LittleBits Slide Activated Light Switch

During our littleBits Instructable Build Night here at the Tampa Hackerspace in Florida, we let some of our younger members take over and show us what they could do. One such project, which was a slide activated light switch, was from a young gentleman named Justin McGettigan.

Tools Needed:

From the littleBits Kit you will need the following modules:

• Power module
• Slide Dimmer
• Servo Motor

- 2 x Skewers or similar size wooden dowel rod (needs to be light weight)

- Glue gun and / or Zip ties

- 9 volt battery to power the littleBits

First step is to connect the modules. Starting from left to right connect the Power Module, then the Slide Dimmer Module, and then finally the Servo Module.

If you want to test that everything is working, just plug in the battery and slide the Dimmer Module to the right. The Servo should activate and move the arm.

Now connect the skewer (or dowel rod) to the end of the Servo Motor Arm. Since this was meant to be a fun experiment, we went all out and connected ours with a glue gun and for added support, a zip tie. We did this as we knew once we were done, the would come apart easily.

Next you need to connect another skewer (or dowel rod) to the light switch. Why, you may ask? The Servo doesn't quite have enough power to move the light switch on it's own, but our younger members realized that less effort could be used if they made efficient use of a lever.

For a base, we also decided to mount the Servo Arm on a block. This would allow us a base to move the arm out further across the lever. Again, less effort needed to move the switch.

Now it's time to test it. Lining up the 2 new levers, simply hit the Slide Dimmer. Click, the light should come on.

Again a special thanks to one of our younger members at the Tampa Hackerspace, Justin McGettigan, for his work on this littleBits Instructable.