DIY College Night Light

Have you ever needed a night light, but are to lazy to buy one!? This DIY night light is a perfect lamp for College students. We will be making a portable lamp with a single switch.

Parts List:

1x Light Bulb (Edison Incandescent Light Bulb in this instructable)

1x E26/E27 Light Bulb holder

1x Switch (A SPDT used as SPST in this Instructable)

1x Soldering Iron Kit

1x Wire

1x Power Cable

Our First step is to make wires leading to the switch. We will solder 2 3 inch wires to the SPST switch. In this Instructable, I've used a SPDT as a SPST switch. The wiring in this case will be to solder onto the first 2 terminals. The third terminal will be unsoldered and act as an off switch by disconnecting the circuit.

We will now attach on of the wired terminals of the SPST switch to the light bulb holder. The orientation or the terminal of the light bulb holder that we attach to is negligible. The housing unit doesn't have a preference for polarity, so using either terminal will work. Once we have attached the switch, all that's left is to solder and wire the power cable to the remaining terminal of the light bulb holder and of the switch.

Before putting this circuit into an enclosure, we should test if our light bulb works using the switch. If the the light is not turning on, we would use a multimeter to probe each of the soldered connection. If we find that there's a short circuit or open connection anywhere, then that section may need to be resoldered.

Because this project is catered to College students, we will be frugal and use the cardboard light bulb box as our enclosure. We will need to drill a hole for the switch, the light bulb, and the outlet cable. We used a small drill bit for the switch hole, and carved out the remaining 2 holes using an exacto knife.

Your night light is complete. Since the enclosure is cardboard, the lamp is fairly light and can easy be pushed aside. We recommend putting heavy objects, such as rocks to stabilize the lamp. If the light bulb is not turning on after putting the circuit into to enclosure, we recommend making sure that all the metal to metal contacts are properly mounted and soldered. If the issue still persists, then using a multimeter to probe the circuit will the best option.