Make a Great Little Book Light From Recycled Electronic Components
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Make a Great Little Book Light From Recycled Electronic Components
This tip describes a great little book light made from an old cell phone charger and a computer keyboard light . I don't have many details to share, the making part is pretty simple.
The objective of this instructable is to share a CONCEPT. With this concept you can likely create a lot of projects to meet your needs.
The photo shows the completed book light project.
The objective of this instructable is to share a CONCEPT. With this concept you can likely create a lot of projects to meet your needs.
The photo shows the completed book light project.
Step 1: the Power Supply, a 5.0 Volt DC Cell Phone Charger.
When I set about to make my book light, I discovered two important useful facts:
1. A standard computer USB port includes a 5.0 volt DC power supply for accessories. This means that any computer accesory that plugs into a USB port runs on 5.0 volt DC power.
2. Many cell phone chargers supply 5.0 volt DC power.
OK, that is really all I have to tell you, the opportunities are obvious: if you have an old computer accessory you would like to use but don't want to depend on powering it with your computer USB port, you can connect it to a 5.0 volt cell phone charger.
See how I did this to make a book light.
First look for an old cell phone charger that has a 5.0 volt DC output; it will be shown somewhere on the charger, likely near the plug.
1. A standard computer USB port includes a 5.0 volt DC power supply for accessories. This means that any computer accesory that plugs into a USB port runs on 5.0 volt DC power.
2. Many cell phone chargers supply 5.0 volt DC power.
OK, that is really all I have to tell you, the opportunities are obvious: if you have an old computer accessory you would like to use but don't want to depend on powering it with your computer USB port, you can connect it to a 5.0 volt cell phone charger.
See how I did this to make a book light.
First look for an old cell phone charger that has a 5.0 volt DC output; it will be shown somewhere on the charger, likely near the plug.
The 5.0 Volt DC Accessory
Now all you need is something you want to power with the cell phone charger.
I chose this goose neck LED computer key board light I no longer used, and cut off the USB plug. I then connected the wires from the charger to the two wires on the LED light. It is often necessary to get the polarity correct, on a LED device the + has to go to the + or it won't work. I then added a simple rotary on-off switch and scrounged the clippy thing you see in the photo that holds the light to the book. The clip (I think it was meant to hold sunglasses to a car sun visor) was attached using hot melt glue. You could adapt anything that has a spring like clip.
The book light works great.
I have a pile of chargers from previous cell phones and other gadgets (Walkman, etc). Some are 12 volt DC, which make a good power supply for 12 volt applications. But be sure to use only a 5 volt charger for powering a device with a USB plug.
I chose this goose neck LED computer key board light I no longer used, and cut off the USB plug. I then connected the wires from the charger to the two wires on the LED light. It is often necessary to get the polarity correct, on a LED device the + has to go to the + or it won't work. I then added a simple rotary on-off switch and scrounged the clippy thing you see in the photo that holds the light to the book. The clip (I think it was meant to hold sunglasses to a car sun visor) was attached using hot melt glue. You could adapt anything that has a spring like clip.
The book light works great.
I have a pile of chargers from previous cell phones and other gadgets (Walkman, etc). Some are 12 volt DC, which make a good power supply for 12 volt applications. But be sure to use only a 5 volt charger for powering a device with a USB plug.