DIY Gopro Light for Under 5 $
Hello, and welcome to my first ever Instructable. Today we will build a Gopro light for under 5$
There are many offers on Amazon and ebay for about 20$ but i wanted to do it on my own.
To get started here are the parts you are going to need:
LED:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131345637382?clk_rvr_id=...
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=3w+led&LH_Pre...
Mount:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bike-Bicycle-Handlebar-Rol...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bike-Carbon-steel-Handleba...
Powerbank:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3000mAh-Portable-USB-Charg...
these powerbanks can be found cheaply on every website (Banggood, Aliexpress, Amazon...) i am just giving one option here. Just make sure it fits the Gopro-Mount (should be a round powerbank)
There are many offers on Amazon and ebay for about 20$ but i wanted to do it on my own.
To get started here are the parts you are going to need:
LED:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131345637382?clk_rvr_id=...
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=3w+led&LH_Pre...
Mount:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bike-Bicycle-Handlebar-Rol...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bike-Carbon-steel-Handleba...
Powerbank:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3000mAh-Portable-USB-Charg...
these powerbanks can be found cheaply on every website (Banggood, Aliexpress, Amazon...) i am just giving one option here. Just make sure it fits the Gopro-Mount (should be a round powerbank)
Open and Modify the Powerbank
Most powerbanks can just be unscrewed on the side where you can plug in the charging cable. Inside you will find a 18650 cell and a board to charge it up.
Next you have to solder one cable to the negative and positive output of the board. The reason i soldered it directly on there (instead of just plugging in a Usb-connector in the front) is because with my setup the Led would stop to luminate after three seconds.
In order to get the cables to the Led i had to drill two holes into the plastic part shown in the second picture.
After that i just pulled the cables through the front and made sure that the charging still works, wich it does :)
Next you have to solder one cable to the negative and positive output of the board. The reason i soldered it directly on there (instead of just plugging in a Usb-connector in the front) is because with my setup the Led would stop to luminate after three seconds.
In order to get the cables to the Led i had to drill two holes into the plastic part shown in the second picture.
After that i just pulled the cables through the front and made sure that the charging still works, wich it does :)
Installing the Led
In this step we will be installing the led.
I used some glue (nothing specific) to glue the led directly on the aluminium case of the powerbank. Therefore the heat the led produces can be absorbed by the case.
Now the cables of the cell have to be soldered to the led.
To find out wich cable belonges to wich pole of the Led just try out if it lights up before soldering.
Now as you can see i have cut the negative cable in half. That is because otherwise the led will be turned on the whole time.
"on/off Switch"
To get a connection between the cables i had to be creative. I recommend everyone to use a switch if possible but i would not fit anywhere so i had to come up with a solution. In this case i used some standoffs i had lying around and soldered the cables on there. That way you can screw and unscrew the connection.
How to solder the parts is shown in the pictures above.
How to solder the parts is shown in the pictures above.
Finished Light
This Instructable should be easy to build for under 5$ :)
The led is very bright so this will be a nice feature for filming at night. Also you can carry the gopro by grabbing the powerbank wich gives it the same use as a handle.
I hope you enjoyed this first project! If there is a project you would like to see in the future or if there are any questions dont hesitate to send me a message :)
The led is very bright so this will be a nice feature for filming at night. Also you can carry the gopro by grabbing the powerbank wich gives it the same use as a handle.
I hope you enjoyed this first project! If there is a project you would like to see in the future or if there are any questions dont hesitate to send me a message :)