern is able to give a park or square an extraordinary romantic atmosphere, illuminating long alleys and cozy benches. Here, flexible long branches are attached to the massive trunk, dotted with small leaves-shades, glowing white or any other color of the rainbow. Willow prices range from 16 to 50 thousand rubles.

Fruit trees
For spring to bloom 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, it is enough to install street LED lights in the garden, in the country or just somewhere on the street. fruit trees... Peaches, apple trees, cherries, apricots, pears will delight others with their lush bloom shades of lilac, white or pink. On such trees, flowers and fruits are made in full size and look like inflorescences and fruits of real plants like twin brothers. The cost of such lamps depends on the selected tree, its size and the number of branches. This amounts to 12-80 thousand rubles.

Glowing maple
Maple The stars glowing at night can be found not only in the sky, but also on the LED maple that illuminates a square or park. Five-pointed silicone or plastic leaves different sizes on mighty branches - good decision for decoration public place, and the paths are visible, and the view is pleasant. The price range for maples is 15-50 thousand rubles.

Sakura
This tree can be put into a special category, since it is sakura that is especially popular. Such trees are especially beautiful, they can turn a simple everyday environment into a fairy kingdom. The branches of these trees are covered with either special high-strength plastic or aluminum alloy, and are decorated in such a way that they look very much like real ones. The lantern is strewn with large silicone flowers and leaves, while their density and shape seem to be copied from a real Japanese cherry blossom. Although such trees are small in size, they give light no less than tall palms and branchy willows. The color scheme of sakura LEDs is very soft and delicate in gold, white, pink and purple tones. Such oriental beauties cost from 5 to 80 thousand rubles. Quite high prices for glowing trees are largely due to the price of LED lamp street lighting(more details here), which are used in their manufacture.

How to make a glowing tree for the street with your own hands

1) Draw detailed diagram... On a sheet of paper on a scale, draw a sketch of the future tree, marking with numbers its height, the length of the branches, the number of glowing elements on each of them and other required dimensions.

2) We measure the trunk. Cut off a part of the required height from the reinforced-plastic plumbing or any other pipe - this will be the trunk of the tree.

3) We make a frame. Cut from the wire required amount medium branches and many smaller branches. Bend them into an “L” shape so that they can be easily tied to the base. With black duct tape or Brown color fix the small branches on the medium ones, then use the same adhesive material to wrap the latter to the trunk.

4) Let's move on to LEDs. Armed with a soldering iron, solder the resistors to the LED. Keep in mind that the latter have two legs - one is longer, the other is shorter. Make sure that all LEDs are soldered to either only the longer or only the shortened pins of the resistor.

5) We insulate the LEDs. Use an insulating tube that matches the color of the tape and is large enough for the LED to slide into it easily. Cut the tube, taking into account that the place of soldering and the resistor itself should be hidden from the observer, but at the same time it is necessary to leave room for connection with the power wire. Put the tubes on the LED bulbs and slightly heat them up with a lighter so that the insulation completely wraps around the parts.

6) We fix the LEDs. Tie each of the LEDs on small branches to the wires according to the polarity and wrap with insulating tape. Now connect the wiring from the small branches to the middle wires, one wire per branch. We again connect the bundle of wires obtained so that all the pluses are together, and the minuses, respectively, are connected exclusively to each other. The resulting bundles can be immediately soldered to the main wire and run along the trunk, or pre-thread the wires from each branch into the holes pre-drilled in the pipe, connect them together and solder to the main wire so that it will subsequently be located inside the pipe. Remember to observe the polarity and then insulate all bare conductors.

7) Decorate the branches. Using the leaves and flowers cut out of plastic, decorate the resulting tree, carefully wrap all branches with electrical tape, as close as possible to the natural appearance of the lamp tree.

8) Install. The basis for the resulting tree is a barrel, a large pot, a container hidden in the ground, etc. Install your luminous structure into it and connect to a power source

Such a tree will delight you especially, like everything that is done with your own hands. You can do many useful things for your site, such as do-it-yourself birdhouses for birds.

A DIY LED tree is a great opportunity to create a fairy forest yourself, guided only by your imagination and imagination. This also saves money. But if you are not very "friends" with a soldering iron or do not have free time, the best way out is to purchase a ready-made representative of the LED flora.

Backlighting trees is one of the most popular landscape design techniques. It simultaneously brings aesthetic pleasure and allows you to illuminate backyard territory in the dark. There are several methods of lighting vegetation: using lamps and spotlights located on the ground, attaching LED strings to trunks, and creating LED trees. How to make an LED tree with your own hands, and we'll talk further.

How to use the backlight correctly?

Depending on what result you want to get from the lighting of trees, one or another lighting method is selected. In order for the glowing trees for the street to look beautiful, you must adhere to several basic rules:

spotlights are best placed on the ground at some distance from the tree with a slight slope;

you can use several spotlights at the same time with different kind lighting: halogen and LED;

for not too tall trees and bushes, lamps screwed into the ground are perfect, which can also be carried from place to place;

luminaires can also be installed on a tree trunk, directing the light upward - this will allow the light to diffuse between the foliage;

when creating a glowing tree with your own hands, you need to take into account the density of the foliage, the height and diameter of the plant, as well as its shape;

for overhead lighting, usually halogen or LED lights installed on nearby buildings;

in order for the plantations to cast a shadow on the vertical surface, the searchlights are installed behind them at a great distance.

Application of LED strings

If you want to create an LED tree with your own hands from an existing plant, then you just need to attach LED garlands on it, which are connected to the electrical network. Such garlands are divided into fruits that look like large lanterns, which are located far from each other, and the leaves are small bulbs, located very densely (see photo). Submitted by LED lights trees have many advantages, which include efficiency, long service life, resistance to low and high temperatures, precipitation. Trees with its help can be made both monochromatic and multi-colored.

Self-creation

Now let's look at how to make outdoor LED trees from scratch. First of all, I would like to note that glowing plants can be very diverse. This is an LED tree sakura, palm, maple, and a variety of spruces and pines. So, the stages of work to create glowing tree look like this:

Tree diagram

First of all, the future plant must be drawn on a piece of paper, where you also need to indicate its height, diameter, length and number of branches.

Barrel creation

A tree trunk is created very simply - you just need to take a metal-plastic pipe and cut it off the desired height(see photo).

Frame erection

Wire different thickness need to cut the right amount thick, medium and thin branches, and the latter should be as many as possible. For ease of installation, all branches are bent in the shape of the letter "L" and attached to the trunk.

Working with LEDs

Resistors are soldered to the LEDs, after which they are isolated. For this, electrical tape and a tube of approximately the same shade are taken. The diameter of the tube must be such that the LEDs enter it without problems. Each such element is attached electrical wire... Next, the LEDs are attached to the branches of the tree. In this case, the wires from the smaller branches should be connected in a bundle and connected to the wires of the thicker branches. As a result, all available wires are soldered into the main wire and run inside metal-plastic pipe... In doing so, do not forget to isolate them.

Decorating twigs

In order for the glowing LED trees to look as natural as possible, leaves and flowers are cut out of plastic and attached with electrical tape to the branches, and the tree trunk is completely wrapped in brown electrical tape, as, for example, in the photo.

Tree installation

In order for the glowing plants to be sustainable, they are placed in a barrel, a beautiful pot or any other container hidden in the ground. And in order for them to start pleasing the eye, it is enough to connect them to the electrical network.

More detailed information how to make LED trees with your own hands can be seen in the video presented.

You can add unusual lighting to your home or festively decorate a hall for a celebration with the help of LED trees and bushes. Such unusual decoration will be a worthy replacement for the usual artificial flowers and other decorations. In addition, it will become additional source lighting and will look good both in the daytime and in the evening.

LED trees will delight everyone with their radiance and transform the space. You can use such trees both outdoors and indoors. Such trees are often used in landscape designs as a decoration and additional lighting.

Of course, an LED tree developed by professional designers and serially produced at the factory looks completely different. And you can install it on the day of purchase. But this time the main thing for us is to realize our creative impulse and make such a lamp with our own hands.

Making an LED tree

This article is intended for those who are thinking about testing themselves and devoting a few weeks to the mystery of scientific and technical creativity. The creation of an LED cherry blossom tree is not an easy process, which involves elaboration of every detail. The glowing crown of a tree is created from a variety of LED petals that are securely attached to the wires of the tree, and the frame is made of metal.

The whole process of creating a glowing tree with your own hands can be divided into stages:

We draw a diagram. We sketch the future tree on a piece of paper and mark its height, the number of branches, diodes.
We make the trunk. To create it, you can use a metal-plastic plumbing or other pipe. We measure and cut to the required length.
We create a wireframe. Cut the required number of branches of different sizes from the wire. We bend them with the letter "G" to make it easier to attach them to the trunk. We fix the small branches to the large ones with black or brown electrical tape, and then tightly fasten the resulting branches to the trunk with adhesive material.
We take on the LEDs. At this point, we'll need a soldering iron to solder the resistors to the LED. Make sure that all diodes are soldered only to a long one, or only to short leg resistor.
Insulation. Matching the color of the electrical tape, the insulating tube must have a diameter large enough for the diode to pass. This tube must be cut in such a way that the soldering point and the resistor itself are hidden from the audience, but at the same time leave a place for connecting to the power wire. Put the tubes on the diode bulbs and heat them up with a lighter so that the insulation braids over the parts.
Fixing LEDs. Tape each LED on small branches to wires of the corresponding polarity and wrap with electrical tape. The wiring from small branches must be connected to the wiring of large ones (one wire per branch). As a result, the resulting bundle of wires must be divided into plus and minus. Finished wire bundles can be run straight along the trunk and soldered to the main wire.
Decorating branches. You can decorate the branches with leaves and flowers cut out of plastic. All branches of the tree must be wrapped with electrical tape, bringing its appearance closer to natural.
Installation. For the base under the LED tree, you can use a large pot or other container. After choosing the base and installing the tree, it can be connected to the power source.

The main advantage of such trees is their economical energy consumption. In addition, this design has a long service life and is quite easy to install, and small diode bulbs are not afraid of moisture and direct sunlight.

This creation was inspired by watching the movie Avatar. Think of the fluorescent trees that filled the night with colorful light, indescribable beauty.

Surely you have seen trees made of beads, a man-made creation of an analogue of natural beauty, less influenced by time. The advantage of such trees is more rapid growth"And the ability to set a unique shape, accurately recreating a mental image.

Not so long ago, "eternal flashlights" appeared on the market, in particular, devices with LEDs and solar panels.

Combining the above, and coupled with diligence, we can get a luminous bonsai from beads, which looks like this:

In the dark,

at night.

Manufacturing technology

Energy collection for recharging can be done in one of two directions:
1) Placement of photodiodes in the branches of a tree;
2) Installing one solar cell next to the tree.

Creation of a tree.

It all depends on your imagination, skill and diligence. For the given example, it took about 60 meters to purchase copper wire with a diameter of 0.3 mm and 2160 beads with a diameter of 3 mm. Beads can be any, but in my desire to recreate the effect of leaves, I used transparent green, 80 grams.

The very first stage, we make twigs with leaves.

Next, you need to create a strong wire frame with a diameter of about 2 mm, this will be the trunk of a tree. When placing the LEDs on the branches, leave a margin of length, as shown in the photo. This will be more convenient for further assembly. It also requires a margin at the roots to assemble the circuit.

Installing the LED on the branch frame:

If you want to use the placement of photodiodes on the branches, then the design will look like this:

I used twigs with photo and LEDs and five twigs of leaves. To create a natural effect, place the dark photodiodes in the center, and the LED at the beginning of the dots with leaves, this will allow them to illuminate the entire branch.

One ready-made branch:

Half finished wood:

Same thing in the dark:

Now you need to hide the electronic filling, there are many options: solder the roots, thread through the holes, press down, etc. In this case, holes were made in the bottom of the pot, the roots were passed through them, and after placing the electronics, the container was filled with decorative stones.

Pot of stones:

Electronic side of the issue
Photodiodes BPW34 were used, if you decide to use this direction of providing energy, then you need to use about 10 pieces together to ensure the charging of the lithium-ion battery. We place them in the branches and bring the wiring to the roots.
Due to their location “in the foliage”, the photodiodes cannot operate at full power due to the reduced luminous flux of the leaves.

Consider a different solution to the power supply problem. Keychains with solar panels have been sold in stores for a long time, their price is not high.

Solar Powered LED Keychain Flashlight:

At the first stages of the calculation, it was assumed to use a capacitor as the main battery. But when I used solar cell From the keychain, I felt sorry to leave out of work the remaining parts of the keychain, including the 3.7V and 40mAh lithium-ion battery. Using these parts made it easier to recreate the schematic.

Scheme:

If you use BPW34 photodiodes, then you need to use blocks of 10 photodiodes connected in series, assembled in parallel.

The solar cell is connected through diode D1 and resistor R9, which allows transistor Q1 to act as a dimmer for the LEDs based on the light information from the solar cell. Thus, the backlight turns on only in the dark and does not take power during the day, making it possible to charge the battery. It remains only to collect the LEDs and the resistors connected in series to them.

Hiding the electronics with stones, leave the solar cell uncovered, otherwise it will not work.

The list of materials required to create:
2160 beads (about 80g)
60 m of copper wire with a diameter of 0.3 mm
1 bonsai pot
8 super bright green LEDs 3mm 8000mcd
1 the solar panel(or 10 BPW34)
1 Li-ion 3.7V 40mAh battery
2 m copper wire with a diameter of about 2 mm
8 resistors 1 kOhm
1 resistor 1MΩ
1 diode 1N4148
1 transistor BC327

P.S .:
Such glowing trees will be a great decoration for your windows and interior, bringing a little magic into your life.