Mini review of MINI :D

Other Types of Lights LED Light Bulbs
69

These do get a bit hot if left on high.

I received the cool white version this week. I am not as impressed, it is slightly greenish white, feels a bit sickly, so I might mod it.

I tried to capture this in sunlight but my camera is biased to make the cool white look white.

Here is a comparison instead with cool white Cree XP-E (left) and cool white Mini (right). The white balance makes the Cree look more blue of the two. It may be a personal and subjective thing but I find the CW Cree is rather cool and doesn’t feel sickly.

70

Got my touch-sensor one recently.
I bought the 1 GBP (Great British Pound) one, warm white.
It is slightly hinting towards a mustardy greenish tint.
Touch sensor sometimes doesn’t sense my touch…
PWM noise on low…
Gets a little hot on high…
Yet, it’s a nice lil’ device.
Makes me smile.

The daylight sensor one is on it’s way to me also.

71

I received mine with touch sensor, WW, ordered for GBP 1. I didn’t notice PWM on highest or lowest mode. On other brightness levels I could only notice it by looking at PC fan. When powered from computer’s USB it gets warm, but not too hot to touch on high. When powered from 220v to USB adapter on max it gets much hotter, too hot to touch.
I like the tint, didn’t notice any traces of green.

72

Thanks for the heads up. The fact that MINI can be inserted to USB connector both ways really makes this interesting.. Ordered "some". :)

I really love these lights. First I ordered three from eBay. When they arrived, I instantly ordered three more. And then "couple more" from BG to be gifted away (the price is nice when buying 10 or more and using the BLF coupon). And then some more..

The above mentioned splitter will be handy, together with these 360 degree USB adapters.

One way to use these lights is to provide smooth flood light in ad hoc product photography, like this:

->

73

I’ve ordered one of these:

74

I hadn't thought about the swiveling USB adapter...

Whoops... I think one just got added on the DX order I was just about to make... How did that happen? Wink

<edit>

@ _the_

My wife has that same rug; unfortunately, her cat decided it would make a great alternative to the litter box. I guess she thinks it's grass???

75

Monitoring mine with a non-contact IR thermometer, getting temps of nearly 140 F…

76

A couple of additional observations on my MINI lights...

I ordered a total of four at the same time, and fromt he same eBay seller; two each of cool and warm tints:

The two cool-white lights aren't bad; they have a cool tint that's not overly offensive if you don't mind CW tints. Both of the cool white MINIs have a quiet, but noticable, whine at a mid-range brightness levels. The whine isn't audible at the lowest and highest brightness settings, but as the brightness ramps up or down, you can hear the whine fade in and then out.

The two warm-white lights don't have the same whine, but even though they were purchased together, have a vastly different tint to the LEDs. One is a pleasant creamy/warm tint. The second, even though superficially the same, has the unpleasant puke-a-tronic green tint to the light. No pics yet...

I plugged all four into a USB hub... That turns them into a mini stadium light... Cool

77

My warm white developed a faint whine after having it on high for a while.

I did some tinkering with the Mini but nothing exciting to report. I tried some bigger caps (100, 220 uF) but it wouldn’t hold memory of the mode for very long, and it only worked if I turned the Mini off before unplugging.

78

Mini + AA Emergency Charger + Clamp mount :smiley:

79

Btw, @Pregulla, thanks for the link for USB extension cable, orderes some :wink:
:beer:

80

Any idea how to mod these so that as soon as they get power, they would light up?

81

Are the SMD components likely to be damaged easily?

I was thinking of putting some thick tape around the edge of the board so it protrudes just a bit higher than the level of the components, creating a temporary reservoir (not on the connector plug part of course) then filling it with some UV setting glue so they’re all encased and the unit is more rugged.

Edit - here’s one i made earlier, much tougher

82

UDO: for that you would need to bypass the mcu or just buy cheaper version that does not have sensor and it’s on instantly when you plug it.
CRX: they look pretty sturdy to me, I would say they will hold rough handling just fine.

83

The problem is the switch must be reset, so even if you wire it to come on on insertion, you need to break the connection to reset it, to be able to make it ramp. (I tried replacing the touch control with a push to make switch).

84

OMG I just received 3 MINIs, I regret I didn’t ordered 30 :’(

This is the light that has the highest happinness/price ratio

85

Got 8 of these (4 warm white, 4 cool white) from this seller for $1.82 each. I'm really liking them

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121310231074?var=420264627272&amp;ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&amp;_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I keep one plugged into my computer so I can see the CD/DVD Burner. It's dark under my desk.

86

My two warm white minis arrived very fast from China. Wish I had ordered 20, they are great.

87

Mini is quite catchy :bigsmile: I gifted a few of them to non-flashlight-addicted friends and the find it interesting also.

88

Darn, sounds like they can’t be made to turn on as soon as they receive power.

I was thinking of putting a USB power adapter into a switched wall outlet, putting a stiff “worm” style extender on it, and putting one of these lights on the end of that… which would then let me turn it on and off with a wall switch. But if it doesn’t come on when it receives power, that wouldn’t really work.

The plan is to put one or two directly behind my television so it’ll be backlit. I currently have sort of a prototype running, but it can’t be turned off without reaching behind and touching the switch.

Paddington, Lord of All He Surveys, looks out over his domain: