Remote Living > Lighting

LED camp light converted to usb power

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dnix71:
I made a couple of these without the internal diode to drop voltage. My boss at work was given one and left it plugged in all day every day until it burned out. USB port voltage is too much. The cheap high amp diodes at Radio Shack also drop almost a volt, which reduces the voltage to what it would be if it were run on batteries, as intended.

The local auto parts stores sell these lights for about $10. The usb cable came from discarded ups backup data cables (proprietary usb to ethernet). The diode is a 6 amp 50 peak inverse voltage diode from RS.

The pictures below show it plugged into my mac laptop usb port. The room light was off for the first two pics.


With my finger over the flash

Crispy:
Would one of the newer cell phone chargers with the USB connection work for this? That way you could use the light without the computer on.

dnix71:
A usb charger should work just fine. USB 1 and 2 are famous for being underpowered on a computer, the chargers have to have more power than a computer port.

Simen:
The standard max amp for a pc usb-port are 500mA... :)

Bruce S:
For me; the interesting part is when you take a picture and it shows the light levels.
The light our eyes can adjust to and what the camera sees aren't the same.
This is probably due to the nature of LEDs being a directed light.
The light you're showing I'm sure is more than enough to walk around and more than enough to to see by.
Pretty cool use of those tent lights ya got there! ;D!
Bruce S

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