Homemade Can-Lamp - Only Reusable Items

Hello world! This is my fist instructable and I hope you enjoy it.

Having working from home since 2020, I am using my comute time to do some DIY projects.

I had some broken LED lamps around the house and thought about this project with my daugther to light up her room during the night.

It is a reuse of a LED light adapted inside a aluminum can and powered by phone charger. I've never see anything quite like it on the internet before, hopefully I'm the first!

In this instructable I will discuss how I constructed this and provide you with everything you need to make one of your own, but I encourage you to do your own design and post on the comments.

• Broken LED Lamp

If you don't have a broken one you can buy online already with USB connection for as low as US $0.24: Link

• Broken USB cable

If you don't have a broken one you can buy USB extension cable for as low as US $1.56: Link

• Used Aluminum Can

If you don't have one at home, we done a lamp with lego bricks as well...

You might also need some tools like some pointy metal to puncture the can and soldering iron.

Wants to make it more fun? Make it smart by adding a smart 5V switch for as low as US $4.42: Link

Disassemble the broken LED Lamp and make sure to take notes on witch side is positive (+) and witch is negative (-).

Mine were already marked on the LED board.

(If you bought the LED with the USB connection you can skip this step.)

Cut out the tip of the USB cable and leave some wire out.

Cut off the data wires once it will not be used.

Only the positive (red) and negative (black) will be used in this project.

(If you bought the USB extension cable you can skip this step.)

Test it by only touching rapidly the wires in the soldering points to check if you have the right polarity.

If it doesn't light up, change the wire sides from + to -.

If it lights up low it can be an indicator that the LED needs more power than your adapter can handle.

If it lights up too bright and heat up it means that it might be too much power to the LED.

Either cases you should verify the LED voltage and maybe add an resistor in the circuit or change the power adaptor before continuing. You can easily find an tutorial on instructables teaching how to do it.

(If you bought the online stuff you can skip this step.)

Puncture the can with a screwdriver or any other pointy object.

Make a bigger hole on the bottom of the can to pass the cable.

After passing the cable, fix the wire using a soldering iron.

Isolate all wiring and the LED metal parts so it don't short circuit in the can.

Glue the LED in the bottom of the can.

.... Light it up and enjoy...

Add the smart plug so you can turn it on an off through your phone and/or schedule the lights for waking up and bed time.

While there should be enough in this instructable to reproduce what I've done, my hope was to convey the concept more than the exact instructions. What else can you do with this? Share your projects on the comments.