Tuesday, September 15, 2015

#801 LED Flashlight Hack



I explained pretty much everything in my video but I will also write a few short paragraphs here on the blog.

Basically, I discovered a problem in the original LED flashlight project we did in class, that is, you have to constantly press and hold down on the battery in order for the LED to stay lighted up and many times, I don't want to have to keep one hand on the flashlight at all times. I would like to keep both hands free and even be able to place the flashlight on a surface while I do what I need to do.

So in this hack, I used some pieces of tape attached to the back of the battery and pulled through the foam on the front. The foam is sturdy enough so it actually holds the tape in its position. When I pull on the tape from the front, the battery, which was hovering above the LED's positive leg, gets pulled down to touch the leg and completes the circuit, making the LED light up and stays lighted up because the tape is held in that position by the foam. To turn it off, I push the tape slightly back into the foam and the LEDs will turn off and remain off.

Additional benefits I did not show in the video:
The sturdy foam also allows the flashlight to remain upright, which makes it a "handsfree" flashlight. If you also notice in the video, the white LED is directly facing the front while the red and orange LEDs on the other end are facing the sides. So you could place the flashlight on its side so that the white LED flashes the brightest or you could also place the flashlight face down in tighter spaces (such as under the couch) so that the red and orange LEDs light up from the sides.

2 comments:

  1. Great example of hacking to improve something using only available materials. Clear explanations and demonstrations. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  2. hey Liz, that's such a cool LED bar, which reminds me of the light swords on Star Wars. It's smart to use pull in/pull out approach to control the light on/off. And I do admire your introduction style: clear & understandable. I am thinking maybe I should show my face as well on upcoming videos. LoL

    ReplyDelete