Expedition Light

by Admiral Aaron Ravensdale in Outside > Camping

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Expedition Light

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Hi all,
I like to show you my very small Expedition Light.
I use the same circuit like I show you in my Steampunk Plasma Bulb with Clock Gear.
If you want you can say it’s only a Mod but I think it’s a completely different project.
First of all you need some parts:
1x Flashlight circuit out of a disposable camera from Fujifilm.
2x AA-size battery holder.
1x small energy saving lamp.
1x small switch.
A box big enough to store all these components.
My box have the dimension of 7cm x 7cm x 4.5cm
The two AA cells are able to supply power for 30-36 Hours


Also don't miss to visit my website with more great projects under Steampunk-Design.

Prepare the Engery Saving Lamp

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When you find a nice energy saving light you must remove the complete electrics from the bulb.

Attention!!!
If you broke the glass of the energy saving light the dust out of the lamp is highly toxic.


The bulb on the pictures is different to the used one but it depends on the same procedure of handling.

If you are not sure you can remove the electronic safely put all into a closed freezer bag and work with a screw driver which is stick through the plastic.

Open the plastic housing and disconnect the 4 small wires to the bulb from the circuit.
Now drill the 2 pairs of wire together like shown on the picture.
Solder a longer wire to every pair of drilled wires.
Later you connect these wires to our circuit.
The bulb is ready to use…




Prepare the Disposable Camera

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First of all you buy a disposable camera from Fujifilm or other one from the picture.
If you buy other models you will find inside an AAA cell instead of the right AA cell.
In this case the soldering points for the power output are on an other place.

After removing the paper you will find a plastic camera without any screws.

Remove or loose the plastic flaps on every side and open the camera.
Now you can pull out the flashligt module.
Attention!!!
The capacitor often is charged.
If you touch the board with your fingers on the wrong place you get a hit.

Remove Some Parts

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Before you do anything bridge the capacitor with a screwdriver.
After this you must remove the Flashlight, Capacitor and the switch for the flash.
I do it with a solder pen.
So you can use these parts in other projects.
If you are finished the board looks on the part side like this.

Prepare the Circuit

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On the back side you must solder 6 wires on the right place the picture will help you.
For the power input I use the two AA battery holders.
To increase the current not the voltage I solder them parallel.

Then I use two wires to connect the switch. These two solder points on the circuit will switch the power supply on/off.

The wire of the high power output of the circuit is connected to one of the wires of the bulb.
The second wire of my bulb is connected to the power (-).

The Box

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Try to find the best position for every part in the wood box.
Then connect battery holders, flashlight circuit, switch and the bulb with some wires.

The switch I used is a normally-closed one.
So it will switch the light automatically on when you open the box!
This looks very tricky for every one around.

See the picture with the right connection points for everything on the circuit.
Check the function of light and switch and remove the battery.
After that glue everything in place and let it dry.

Insert again the battery and have fun with your light.