Splendid cheap USB light for emergencies
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- Update. There appear to be many clones of these lights and many of them use smaller 3528 LEDs running at a total of around 60mA. They still work well, but will put out less light, and may not be a high enough load to keep some power banks awake.
This came as a "gift" with an online purchase, but it turns out that it's a really nice design that would be perfect for adding a splash of light to a room or tent while camping or during a power outage.
It's sold on eBay as a USB night light, and is available in white, warm white and a selection of other colours. The construction is simple, rugged and functional, and the diffuser provides a soft even distribution of light.
Aside from its intended use as a night light when plugged into a USB wall socket or adaptor, it also has potential for use with a power bank and solar panel to provide regular nighttime illumination during prolonged outages or in remote locations.
I'd regard this light as an emergency essential as it is cheap and very useful.
Here's a "lowest cost first" search on eBay to prevent price gouging:-
www.ebay.com/s...
Guide price is around 1.50 to 2.00 pound/Euro/Dollars.
I specifically avoid using intrusive mid-run video adverts, which means I don't earn as much from my content as other TH-camrs.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar or two for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
/ bigclive
Patreon supporters get early access to videos as they are made, and also regular live streams.
This also keeps the channel independent of TH-cam's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
Other contribution options are available at:-
www.bigclive.co...
#ElectronicsCreators
I like this video a lot. People often overlook things like this and say words to the effect of "It's just a light" but it's well designed, simple and cheap to produce and I say credit where it's due.
That's really neat. Sometimes the best designs are the most simple!
So true!
Like the Space Shuttle
@@RS-Amsterdam lol
In the emergency case where your power bank is low and not boosting, this will still glow.
@@tactileslut I have a solar charging 24,000 mAh Power bank, so I can't see my power bank going flat, unless it's a nuclear attack, and I'm sheltering in my pantry, 24/7.
Even then, only using the lamp for a hour or two a day, it'd probably still last.
Can always rely on Clive to find something I didn't think I needed but purchased anyway.
I so ordered some myself
I have several Clive items and/or projects around the house.
But you've gotta order the pink ones.
So true
in power outages it would be pretty useful ngl
Max respect to you Clive. Over the last few weeks, I've found several of your li-ion videos extremely useful during research for a simple video guide to vaping batteries on my own utube channel (still not quite complete). Your vids are totally invaluable for non-alarmists facts backed up with hard examples, circuits and links. Fantastic work. Mine is an extremely modest channel but for what it's worth you'll be getting a shout-out! Keep up the great work, it's much appreciated!
I have something similar. It's a flashlight that simply snaps on to a 9V battery, making the battery itself part of the whole thing. Very handy, part of my boating kit.
I have something similar. Two rows of LEDs with a 3 position switch; Off, one row, both rows.
Hi Clive, very pleased you are making money for the work you do for us. But I do miss the early scary videos!,
Bob
well, I now have 10 of these on the way. They'll be going in my fishing box, camping bag, random drawers in my house, and my dad will probably yoink a few
Ordered some, will be ideal nightlights in the caravan for the Grandkids :)
What's even more clever about the idea of using this as a Night-light, is that allot of new mains -wall-outlets nowadays come in variants with one or two built-in USB connections for charging devices.
You could plug one of the these lights in and voila: a wall mounted Night-Light 😀
That looks like an ideal candidate for a 3d printed diffuser.
I actually like this - simple, neat & practical
its effective even in a power outage. better have it than none of it.
Clive knows what coming stay awake people
Time it took for me to watch this and buy one myself : 23 seconds
Always telling it like it is .If it's good it's good .If it belongs in the trash ,that's where it goes
Plugging it directly into a battery bank was a great idea I thought :-)
Yes, but just be aware that depending on the brand, powerbanks have varying thresholds for current sensing that shuts them off if the current is too low. I have about 12 different brands of powerbanks and these lights only stay on for more than 20 seconds with about half of my powerbanks. The other half shut themselves off because the current draw is so low.
Now that's one simple little light with the diffuser cap to spread the light and make it more even.
Clive can you make a video about your USB LCD meter what was the name of rudang I think it is.
The amount of light you get out of a usb to microusb (or usb c nowadays) fairy light charger isn't unreasonable either. Great till you want to sleep and charge your phone at the same time.
Soon as it plugged j to a battery pack I was sold
Nice 👍🖖
Excellent..
I do like the rotational symmetry of the board. It's like the designer thought, "you know what, no-one is going to know what's inside this, but I'll add a bit of design anyway. At least I'll know."
Both LEDs have the same orientation, for easier placement. Both resistors have the same value and are placed optically out of the way. They saved a fraction of a Yuan by skipping the plating on the data pins that aren't even soldered. He ticks every box with style.
It's surprisingly refreshing to see a solid, compact, eye-friendly, reliable, cheap, and functional LED light, when the vast majority of LED lights out there only hit one or two of those categories at best.
Huh. These look far more useful than the others I’ve seen in the past. They were more of a USB stick form factor, resulting in a nice big lever hanging out of a USB port just waiting to be a wonderful cantilever and snapped straight off.
Ordered a pile for the hurricane box. I was feeling spendy, so I splurged for a warm white version as I hate cheap cool white LEDs.
These are great for ensuring that power is flowing through a charging cable, at least simplistically so.
I just bought 3 for use as hotel night lights when on holiday, they remind me of those ones you had on the channel that plugged into a power bank to use as a torch.
We keep simple LED lights around for emergencies. They run on two AAA batteries, have a single LED and series resistor. The really cool part is they fit into the cork end of a wine bottle very nicely. We fill the bottles with either clear plastic or glow in the dark plastic rocks, kick on the light and shove it in. The rocks diffuse the light to fill the entire room. On one set of batteries, the light will run for well over 48 hours. Living where hurricanes hit with regularity, these have been very helpful.
Sounds good. Your reference to "the cork end of a wine bottle" made me chuckle. Have you ever tried putting anything into the other end of a wine bottle?
Simple and awesome. I bought something like this ("traditional" epoxy - embedded LEDS) a long while ago, which works very well indeed, and fits nicely in one of the front USB ports on the desktop p.c. - provides just enough light to see with but not act as a distraction.
Oh Clive, this is great stuff. You're why I've made quite a few aliexpress purchases based around lil lights like these. If you find more lil usb gadgets like these to contribute to my collection, I'd love to see more! ❤️
He's tore apart basically every little led gadget ever!
I have a kid that was afraid of the dark and I set up a light similar to this on a long usb cable from the wall so it never died. He still uses it for reading, but it’s more of a spot light. Glad to know these exist.
Hi, this is indeed a nice little light. Unfortunately doesn't draw enough current for my Anker power bank to continue supplying power to it, but can of course be powered from the mains or OTG.
I may have to find a cheap AA to USB unit so I can take it to the bathroom without getting dazzled by the ceiling lights. Or perhaps it could be wired up to the shaver socket, though I'd rather not have it on 24/7 despite its negligible energy usage. Endless possibilities!
Nitpick: At 1:15 the multiplier is not 0 (30×0 would be 0), but 10 to the power of 0: 30×10⁰ = 30×1 = 30
i was also thinking that ;)
The sunglasses on your logo selfie look like LED lamps. Lol! Truly you have expanded abilities to satisfy the deepest instinctual aspects of desire. To find to hunt, new, or used, get it, home. Proceed to... TEAR IT APART! See how it works! Major Malfunctions. Maybe even repair... Well- with you we get to have it all! And!
No Mess to clean up
Thank you- for expanding our horizons... Well beyond our reach.
"_ '
I like the yin-yang PCB layout.
Nice little light. You're right. Nice quickie video
Extra gift! They like you Clive!! Cool light and nice job explaining how it actually functions!
I got a break apart PCB of ten of the little PCBs with a pair of LEDs and resistor, and the pins on one end that fit into the type A socket. They can't get much simpler than that. If you're interested in minimal size, these are thin so they'll store almost anywhere. Thanks, Clive. I like the diffusing case, but it raises the cost. I also have a night light that looks like that but uses rainbow color slowly changing LED for effect.
I do this too, you can balance a diffuser from a busted light bulb over it for a super ghetto $0.10 night light.
I know the ones. I taped them to my battery packs with electrical tape so I always have several lights to hand if I need them.
best part of this is that Clive has a video on those too:
th-cam.com/video/HgNFwoSwhbM/w-d-xo.html
imma go buy me some though, that's a fantastic idea
@@taylorbledsoe6090 Ah yes! That's probably why I bought them :-)
I'll bet that Clive knows his package delivery people on a first name basis.
I bought 20 of these based on your video and I must say I am not at all disappointed! They are great. You were absolutely right. I am currently testing how long they´ll last on my beefy power banks but I suspect it will take many hours. Nice tip! Thank you.
With a 3D printer can be easy accomodate some similar pcb-led and a USB port? Could be an interesting project.
I recently transplanted the innards of a broken solar garden light into a wall-mounted light switch. Tweaked the inductor for a bit higher brightness, at about 25mA output with a 3V COB strip it is plenty bright and still runs ages off an eneloop AA cell.
This one is way smaller though, but I like big switches :)
I like big switches and I cannot lie.🎶
Big switches that go ka-thunk are the best. Followed by light switches that enthusiastically snap/jump into either their fully on or fully off positions
@@InsanePacoTaco I like it when the switches twerk.
@@InsanePacoTaco I would love a modern replica of a Frankenstein-style blade switch that works in a regular electrical installation and is safe enough to actually use.
@@steveoddlers9696 You could probably make one that simulates functionality with a microswitch that pulls in a relay or contactor but the metal of the switch doesn't handle any electricity.
That's so cool and useful. Makes for a great little light while travelling, I agree.
Nice, one issue I have with using powerbanks for these low currents is that they switch off, thinking there is no load.
That's what "dumb" powerbanks are for. I have one based on an MP3401A chip that basically only consists of a tiny PCB and an 18650 cell. Those usually run even on low power loads without shutting down.
But for really low power loads it might be a better option to skip the powerbank and run it straight off of an 18650 to increase efficiency. I do that with a string of ~15 micro LEDs that's meant to run off of USB, with a full cell they are still very bright and get dimmer as the voltage drops. Only "downside" is that there is no active voltage monitoring, so you have a small risk of completely draining the cell. But at least with the string I'm using the LEDs get really dim once the cell drops below 3V, and that's the perfect point to recharge it.
Wow. I always click US ONLY on ebay to avoid long waits and the occasional package that never shows up. Doing so caused the lowest price listed to jump from 99¢ to $5.70 per light
If you buy five at 99¢ there's a good chance you get one or more, and even one would beat that US price.
Running a distribution warehouse in the US costs money, who knew?
another circuit that i can follow
It's another gadget from china but doesn't come with an unearthed, unfused tingly metal bit and it looks like the resistors won't set your house on fire either. I am impressed!
No fear, you can always plug it into a tingly wall wart and pry off the lens if you really miss the morning jolt.
A simple object from China, nothing dangerous? Designed practically? Durable?... I'm scared
I used ikea verson of the led light and they don’t even take 1 amp! Very low power consumption!
Mmm, random ”free” USB device from China. Let’s not plug it into any server :)
Yes, I thought the same thing. That's why I asked him to disassemble the unit further.... to see if there are any chips mounted on the other side of the circuit board, out of view. Most likely not, but as you said: "tin foil hat mode". LOL.
@@test-193 yeah, in this case it’s probably just a dumb device and things will be fine. But in the general case it’s a good idea to think twice.
They want $0.99 shipped from China...but $5.70 for one shipped from the US...ouch!
Another great video Big Clive. I’m just watching ideal world (foolishly).What would you make of their new H20 eActiviator System product?
This is a Proper #short!!
Correct Aspect Ratio,
Longer than 60 Seconds
Informative
I've got a couple which work great in a simple (unmanaged?) power bank as demonstrated here. However, they turn off after 10 seconds or so in a larger 5000mAh power bank. I guess they don't draw enough power to keep the port turned on. Comment?
Clive compliments something from China, with no side notes, at all.....
Where's the real Clive?
What's going on?
hahaha
Easy to make project as well.
just ordered 10, for £4.25 from china, but wont get them until late aug/sept :), will put them in me camper van :),
I've bought four of those (2 warm white, 2 cold white). None of them looks like that inside. Two of them have much smaller LEDs with 300 ohm resistors, and one of them has a single 220 ohm resistor, also with small LEDs. Power consumption is 15 mA and 9 mA, respectively.
I suspect these are the ones most eBay sellers are actually selling, and they sent you the 120 mA version to trick people into buying them.
BTW, they're listed as "5V / 1A / 1W", which should be enough to suggest some shenanigans.
These were from eBay seller "organicsion". Avoid.
Hmmmm...928 views and 1847 thumbs up (mine included), must some kind of youtube record 😉
You probably meant to say "with a multiplier of ten to the power zero" rather than "with a multiplier of zero" (which would mean a total resistance of zero) 😅
❤Just used ours on a tiny trailer camping trip with a big battery bank for some night ambiance lighting, it was perfect with the warm white glow. You mentioned altering the resistors to change the brightness, I'm sure you showed us how in a video somewhere but I'm having a hard time finding it. Since I have a pair I'd love to turn one down dim and leave one as is.
I bought a bunch of the milled aluminum usb lights you showed several years ago. Difference here is these are diffused.
Bought 13 of them for $1 from aliexpress, i then added LDR and put them all over my house for nightlight. Amazing cheap little devices!
I use my "intelligent" 21700 from Nitecore with a magnetic Light for that purpose.
These are great! I pair them with a USB voltage regulator so I can dial the brightness way down. Very nice lights I’d recommend warm white the cool White is very blue
For just a dollar, that's pretty cool. I'm gonna get one I think just to keep in my truck. I have a 20,000mAh battery bank I keep in there as well which should be able to power this battery for 13 days straight if my math is correct.
please can you take a look at the usb-A rechargeable batteries? The ones where you pull the cap off the double A and it exposes a full size usb-A so you can plug it into something to get a charge? I think the one I got was NI-MH. There are a fair few that appear on amazon for example but they dont seem long lived. Not many with the full size usb, mostly they sell the ones with a mini usb female socket. I suppose the cell would be able to be larger in those ones but the convenience of the ones with the usb-A are really good eg TV remote batteries, wall clock, computer mouse and keyboard etc
These 5730 can also be with tiny 20mA chip these days, I had some die in few days on a cheap 12V LED tape._
Wait, a multiplier of zero means they're just 30ohms? Electronics people are a strange bunch 😁
"It's a very nice little light!" - I expected that to be followed by "... that becomes a blowtorch at the most inopportune moment, and will likely cause the grippe."
USB lights are old by now. I got my first one a number of years ago. They've gotten smaller over the years, though. I prefer red light at night, otherwise this is nice.
In South Africa we have loadshedding, rolling blackouts because the power stations haven't been properly maintained.
It was gone for a while, but now it's back with a vengeance, so this plus disposable vape salvages could be pretty useful
Just got mine, but the ones i got were knockoffs. The LED placement is off, the LEDs are different strenght and the "resistors" are just silkscreen...
Wouldn't it give off more light if the cap were clear, I always think if you want to hinder light output, use a bigger resistor 😂
got them today, now to make 10 female USB holders, about 2' long, any ideas please ,
Ordered a set of three to put in the "blackout box" for the eventual power loss due to government f*ckup (Germany) :D
UK Words: 5V 1W Mini Usb Led Light Portable Night Light - Warm White Or Warm Yellow
Actually, sometimes, the best gadgets or thingy as you would call it, is the simplest, cutest, and most the functional device. The kids love it, adults love it too. No brainer to use and you can keep one in the coat, pocket, tool box, beside the power bank, for all types of uses! The light is diffuse and is very pleasing to the eye! As a night light it works really good. However this light is not for those Snubby People who must brag about their latest thousands of dollars new Cell phone which in 2 years time is nowhere to be seen. Don't show these people this light. They don't know the simple pleasure of live ! Cheers.
What a cracking little light! It would be interesting to know if the main purchase was of the same quality? Often these little lights or gadgets etc work well but with the caveat that they could at any moment and without warning barbecue your entire family.
Good for bug out bags. No moving parts is a blessing - all my portable lights died coz of the button or external wire.
They are good little lights, I have 2 like that and several more Light bulb looking types. They use so little power that most of me USB power banks shut off due to low draw.
I have a half dozen or so that plug into the mains, they must have used some quality components and maybe underrun the LEDs because not a single unit has failed in the 14 years I've had them. I don't know what they draw.
I bring my makita usb charger camping all the time. Now this means I don't need one of those dicky tent lights now so great!
I wonder if you could solder a teeny tiny resistor in the middle of those D+/- lines to get it to send out more/less current? Or am I mis-remembering the USB charging stuff...
I was so impressed i bought 16 of em
P.S little tip, a rolled up post-it note makes a handy lamp shade, wow they bright
You know, that's a good idea. A USB battery bank that has various USB light modules you can attach to it. You get both a very versatile flashlight and a battery bank all in one.
After God created the heavens, he/she filled it with warm white LEDs. That from hence forth those light rays could penetrate the darkness of the night, for the future of man and woman to seethe in the blackness forevermore, LOL.
One of these would be great for plugging in to the back of the desktop PC that sits under my desk, then I could see the ports on the back when I am plugging new cables in. It would be even better if I could switch it on and off...
I bought a USB reading lamp from the pound shop, it has 8 led's on the end of a swan neck for £1 how do they do it?
$ 1,54 to Germany (free shipping). Nice!
Not sure how that can be sent all the way from China for £1 but I'm going to find out if the dream is real. In 1-3 months...
If someone from China sent me a random USB device there’s no way I’m plugging it in to a computer
Another Item for your Energy company to use as an Excuse for your high bill !!
there are even USB powered multiple LED stick without the fancy dome or casing that cost less than a pence and people usually students use as makeshift reading light at dormitory when the curfew kicks in.
Sales of these must have just gone up. Several commentators have bought them. Me too. I have 3 on the way ready for the winter of discontent.
Oh please don't joke about armageddon I have enought nightmares already
They honestly might as well make a usb c version just for all the usb c integrations we’re getting finally.
We can only justify this kind of simple light design if it were made from recycle electronics.
I dunno, wasting 40% of power on resistors is far from perfect, don't you think?
Clive, I've got an emergency light I'd love you to take a look at/destroy! Where can I contact you?
"unexpected", where you expecting The Inquisition?
It’s called a flashlight, you can even change out the batteries super easily instead of charging it. Buy that instead.