Step 1: Bill of Materials
1 x glass fibre outdoor pot: 30 EUR
-choose any you like, I went for a rectangular shape which luckily suited perfectly for the glass stone base. I didn’t check the price tag and was surprised how cheap these things are!
1x Led Strip with controller: 20 EUR
-mine was 5 meters, I cut it down so it could be glued around the inner edge of the pot. I did this project back in 2016 before I was into arduino. Nowadays I would probably go for ws2812b strips and a brain for it.
3x short pieces of galvanized drain grid: 10 EUR each
I really have no clue what these things are called in English, yet these are intended to be used as drain coverages around pools or parking lots. You see them everyday everywhere. Please leave a comment if you know the name!
3x stone tile mat: 7 EUR each, depending on design
-These are found in the sanitary or tile department and usually used for decorative patterns
1x 12v water pump: 10 EUR
1x 12v PSU: 35 EUR (got mine labeled 12v laptop PSU)
1x mini indoor fountain:20 EUR
(optional, but it makes things easier when it comes to the water outlet. I have spent a while finding a nice looking and functional water outlet until I came across these. Plus the water connector is standard meaning plug and play.)
1x adaptor DC plug (female to screw terminal)
Used to connect pump, LEDs and mini fountain top without screwing up the PSU for later use.
1x construction adhesive or silicone: 8 EUR
1x plant pot stand with wheels: 5 EUR
A couple of nature stones, mine were about 30 EUR online but you can try to find them outside for free.
10 to 20 litres of destilled (purified) water. It’s used for ironing or car windshields. About 2 EUR per 10 litres.
Couple of glass stones, the amount depends on your design. No idea what they cost, I got mine for free from a house which was about to be broken down.
Step 2: Mounting LED Strip, Base and Pump
Try to fix it nearly as good as possible whilst not allowing it to bend except round the corners.
Place the pump with the hose within the water, stick the hose and therefore the wires through a grid part and lay that one grid into the pot. As i discussed , luckily I did not have to switch the grid part. If you select your parts well, you’ll just let it rest on the inner walls of the pot.
Lay the second and third grid left and right to the primary .
The strip will take a few of hours to dry throughoutly, so take some time . I had 5 days for this project so I just paused and continued subsequent day after work.
Step 3: Add Tile Mats, Glass Stones and Assemble the Outlet
Put your glass stones on the mats and arrange them the way you wish . Fiddle the hose through in-between the stones and conceal them the simplest way you’ll .
Disassemble the mini fountain, remove the old pump. Cut the electrical connections and put the mini fountain (without base)on top of the glass stones. Connect it to your hose which comes out from in between the glass stones and lead the wires to where your pump wires find yourself .
Cover everything in construction adhesive.
Glue the remaining tile mats to the glass stones. Later on, the sunshine will shine through the gaps between the tiles.
Decorate the plastic outlet with real stones, otherwise it’d find yourself looking cheap.
Let it dry, try to not touch it.
Connecting the hose to the outlet whilst glueing everything together are going to be tricky, try to not cover yourself in glue like I did. it’s terrible to urge washed off!!
Step 4: Wiring and Decorating
All you’ve got to try to to is to attach the strip controllers power, the pump and therefore the mini fountains cables to your 12v screw terminal and conceal it inside the water basin of the mini fountain. Fix it at the rear side of the large pot.
Step 5: Done
Connect the 12v PSU to the adaptor and fire it up.
Make sure the water doesn’t spill.
If it does, you can rearrange the stones until you get that nice sound of the water dripping without having to worry about your floor getting flooded over time.
