Nichia 219 Motion Sensitive Piss Light

I have constructed the most useful device ever known to mankind. Womankind will just have to sit this one out…

You know the drill… wake up in the middle of the night with an urgent urge to go. You have a few options:

  1. don’t… sorry, life doesn’t work that way
  2. go in the dark… and paint the toilet, floor, and your feet
  3. turn on the light… and blind yourself and never get back to sleep
  4. use a flashlight, hope it turns on low, and you don’t drop it in the bowl

Well, enough of that crap. Time to do something about it. You will need:

  1. a 3xAA or 4xAA battery holder and batteries. The parasitic drain of the IR sensor module is under 100 microamps. Depending upon the state of your prostate, the batteries should last a couple of years.

2) a cheap IR motion detector module (something like http://www.ebay.com/itm/HQ-Adjust-IR-Pyroelectric-Infrared-IR-PIR-Motion-Sensor-Detector-Module-HC-SR501-/170874532911?pt=BI_Security_Fire_Protection&hash=item27c8ea742f) Note that these have a 1K resistor between the chip and the output connector. Solder a short across the resistor to get enough current to drive the LED (the output is only around 2.7V when on). You should get around 0.5 lumens.

3) an LED. Yeah, you can use some cheap 10 cent white 5mm LED with a crappy color temperature and a piss-poor CRI. Phooey! Man up! Bite the big one! Go with a 6 buck Nichia 219 4500K/92CRI LED of the Gods on a 10mm star from Illumination Supply.

Put it all together and get:

Set the sensor/battery on the tank and point it toward the bathroom door, fasten the LED to the bowl rim pointing down into the bowl, adjust the sensitivity and on-time controls on the motion sensor to taste, and merrily whizz away in a comforting, high CRI neutral white glow. Life will never pee the same…

The obligatory streamshot beamshot! It’s actually quite a bit brighter than the image shows.

Great idea!

you need a logo

hahaaaa

thanks for the write up. i won’t be adding it to my bathroom, but i’m sure i’ll find a use elsewhere…

Tsk, tsk, tsk… and you call yourself a man… we all know you’re gonna build one :wink:

:open_mouth:

a lazy man, with an affinity for mason jars :stuck_out_tongue:

Now all you need is a switchable coil and a condenser, for unwanted guests….

I’m no electrician, so I use this $5 plastic red LED map light. I can get up and go to the can without waking myself up.

No offense but the build-quality of your unit looks kinda iffy. Hope it’s not piss-poor.

:open_mouth:

It is, but it gets the job done. I was out of bailing wire and bubble gum, so I put it together with tape. I might get ambitious and use some hot glue on it. Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.

Oh, and resist the urge to test it by downing a case of beer just before bed time. A six pack will do nicely… :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

Neat idea , though .

What if you made a sealed unit which came on when the seat is lifted ?

I'm thinking a reverse momentary switch and a hooded reflector that attaches to the back rim of the seat ...

Uhhh, this is a man thing… the seat is ALWAYS lifted. Think of all the man hours wasted lifting and putting down the seat.

Oh, and womankind, please note, it is the current users’ responsibility to configure the equipment for their needs. It is NOT the responsibility of the previous user to configure it for some future user.

See item four in the first post… no more late night groggy handed “kerplunk” accidents here. Plus, mine provides totally automatic hands free operation.

And it will totally solve the problem of global warming. No need to turn on those energy sucking, green house gas emitting overhead lights. If everybody used this, we might just find ourselves in another ice age.

I like it. A few lumens strategically placed. Just be careful that high cri goodness doesn’t yellow with age.

Actually, it’s hard to imagine how well this thing works. Plus, whenever you walk by the bathroom it lights up a friendly beacon that says, “Come on in, relax, take a load off your feet, make yourself at home, enjoy”

I was playing with it some more. If you strategically position the led, you can align the reflection of the emitter on the water surface so that it provides a superb aiming target…

Great little gadget!