LED/Lighting on PCB Isolation

Swapping LEDs and PCB in a Dimmable Nightlight

Mon, 11 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve looked and been unsuccessful in finding household nightlights that meet my criteria:

auto on/off
dimmable
1800K CCT
decent CRI
uniform illumination
no flickering
power efficient

The closest I found was this nightlight. I like everything about it except the 3000K CCT. I believe it’s a bit too cool for a nightlight.

I ended up swapping the 3000K LEDs for 2200K LEDs. I would have preferred 1800K, but was unable to source them on Digikey.

Adding 18650s and DC Power to Hot Shoe Video LED Light

Thu, 22 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I use Neewer’s hot shoe LED lights for a variety of purposes - photography, video, and scanning negatives. The CN-160 is incredibly bright and dimmable. Unfortunately, it is designed to take 6xAA batteries. Or, if you have the right camera, you can attach your camera’s lithium battery to it. I don’t like either option.

I use 18650 batteries for my headlight and I want to use them here. I added a voltage monitor so I didn’t accidentally drain the batteries. I added a DC barrel jack for connecting to a wall adapter. This was for scanning thousands of negatives - I needed full brightness for many hours.

Flashlight Adapter for GoPro Mounts and Helmet Mount

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This how-to concerns making an adapter to hold a flashlight on a standard gopro mount. It allows you to mount a flashlight to a helmet or anywhere else you’d need a securely mounted flashlight.

There are a few 3D-printed gopro flashlight holders on thingiverse.com, but they all seem to be either bulky or fragile and all require a screwdriver for installation and removal. My design uses a gopro mount, is secure, and forgiving to abuse. It uses velcro to accommodate many different flashlight and makes removing the flashlight very quick.

LED Sound Reactor – All Analog Approach

Fri, 02 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

In the winter of 2013, LED strip lighting hit its tipping point - a big rise in popularity.

A year beforehand, in 2012, I had an idea to build a controller for LED strip lighting. A sound reactive LED controller

to make the lights get brighter on the bass notes. Biggest problem - I didn’t know how to make one.

I finally started getting comfortable with electronics in 2014.

Motorcycle Brake/Turn Light PCB

Sun, 21 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

A stranger off eBay got me pulled over, from across the world.

I have a 1983 Kawasaki CSR 305 that has a hint of a cafe racer. For the look, I replaced the stock brake and turn lights with a LED brake/turn light combo from eBay. It was manufactured overseas, very cheaply.

typical cheap brake/turn light

Something failed and the lights went out…at night…while riding. This upset the local authorities.

LED Strip Current Draw and Power Consumption – A Simple Reference Chart

Mon, 01 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Trying to figure out which power supply, transformer, or wire gauge you need for a LED strip project? Look no further.

The tables below show the current and power draw for RGB LED strips in both Metric and Imperial units.

Metric

Type	LEDs per meter	LEDs per segment	Segment Length	Segments per meter	Current per meter	Current per segment	Power per meter	Power per segment
RGB - One Color On	30	3	10 cm	10	0.2 A	20 mA	2.4 W	0.24 W
RGB - All Colors On	30	3	10 cm	10	0.6 A	60 mA	7.2 W	0.72 W
RGB - One Color On	60	3	5 cm	20	0.4 A	20 mA	4.8 W	0.24 W
RGB - All Colors On	60	3	5 cm	20	1.2 A	60 mA	14.4 W	0.72 W

Imperial

Type	LEDs per foot	LEDs per segment	Segment Length	Segments per foot	Current per foot	Current per segment	Power per foot	Power per segment
RGB - One Color On	9	3	3.94 in	3	60 mA	20 mA	0.73 W	0.24 W
RGB - All Colors On	9	3	3.94 in	3	180 mA	60 mA	2.2 W	0.72 W
RGB - One Color On	18	3	1.97 in	6	120 mA	20 mA	1.46 W	0.24 W
RGB - All Colors On	18	3	1.97 in	6	360 mA	60 mA	4.4 W	0.72 W

Notice any errors? Comment below.