FearOfTheDark's Hand Made Light for the 9th Annual BLF/OL Contest

I know not everyone liked my previous build so this year I will build something much more standard.
The planning is not yet final. It will be a lantern / emergency lighting with a magnetic charging that turns on automatically during a power outage.
Hope you will like it……

thank you for planning.

would you try these three things?

1. 4000K max. above that is too harsh for me.
2. super-simple operation. no strobe or SOS.
3. a stable base which is not easy to turn over.

the reasons for those are:

  1. we cover or diffuse the harsher lights (lampshade?).
  2. young children could understand how it works.
  3. children/pets/Grandmother.

I thought your build was great. Please build what makes you happy

:+1: that is what I do

I am using 5mm LEDs array so not many K option are available

It is super simple operation: On when during power outage

I am planning to use a semi-sphere body so should be stable

I build the lights I need :slight_smile:
We have many power outage in my area so an automatic emergency light is curtail for me in order to find my light in the dark

In this year’s project I tried to use as many recycled components as possible.
I took LEDs from a broken flashlight / lantern.
I disassembled the charging circuit from an old Powerbank.
As a body I will use a plastic from a burnt LED bulb. I will close it using Plexiglas pieces I have at home.
The Lipo cell is from a camera battery.
I only had to buy the microcontroller and the charging cable.

Brief update from today: I have soldered the micro controller to a board and added 2nd micro USB socket for the magnetic charging

Looking good! I was planning to do something similar originally, but went another way. I’m really looking forward to your completed project.

Thank Asian8640.

The day was devoted to writing the code :slight_smile:
I thought it would be more complicated but in the end it came down to two lines:

void setup() {pinMode(0, OUTPUT);}
void loop() {digitalWrite(0, !digitalRead(3));}

When power stops coming from the power supply to pin 2 - the LEDs turn on.

Nice to see your progress, I’m all for keeping it cheap and simple - reusing components or modifying existing bits!

This sounds so interesting to me. I have no experience with microcontrollers or writing code for them. Though I did write code for PCs long, long ago.

What is that language? Is it specific to microcontrollers?


Hope it is OK to comment on the code, I think you have a design issue: In case of long blackout your light will drain the battery to 0V. you have to add a low voltage protection.
You can do it by FW or HW

Thank you Yuvals, sure it’s okay to comment. I am using protection circuit so no worries.

Today’s update:
I soldered all components and done with electronics :slight_smile:


Insulate the battery with electrical tape


Connecting a protection circuit


Connecting a charging circuit


Connection LEDs, controller and a switch


Check that everything works

Thanks to the weekend, I was able to make significant progress in the project:


Marking the base of the lamp


Cutting and drilling holes for screws and switch


Placing all parts inside the lantern


Connecting the magnetic charging port


Connecting the switch


Sealing with glue

Keep going! YOU CAN DO IT! 2 days left until that timer hits zero.

Looks like we just need to see an “all done” and a lit-up image. :+1:

Yup, can’t wait to see the final product. Nice build!

Since you guys asked nicely :slight_smile:
Here is a video:
At first, the light is on.
Then, when connected to power, it turns of and the red charging indication is lit.
When fully charged, blue indication is lit.