The Ultimate Household/Emergency Flashlight System
Your layout might be different than mine so you can base your layout on the schematic. If you are following mine, there are tons of pictures to follow! Rather than include a giant block of text, read the mouseover text on each of the yellow boxes on the pictures.First add all of the components, and then add wire jumpers to connect far places of the board.
Sorry about the pictures, a lot of them came out blurry even though I did multiple takes and picked the best ones. I don't have a good camera or lens for close-ups.Cut the end off yourtransformerand strip the wires.
Solder the positive wire to pin 1 (Vin) of the regulator and the ground to a common ground. Hot glue it to the board so it doesn't get ripped out by accident, and add a zip tie for support.Attach the connector for the flashlight to the board.
Pin one goes to ground, pin two goes to the cathode of the diode, and pin three goes to the collector of the transistor. Hot glue the connector to the board for support, unless you connector is the kind that can hang loose.Turn the LED switch on and plug in the transformer; the LEDs should come on.
If you flick the switch, they should turn off. If none of this happens, you need to go back and troubleshoot. If it works, continue!This could easily be about 20 steps, but it would much more convenient for both of us if it was one step with a lot of pictures that have mouseover text.
Don't bother reading the following if you are looking at the pictures; it is the same thing as the mouseover description.Cut a piece of the thick wire at least 30 cm long (if it's too long you can cut it later). Bend it in half where the center is and fold it back along itself.
Bend the part where you folded it into a squiggly pattern that forms a flat area. This will be glued onto a flat surface.Find your non-PCB-mountable switch and glue it on its side on top of the battery pack. solder the ground wire of the battery pack to one of the terminals.
Take your resistor (or high power LED driver circuit if you built one, which is recommended for efficiency) and glue it along the side of the battery back. Bend one of its wires to the other terminal of the switch and solder it there.Cut a piece of insulated wire at least 25cm long.
Strip one end and solder it to the other wire of the resistor, which can be cut short.Fold the wire over the switch to the part of the battery pack next to the switch. Twist the wire into a loop over half of the remaining surface area, and fold the end upward.
Lift loop up, apply a blob of hot glue, and press the loop down. Hold it in place until the glue cools.Cut anotherlengthof insulated wire at least 12cm long, strip one holder end, and solder one end to the positive wire of the battery pack.Find your LED and the smallheat sink.Applya very small amount of heat sink grease to the heat sink and press the LED down on top.
Pick up the twisted thick wire thing we made earlier and stick the two ends through parts of the heat sink. Cut off enough wire so that you can stand the end of the wire on the end of the battery pack and still have the wires reach the LED. Hot glue the wire to the heatsink in multiple places, and hot glue the edges of the LED to the heat sink.
Apply a large blob of hot glue to the remaining surface at of the top of the battery pack. Push the twisted end of the LED support wire into it, and wait for it to cool. Then, grip the LED end with pliers and twist it until it looks like the picture.
Solder three wires from the connector as follows: one to the positive battery holder wire, one to the negative battery holder wire, and another to the terminal of the switch where the resistor is. In the picture the colors (in order) I used for these were red, black, yellow. The blue wire was not used. Glue the connector along the side of the battery pack so the plug is at the bottom.
Lastly, wrap the two LED wires around the LED's stalk and solder them to their corresponding terminals.First, charge the batteries using a normal charger, then put them in the flashlight and push the button. If it turns on, yay! Push it again to turn it off.
If it doesn't work, check it with a multimeter and/or look over the connections. Is the LED in backwards?Now, plug the flashlight into the base, making sure you put the connector in the right way. The LED on the flashlight should come on (dimmer than normal, that was intended to save battery for when the power goes out) because the base is unplugged.
Plug in the base and it should turn off.
Yay, everything should holder be working! If this doesn't work but the flashlight does, compare your board against the schematic.Normal LEDs are very directional, which makes a bad night-light. Diffusing the light will make it radiate out more evenly and light up the area where it is located.
Take a milk jug and cut out thepartthat has the circular depression in it. It should fit over the board perfectly. Apply a small dot of hot glue on each of the four LEDs (the glue helps diffuse the light) and press the cover on top.Congrats, your done!To use your awesome flashlight/night-light/emergency light/work area light, you want to keep it plugged in all the time.
It might sound inefficient, but the entire system uses less than one third the power of a normal night-light (tested using a kill-a-watt). An uninterruptible power supply for a computer is way more inefficient and serves a similar purpose. By keeping it plugged in all the time, not only are you keeping the batteries charged, but when the power goes out on a dark night the light will come on to help you find your way.
Some people may want a cover or case on theirs, but I like how it looks more DIY.I hope you found this Instructable very helpful. If you build this, please send pictures!Please rate and comment, I like comments :-)Contest: This Instructable is entered in the flashlight contest.
I'm not telling you to vote for me, just to vote for who battery you think should win. Remember, you can
Sorry about the pictures, a lot of them came out blurry even though I did multiple takes and picked the best ones. I don't have a good camera or lens for close-ups.Cut the end off yourtransformerand strip the wires.
Solder the positive wire to pin 1 (Vin) of the regulator and the ground to a common ground. Hot glue it to the board so it doesn't get ripped out by accident, and add a zip tie for support.Attach the connector for the flashlight to the board.
Pin one goes to ground, pin two goes to the cathode of the diode, and pin three goes to the collector of the transistor. Hot glue the connector to the board for support, unless you connector is the kind that can hang loose.Turn the LED switch on and plug in the transformer; the LEDs should come on.
If you flick the switch, they should turn off. If none of this happens, you need to go back and troubleshoot. If it works, continue!This could easily be about 20 steps, but it would much more convenient for both of us if it was one step with a lot of pictures that have mouseover text.
Don't bother reading the following if you are looking at the pictures; it is the same thing as the mouseover description.Cut a piece of the thick wire at least 30 cm long (if it's too long you can cut it later). Bend it in half where the center is and fold it back along itself.
Bend the part where you folded it into a squiggly pattern that forms a flat area. This will be glued onto a flat surface.Find your non-PCB-mountable switch and glue it on its side on top of the battery pack. solder the ground wire of the battery pack to one of the terminals.
Take your resistor (or high power LED driver circuit if you built one, which is recommended for efficiency) and glue it along the side of the battery back. Bend one of its wires to the other terminal of the switch and solder it there.Cut a piece of insulated wire at least 25cm long.
Strip one end and solder it to the other wire of the resistor, which can be cut short.Fold the wire over the switch to the part of the battery pack next to the switch. Twist the wire into a loop over half of the remaining surface area, and fold the end upward.
Lift loop up, apply a blob of hot glue, and press the loop down. Hold it in place until the glue cools.Cut anotherlengthof insulated wire at least 12cm long, strip one holder end, and solder one end to the positive wire of the battery pack.Find your LED and the smallheat sink.Applya very small amount of heat sink grease to the heat sink and press the LED down on top.
Pick up the twisted thick wire thing we made earlier and stick the two ends through parts of the heat sink. Cut off enough wire so that you can stand the end of the wire on the end of the battery pack and still have the wires reach the LED. Hot glue the wire to the heatsink in multiple places, and hot glue the edges of the LED to the heat sink.
Apply a large blob of hot glue to the remaining surface at of the top of the battery pack. Push the twisted end of the LED support wire into it, and wait for it to cool. Then, grip the LED end with pliers and twist it until it looks like the picture.
Solder three wires from the connector as follows: one to the positive battery holder wire, one to the negative battery holder wire, and another to the terminal of the switch where the resistor is. In the picture the colors (in order) I used for these were red, black, yellow. The blue wire was not used. Glue the connector along the side of the battery pack so the plug is at the bottom.
Lastly, wrap the two LED wires around the LED's stalk and solder them to their corresponding terminals.First, charge the batteries using a normal charger, then put them in the flashlight and push the button. If it turns on, yay! Push it again to turn it off.
If it doesn't work, check it with a multimeter and/or look over the connections. Is the LED in backwards?Now, plug the flashlight into the base, making sure you put the connector in the right way. The LED on the flashlight should come on (dimmer than normal, that was intended to save battery for when the power goes out) because the base is unplugged.
Plug in the base and it should turn off.
Yay, everything should holder be working! If this doesn't work but the flashlight does, compare your board against the schematic.Normal LEDs are very directional, which makes a bad night-light. Diffusing the light will make it radiate out more evenly and light up the area where it is located.
Take a milk jug and cut out thepartthat has the circular depression in it. It should fit over the board perfectly. Apply a small dot of hot glue on each of the four LEDs (the glue helps diffuse the light) and press the cover on top.Congrats, your done!To use your awesome flashlight/night-light/emergency light/work area light, you want to keep it plugged in all the time.
It might sound inefficient, but the entire system uses less than one third the power of a normal night-light (tested using a kill-a-watt). An uninterruptible power supply for a computer is way more inefficient and serves a similar purpose. By keeping it plugged in all the time, not only are you keeping the batteries charged, but when the power goes out on a dark night the light will come on to help you find your way.
Some people may want a cover or case on theirs, but I like how it looks more DIY.I hope you found this Instructable very helpful. If you build this, please send pictures!Please rate and comment, I like comments :-)Contest: This Instructable is entered in the flashlight contest.
I'm not telling you to vote for me, just to vote for who battery you think should win. Remember, you can
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