Results

So, I desoldered and hooked up the wires parallel with a ground. The amp meter read 2.9 volts in the sunlight. When the bulb was attached it read about 1.6 (full sunlight). The bulb did not work at all (not dim or anything).

Potential cause:

-since the new wires were not soldered, there may have been loose/no connection on some of the cells
-the cells lose a lot of amps when hooked up in this formation

???

Update

After hooking up 5 of the cells, we tested our branch and got a volt reading of 15-17. This should have lit up our lightbulb, but it didn't. We are attaching two more of the cells and will try again after that. Currently, we are not quite sure of the problem-- maybe a loss of amps stemming (haha no pun intended) from the hookup of the cells. The fiberglass coating is nice and sturdy (go courtney!) and we'll begin texturizing with bondo after we troubleshoot.

Farrell has the leaves taken care of...they are looking great!! They have been resin coated and have wires attached to attach to the branch. The solar cells are also attached. I tested out the bulb and it works! I also did the fiberglass today (and have the resin burns to prove it!). It's coming together quickly.

We have the bulb!!

UPS tried to deliver the bulbs last Monday but I wasn't there. I left for California on Tuesday and am in Oregan at the moment. I'll be able to pick them up from UPS on Thursday and then get this baby taken care of!

cheaper lightbulbs

http://www.bulbs.com/Category-/results.aspx?Ntk=all&Ntt=d/c&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1

if we don't get our lightbulbs... here are some cheaper alternatives

leaves

I coated these with 1.5 coats of resin so far (b/c it takes 5 hours b/w coats). I have doubts of preservation with these, but if these don't work, we can use faux leaves from Walmart.

Pictures

Progress-To-Date

The project is progressing well. We have the armature welded up and wired up. We used alginate to make an impression of the bough of the tree and then made a plaster mold of this impression. The foam base system seems to work well. Pouring the foam into the plaster mold was a messy and 'explosive' experience! The resin I had was too old and didn't set...so we have a mass a really sticky and stinky leaves. Farrell got new resin and will collect more leaves (poor tree)! I'm going to start building up the body of the tree (with fiberglass, etc. )