Desktop Energy Seed Lamp

Hello everyone,

Today I will show you something very interesting. It is not a killing robot or skynet (not yet).
It is a desktop ambiant light that use dead alkaline battery to power itself. This design can hold up to 15 batteries. It use a single joules thief circuit to power 50 LED!



The idea came when I was surfing www.yankodesign.com

and found this
http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/10/10/trashing-batteries-for-brighter-sidewalks/

The designer of that concept idea is Sungwoo Park and Sunhee Kim.

You are about to see how I made that lamp using common material and simple technique to build it.
I did try to make this lamp very simple to build, I though about all the people out there that don't have all the tools and skill to build complex stuff. I when with the moto "KISS" Keep It Simple Stupid.

I did a lot of planning before making the design. I tried to visualized the design in my head, I did some sketchup drawings, I made a lot of paper drawings. I sort of had only one shot at this and had to make it work the first time.

History:
When I first saw this device, my brain started working and trying to figure out way to make it. These ideas where keep in my head. One month ago I saw the contest about environmentally friendly design. The first idea was to build a solar power ipod charger. A few second later I remember that energy seed and said, that is it, I am building a table top version of that! Back home I started drawing and taking notes about ideas. At the end of this intructables, you will be able to see those drawings I made.

By the way, I am doing a intern at www.solarbotics.com and I am having a blast! They have a laser cutter and I sort of fell in love with that machine, it really get your creativity going. Now I really want one :)
I will be a the MAKER FAIRE this May. I am presently in Alberta. I am going back to school (summer semester ) at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec and then will leave for California!

PS - I really love yanko design because I get ideas and inspiration from that website.

Have fun!

Jerome
ps- I guess I should say desktop lamp instead of table top and I should of said "Table top energy seed LAMP" in my title. You can't have everything right! :-)

<edit March 21, 2009>
I thought the deadline for the contest was MARCH 19 and not APRIL 19!
I work like crazy to get that thing done "in time". I have now time to make a other instructable! :D

<updated: April 2, 2009>
You guys rock! I got 4.5 on 5 stars! That is SO NICE! THANK YOU SO MUCH! This is really motivating to see people reaction and comments. This makes me happy! :-)
I got 18390 view and 3528 view today, that newsletter did his magic! Thanks again!
I really appreciate it!.

<updated: Sept 14, 2009>
The video was featured on Daily Planet! :D
I also have a website now
www.JeromeDemers.com

This is a big project.

When I made that lamp, I did not know exactly where I was going so some parts are no on that pictures.
It is missing a lot of stuff.

Construction material
1inch by 3/4 inch by 1 feet piece of wood. It cost me 78cents :)
6 x 12 inch static foam sheet
7 x 7 inch piece of wood to mount the entire lamp to it.
6 x 6 inch piece of plastic ( sintra or acrylic ) 1/4 thick
12 x 12 metal sheet.

1 pack of screws #4 5/8" ( I used about 12 )
1 pack of screws #4 1" ( I used only 4 )

1 x 1lb / 454gr empty magarine container

Electricals components
40 x bright LED any colours you want. ( You can also have super bright LED and ultra bright LED )
1 x ferrite bead ( digikey part number HFB095051-100 )
1 x 1K resistor
1 x 2N3904 / 2N2222 transistor
1 x 1/4" mono chassis jack
1 x 1/4" mono plug

Breaboard wire
Wirewrap wire ( 2 different colours is better )
Rosh comliant lead free solder. ( Every details counts )
Spray paint
Masking tape
Scissor
Knife
Saw
Screw drivers
Nibbler

Don't forget old batteries!

I recommend you read the entire instructables before starting.

I took a 18cm x 18 cm ( 7inch x 7 inch ) peace of wood laying around and mark the center.

This is the base of the lamp.

Download the PDF and trace the power rails shape.

If you print out the PDF, please be sure to check out the print options.

Page scaling = NONE
Auto-Rotate and center = uncheck

Sorry about the dimension in the file, I had a hard time trying to get those dimension in CorelDraw.

Use big metal scissor to cut out the metal plates.

Simply drill out holes in the plates. The holes size depends of the screw you will use.

I use #6 wooden screws.

I use a metal punch to mark where I wanted the holes. This will help you center the drill bit when drilling.
You could use a sharp nail and a hammer to mark the metal instead of using a metal punch.

After drilling I use a big drill bit to scuff the metals bits. ( By hand )

I have with me a very handy tool to cut out shape into metal.
I first saw this tool in a Xbox case mod, where the guy cut out some pretty nice shape in the side panel of the Xbox.

But can't figure out the name...

<edit March 20, 2009>

It is a NIBBLER!

I knew someone would help me! Thanks Griffith.

Take 5 wooden screws to secure the magarine lid to the wooden base.

I took my big 8 feets long piece of wood and cut it into 4 little peace of wooden.

They measure 2,7cm ( 1.063" ) long.

I was very lucky because that was the perfect measurement and everything fit snuggly.

I took the bottom metal plate and put it on in the lid so I could see where the wooden block could sit.

I trace lines so I could drill it out. The four holes need to go throught the wooden base. The screw will be screwed from underneath.

You simply screw the bottom screw to hold down the bottom block.

My 1 inch screws were to small so I had to recess the holes.

Print the PDF, I have check the PDF dimension

Page scaling = NONE
Auto-Rotate and center = uncheck

Sorry about the dimension in the file, I had a hard time trying to get those dimension in CorelDraw.

I push out the holes before drilling.

The I drill.

That yellow stuff is sintra.

Start by drilling smaller holes then drill out with a big holes.

Make BIG holes because you want a battery to fit in. If not then you have to start over!


1/2 holes was NOT big enough.

This is sort of optional and was for me to pass wires in those holes.

You can use the middle holes.

I use metal scissor to cut the sintra. This will only work with sintra. Sintra is very soft and easy to work with. You can not do that with acrylic.

Since my hand made version had 1/2 hole for the batteries, I had to make a other one. I took the laser from work to cut it out so I could continue with the instructables.

ps - I do not own a laser! I am doing a intern at www.solarbotics.com and they have a laser. I sort of got "hook" by this machine and I want one when I go back to Qu�bec to build my future robots! :D

Here we are going to install the part we just made. The battery holder.

We start by marking the top of the bottom block.
Drill and screw them!

Boom!

Do the same thing for the other side.

Here is where you see the improvisation.

To have the top block to align with the middle plate, I took put them under the middle plate to trace out holes. Then I made lines and when for the middle.

Then I screw everything together.

In other words you simply need to add 2 more block on top of the battery holder.

Here you use the same technique and attach the top metal plate to the top.

This foam is a spacer and acts has a spring to push the battery up.

Instead of using a big sheat you could try to cut out smaller pieces of that foam.
Then you place them underneat the bottom plate at different place.

Screw the bottom plate with 4 screws. Do no tight up the screws, you want to have space to the metal plate moves along the screw. They act has guides.

Assemble everything to see if the battery fit snuggly into the device.

In my design some battery are loose and fall out. I have a solution that I will talk at the end.

Use a knife and cut a hole in the bottom of the margarine. 1 cm is good.

Cut out a hole so a battery can fit in.

I started by sanding down the plastic. I then clean the surface to remove dust. I then finish painting the thing green first so I could have decals on it. That green is really dark and ugly. That was the only paint I had in stock.

Take your time when you paint, give a lot of thin coats.

Since we have a laser at work I decide to use it to cut out decals on green tape. So I did!

You could use a X-Acto to cut the shape you want.

When the decals was on my magarine lid, I had to heat it up with my heat gun because that green tape does not stick a lot.

I then painted the thing black. I did sand the thing again to be sure to have a nice finish.

It turn out really nice!

You will need to solder a lot of LED in parallel. I made my self a jig to hold down all the LED while soldering.
I simply put every LED in there holes and pointing the cathode all the same way. I then cut different length of wire for the LED. I use a other sort of tool to help me cut them faster. I started by soldering all the cathode first, then I solder all them together in pack of 10. I did the same thing with the anode.

The wire I use was wire wrap 30 gauge. I would recommend using 28 gauge so that will make the "branch" stiffer.

Cathode = flat side of the LED

Here is where I get complticated. All you are about to see in the step is all optinal. Sort of.

I had the idea of having a "dimmer" to my design. I wanted to keep simple so I decide to have 2 switchs controlling there own set of light. Let say one swiths controls 10 LED and the other switch control 20. Then you could have 10, 20 or 30 LED light up.

Yes this is a not a real dimmer. It is a 3 way switch! The exact same thing has a 3 way buld where you have 50W, 100W so you get 50W, 100W and 150W.

It does works!

I will then show you how I did.

You need to solder a wire to the bottom metal plate.

Parts you will need:
1 meter of white and 1 meter of black wirewrap wire 30 or 28 gauge
1 x Ferrite bead digikey part number 240-2145-ND
40 x High power LED
1x 1K resistor
1x 2N3904 or 2N2222 NPN transistor

You can use one color of wirewrap, having two colour will make you life easier.
I first starter using the same colour and took a marker to mark the second wire.
Having 2 colours helps you and me trying to explain.

Start by twisting both wire together. Then pass it in the ferrite bead and you will loop into the bead until physically you can not pass it anymore. You just made yourself a little transformer.

When that is done, you can go to the next page.

<-edit March 21, 2009->
Ps - Have a look at this link
http://hackedgadgets.com/2007/03/22/rusty-nail-led-night-light/

The guy use the same circuit and a rusty nail to make the coil! It works!

This is simple step.

Look at the picture. I twisted the wires together and added solder.

Go to the next step.

ps - if you flick between the 2 images, it looks like a dancing bean!

Take you transistor and connect the 1K resistor to the middle pin ( base )

A transistor has 3 legs, Emitter, Base and Colletor.

If you look at the 2N3904/2N2222 the flat side towards you ( facing up)

It goes like this

E B C
Emitter Base Collector

Remenber that!

Look at that picture, it mean everything!

Connect a LED and you should see it light up.


ps- the very first time I did make a joule thief, it did not work!! I then said " Srew it!" I then never touched that circuit until now!

This mean, don't give up!

I use heat shrink to hide the solder connections.

have fun.

Assemble everything and test it.

It works for me! It is only missing more LED. I then added a other set of 20 LED.

There is never engough LED in a project!

Voila!

I am very happy on how this turns out!

It is very bright and puts out a lot of light and it is perfect for night light or ambiant light.

Pros
- Interchangeable lamp design.
- Nice looking.
- Give out a great light that is useful.
- You girlfriend will like it.

Cons
- All the batteries are in parallel so if there is one weak battery, it will suck down the juice of all of the other batteries.
- The lamp need to be activated every night. I am presently working on a circuit that would power the joules thief at night.
- No dimmer, I could think about that. I wonder if we could implement that in the joule thief. Playing with the coil. Changing the ratio of the transformer...

Here is how I did the second lamp design
https://www.instructables.com/id/Universal-lamp-shade-polygon-building-kit/

Here are my drawings of the original ideas.

All my pictures where taken with my Sony DSC-W1 5mega pixel. I am changing camera when they receive the new one in a couple of weeks, I will buy the new W290.

I took 255 pictures!!! I also took a lot of videos! The hard part is choosing the perfect one.

Here are the hours I work on the intructables.

Saturday, March 14
15h00 to 21h30

Sunday, March 15
1h30 to 20h13

Monday, March 16
18h00 to 22h00

Wednesday, March 18
18h00 to 22h00

Tuesday, March 19
18h00 to 20h00

A total of more then 21 hours and I did not count the time writting this.

I hope you enjoy this design!

Take care!

Jerome
Qu�bec, Canada