Inside a dodgy rechargeable touch light.
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
- First impressions of this little light are pretty good. Apart from the low capacity internal lithium cell it works fine and has a very neat and minimalist PCB to control the light and the charging of the lithium cell.... Except it DOESN'T control the charging of the lithium cell.
On closer examination it looks like the space for the charging circuitry might become active if the diode is left out. They possibly allowed for a simple diode where a cell that already had protection was used.
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I have been a follower of your channel for about six months and can’t get enough of your videos.Please keep the videos coming, you have inspired me to get back in to electronics and tinkering after too many years away.Awesome respect to you Sir.
I Agree :)
One modification, using the battery and charge circuit from the Poundland Power Pod "disposable" battery booster, adds a slightly bigger capacity battery and adds charge protection... :)
It's funny how two shitty products are sometimes just about made for each other!
There is another version of this sold by Dollarama here in Canada. $4 CND. But it has AA battery holder.
It is really good to modify it and convert it to whatever you like.
It wouldn't be worth watching if Clive didn't call it "dodgy."
and... not 'dangerooos' ‼️
@@BPantherPink You're thinking of DiodeGoneWild aren't you?
I love Big Clive "Footery" AWSOME !
Hi Clive,
I have a lamp from -what I think- the same manufacturer.
It works on 3 AA batteries and does NOT have the innoying dim feature.
Instead you can hold the capacitive touch somewhat longer and it dims.
It even remembers your dim setting after shutting off and works amazingly long on batteries only.
No charging built in though it has a USB power plug.
(Great nightlight in case of power outage!)
The leds are very small but also fairly bright.
I wonder if the brand name is iZoom. I have one (that works like what you describe) I use to light my keyboard during late nights when I don't need to light up the whole room.
Both that one and a similar model that works exactly like the one in the video came from American Science & Surplus (sciplus.com). They both even have that 'War of the Worlds"-alien look.
This look like the perfect kit for building your own timber base with a bit of heft and a better battery. Would make great 'hand made' crissy presents.
A lot of the cheap eBay gadgets are great value just for the parts they contain. Ideal for repurposing.
Shove a chunk of lead or bismuth in the base.
Anybody know where I can get a slab of depleted uranium?
And there's me adding sheet steel to objects to add weight to them like a pleb. Cutting thin plates with shears and gluing them in. Then again that is definitely the cheapest way to go about it. Lead is only 40% denser, but if you use pellets, you lose the advantage because of packing density, and i don't have a source for sheet. Bismuth a bit useless at 25%. DU about 140%, which is remarkable.
DU is indeed remarkable. It was used as the keel on a super-yacht a few years ago. I cannot find any on eBay. It is a quite toxic heavy metal, even without the slight depletion-depleted radioactivity.
I bought two of these two years back and fitted them with large lithium cells almost straight away. It's a dodgy lamp, but it works. Mine doesn't have a 3-step light level, instead it just changes slowly and you stop pushing the touch button at the intensity you want.
I have on of these lights, it was doing the job of a desk light so it was constantly powered. After the video I opened it up and there was this tiny, much smaller then Clives, puffer battery. I will replace it with something with internal management and return it to service. Thanks Clive.
I have bought a lamp with the exact same function, just a bit different design from China. It had a 400mAh Lead Acid battery (directly hooked to USB, no diodes, nothing), changed the battery for a 18650 and (of course) put one of those TP4056 Lithium Battery Chargers with protection in it. Really nice "natural" light colour, really neat and handy light! (AFTER modification :D)
I'm seeing a few items appearing with lead acid batteries and no significant charge control.
I assume it's the price. A 12V 100Ah car battery is also lead acid, but costs a mere 60-120€/$/etc. If if was Lithium Ion, it'd be more expensive than some cars themselves do cost D:
But at least in the case of my lamp there was another reason: After putting in a 2600mAh 18650, the base became lighter and now it is more prone to tipping over than it was with the lead acid battery. (but still: cost is of course the main reason, it's cheapo chines after all :D)
@@8bpspfreak2I have something similar to that: folding lamp with a lead acid battery and capacitive dropper, and a three position swich. And it was supposed to light for like 15 hours on lower brightness with that puny around 900mAh battery. So I modded it, desoldered almost everything from pcb, leaving only switch. I "repurposed" that pcb as a holder for TP4056 + DW01 module and two small 350mA driver chips, with some diodes for selecting one or both chips (they can be used in parallel), and three 18650's. Now I have 16 hour light output without dropping on brightness intensity. Great! That lamp looks like this: images.sklepy24.pl/26159607/981/medium/tiross-ts-53-lampka-biurkowa-wielofunkcyjna-30-led.jpg
Your humor does not escape me. That said, you're the best Clive. Simple stuff, explained by a total pro, how do you beat it. Many thanks.
The design reminds me of the war of the worlds movie.. The lamp looks like the end of a tentacle
my first thought as well, although my first exposure to the war of the worlds movie was from the 80's movie Explorers. So, I think of the dream sequence.
I know this is weird, but I had that movie's scenes stuck in my head for 12 years and never got to know the name of the movie itself. Thank you so much!
Yes, that's it, I had something going on in the back of my head about the shape which I understand now!
I kinda like that about it!
..... I read testicle, Then I wondered if the Aliens had them ?
Always use protection. Otherwise you can get regrets.
Not to mention certain diseases!
@@WaltonPete like cooties?
@@mhammadalloush5104
As a non-American I'm unsure as to the exact nature of 'cooties' but I've no doubt it's probably quite unpleasant.
They probably assumed that a diode will always cause a 0.7V voltage drop hence the battery will not charge beyond 4.3V from a 5V supply, and 4.3V isn't terribly bad for a Li-ion cell. Unfortunately the 0.7V drop is only valid if the diode draws sufficient current. I'm not sure what will actually happen but both possible scenarios are bad in different ways. If the battery draws less current as it becomes charged, the drop across the diode will keep dropping and the cell will eventually reach 5V which is bad. The other possibility is that the cell cannot go much above 4.3V. In that case it will keep drawing current even when it is fully charged, which will also cause damage.
Hey this is a very relevant observation, i had the beginnings of a very similar thought but you thought it more or less to completion.
I don't really think full 5V (0V diode drop) can EVER be reached via a diode, no matter how small the current, as the battery will also keep consuming and thermally dissipating a bit, as does the touch controller, but there certainly is a marked decrease in voltage drop at very low currents, which makes diode charger unsuitable in general and especially with a diode drop this borderline, besides being input voltage dependent and 5.25V being a valid USB voltage.
and then you buy a new chinesium device and further pollute the earth with yet more plastic chinesium.... vicious cycle of stupidity ;)
"They probably assumed that a diode will always cause a 0.7V voltage drop
hence the battery will not charge beyond 4.3V from a 5V supply,"
The problem in not all power supplies hit 5v, the Anker USB bank I have outputs 5.3v. Although, looking online that M1 diode seems to have a forward drop of 1.1v.
4.3V wont blow the cell up, but it will make the chemistry degrade very quickly if it isnt one of those new ultra pure chemistries.
it definitely isnt...
Make the diode a Zener [ turned the other way around of course] and the voltage could be limited to a constant value less than the 5 volts from the USB supply.
I got one of those type lights however mine took 3 AAA batteries. I hat AAA batteries so I installed a small cell like that, then used the little charging/protection adapters you can get off eBay. The one I have has the magnifying glass with a circle of LED'S to light up what you are looking at. I use it sometimes when I need that extra magnification for my soldering jobs. Conversion of these things is really kind of fun I have done others using old phone batteries or batteries from old PDA'S that I used to play around with in years gone by.
thank you for disassembling rechargeable touch light...👍
I'm a drone photographer and it's hilarious to watch people in the drone community freak out about Lipo and treat their batteries so carefully, yet we're surrounded by dodgy electronics like this.
Things that you can not see can not hurt you.
Quite a bit more energy in the cells drones use than in this shit
no metal shield on drone lipos either
like smart-phones...... which is a funny name for them, since taking away said "smart" device leaves most looking stupid and dumber than a box of rocks.....
Depends on the battery technology. Drone batteries are very high current output whereas the cell in this lamp probably has a higher internal resistance.
250mah at this size? seems like they reusing old phone batterys instead of Recycling it
you expect them to throw away all the battery that were designed for those obsolete phone? non non non mon ami. put them in ALL the cheap product!
That IS recycling them... Taking them from one source and re-purposing it.
most cheapy chinese junk like this is mostly if not completely recycled electronics
technically that is recycling.
250 mAh is way small for a cell phone battery. Even old-ass batteries get more than that. I have a 500W ebike that I power with an array of 120 used/discarded phone batteries (10S 10~13P). Even the smallest one (a 700 mAh battery from a 2004 Sony Ericsson K300i) gets more than 500 mAh. That's Fukushima quality, baby! (no seriously, the cell has SONY FUKUSHIMA printed on it)
I bought one at Dollarama in Ontario for $4.00 Canadian. My model uses 3AA batteries (I use rechargeable AAs) rather than an internal Lithium rechargeable through USB. I imagine replacing the internal battery with a resistor and connecting a power bank using USB would remove the threat of Lithium battery combustion and vastly extend the length of time it produces light. My battery bank allows use while charging so when I see those lights again I will pick up a few and convert them. Add some velcro or magnetic strip to the underside will add to their usefulness.
Clive, I'm sorry to say that on this occasion you have got it wrong! We follow your work with much scrutiny. You missed part of that circuit! In the clip at (9:05) you say there would be no way to make it work! The VCC exits the USB and goes to D1, however, there is a track that then goes under the diode up to PIN 4 of charge controller. The circuit is designed for a Microchip MCP73831/2. After said part, a resistor and some hot air and paste we have a working charge managed version! Basically as a side note. what has happened here is you got what looks like the cut down version. We have now removed the diode as it is not needed! MCP set to 150mah and it is able to also run and charge the battery at the same time!
Like watching a child opening up a longed-
for present - frantic, shivering with excitement, love it!
I can't say I would mind having to go through the intensity levels to turn the lamp off, if that means that I don't need to recite some special incantation to keep the darn thing lit like it should be. I understand that if someone wants to make something cheap by having only a single button on it, making that single button scroll through the various settings is the most straightforward way to do it. I like straightforward!
One of those Poundland power pods would do nicely inside, 500mah with the charge mod :)
Before the "Smart" phones took over, I was into those cheap tablets, I ordered broken ones for a very cheap price, and tried to build up one working out of two or three. This left me with tons of old lithium flat cells of various sizes and shapes, add to that, I have gone through dozens of old laptops that I have torn down, and tore apart the batteries for the cells, giving me dozens of old 18650's and most recently, a strange little square cell about three times as thick as the one you found in that lamp with tons of power, that was contained in a small battery pack from an old tablet that worked on WIndows 2000. Amazingly only two of the 8 cells in that one were dead, the rest took a full charge and seem to be working great, I have yet to attach them to my tester to run a full test to find the power available in them. Looking at that lamp, I think I have a cell that would nearly full the base, not to thick, and it is a single cell so the voltage would be proper, man that lamp could work for days on that cell without needing a charge. Perfect for use in my RV, if I ever get to travel in her again. Mom is going into a nursing home tomorrow, she is still going strong, but can't seem to keep from falling now, so needs the attention. Lots of work ahead of me today, so thanks for the great video, I shall indeed look at that light in earnest. when I get a chance.
All the best to your mom.
@@Useaname Thanks, she has been in the home now for quite some time. They found the problem and have her on meds to control the falling, but at 93 years, she has decided to stay in the home. She loves it there with all her old friends, and says the food is wonderful, as is the care. We are in the process of now selling off her property for her so she will no longer have the taxes, insurance and utilities, so if anyone needs a nice 2 bedroom home in northern South Dakota, let me know.
I don't think you should Hawick the feet off. I think you should Selkirk them off.
This joke works for anyone in the old Border TV region.
I have no idea why i found this hilarious, these words mean nothing to me. :D
hawick is a stupid city
Believe it or not this was actually quite expensive - I bought 2 of 'em from my local cheap shop for £1.99 each (almost identical). The LED's give off a very harsh light but colouring the transparent LED cover with a permanent marker makes them quite nice (I used red but the light kinda comes out orange). The BIG problem with them is that they fall over if you glance in their direction - I'm going to fill the basses with something heavy when I get round to it. For £1.99 they are not bad :)
Gotta be honest Clive, when I saw the thumbnail I thought you'd found yoursel another one of those adult toys.
The chip on the circuit diagram looks like a little robot :D
Wow something from here in he great white north. Nice to see we can have dodgy electronics just like every place else ;)
Clive, poundland have a lamp, it's a white ball like thing on a magnetic base and it's very bright. Runs on 3 x AAAs. I can send one if you're interested.
I have one here in the box of pending Poundland stuff.
@@BigClive Ah cool. Looking forward to it. I didn't know if the IOM branch had them in or not.
I've just watched that video. It's a cool lamp.
Wow, smashing through the rubber feet, how brutish.
4.4V might be ok for a high voltage lithium cell. I would only operate that thing on a fireproof surface though. Or rather, I wouldn't operate that thing. Since I have a 3D printer, I'm only interested in those gadgets for inspiration. One could get one of those charging modules from ebay and slap that in to make it safe. Some 5V zener diodes and a 6V solar panel also make a good addition when you have said charging module inside. Simple to make, simple to fix and rather cheap.
This type of capacitive sensor is extremely simple, you can do it with only a microcontroller and no extra parts. I've done it in the past with an Arduino, and depending on how sensitive you make your code, it can sense your presence from quite far away. A lot of fun to play around with.
So that chip on there might well be a generic microcontroller (probably some chinese one they can get for next to nothing in bulk)
I guess it might be a cool project to find a proper charging chip for the battery and hack the PCB so it runs properly. I am pretty certain I just yesterday came across an almost identical setup inside a bluetooth USB mono speaker from Aldi. If that is the case I may try and do the same as I think it has been damaging the lithium battery for the same reason and giving less and less run time between recharges because of it.
My mother has one of these, mounted on the underside of her kitchen cabinet above the sink. It's hooked up to a similarly dodgy 5V charger so it wouldn't run down. So you're saying that the cell is kept at a constant 4.4V, and could light the entire kitchen on fire anytime? That is... reassuring 🙃
They made a point of saying in the title that the new item is "working". 🤔
A chunky battery would also give it some weight and make it more stable . I bought something similar but with an 18650 battery inside , very wobbly so i got some Plasticine and put that in the base , worked a charm
Hi night owl 👍
oh we sell those XD original manufacturer is finepower. well, as original as chinesium can be
I bought one from my local hardware store. Haven't used it much. Haven't charged it either. But it works OK so far.
We sell one like this at jaycar here in australia, it's got a 500mah battery and a large clip on the underside to clamp onto a desk with a body that's half the width.
Id assume it's the proper one with all the circuitry and healthy battery inside it though considering its about 12 USD
I have a similar model (mine has a clamp) and it works just fine for me. It has an charge indicator that changes from red to green. When I see the green light, I just unplug it!
Sounds like yours may have the correct circuitry.
@@BigClive I sure hope so! BTW, I love your videos, you explain so much. Though sometimes, it's downright scary what is in the cheaper goods! Keep the videos coming - I have become a much more careful E-Bay consumer thanks to your work!
Will we be seeing a repeat appearance of Fannie Flambeau anytime soon? It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Perhaps something with unintentionally exploding fairy lights?
Thanks!
I really want to see Clive improve this lamp :>
I felt weird when he didn't do it
I have actually just modified it with a protected phone battery. Charge current started at about 600mA for a discharged cell and cut off properly at full charge.
@@BigClive That makes me happy to hear Clive,
I can now sleep well :)
@@BigClive will we get to see it?
I love cheap lamps of this type. They provide very nice modding possibilities. Just replace the stock board with a cheapo powerbank board, use a normal switch, fill case with old phone cells and presto, a base-heavy and long lasting usb light.
Well, are we removing the mystery chip to see if it's labeled underneath? Go on Clive, you know you want to!!!
I actually bought an LED light in Canada from the dollar store that looks exactly like that one except it's not rechargeable, it has a battery compartment for 4 AAs in the bottom and no USB port.
I've had one (well - a very, very similar one) of those in past! They're pretty great IMHO, but the LED is a super bright one with a blue-ish tint, so it was of no use for long term usage for e.g. reading or writing in the dark.
Clive, interesting video, but I started hoping for a firey desk-scarring lithium cell teardown event with smoudering chaos :) You expressed interest in the polarity of the cell connections, surely curiousity should rule.
Does it turn off with a long press? I found this from my bicycle light and it's just waaaay better than cycling through all the stupidly arbitrary but compulsory blinky hell modes.
I just checked. It doesn't do that.
I thought the same, it’s a little secret a lot of lights I’ve had hold, aswell as some of them even respond to a double click! Alas, Clive says no in this instance. Badly designed all round really, then.
I find a lot of switches work that way.
It looks like one of those Li-Ion cells used inside the white shell for the Nokia 3310/3330 (minus the little protection PCB)
. I've had those batteries bulge and split the 2 halves of the white plastic shell apart, revealing the cell (looking exactly like the one in this video, size and everything) and the little protection PCB that usually isn't protective at all on the cheapo replacements.
As for the 250mAh ... If this was measured it via one of those inline USB gadgets logging the charge etc. it might be way off. None of these in-line charge monitor gadgets that I've tried has been accurate if the charge current is fairly low. For phones that charge at 1 amp or more they're usually OK and show mostly realistic numbers, for something charging at less than 500mA they will read ridiculously low capacity numbers (or sometimes no capacity at all) as if they're unable to measure it properly
Interesting, I own one of these from 3 years ago. Different PCB, has a screw in the LED defuser plate, does not have divots above the LEDs in the mold. And it has a mold to hod the battery in the middle with a steal bar to weigh down the base. Also charged with USB to a DC barrel connection, not micro USB. It’s hard to tell, maybe yours is a smaller version of mine so it doesn’t need the weight? I thought I checked the cell, when I bought it, but I hacked again to be sure and mine is also a metal encased cell but it does have the protection circuit on the battery. But at first look I thigh it was the same one. Either they cut costs over the years, or a few different one are being manufactured differently. Exactly why I take things a;art when I buy them, you never know from the outside what you really get.
It’s identical to a battery version I purchased from poundstretchers about a year ago but mine takes aaa cells that is a touch pad to bright/dim on/off I paid about £7.00 for it at the time.
The voltage drop across a silicon diode depends on the current. It close to zero when passing small current
I've just been reminded that lighting for a machine shop, or anywhere with rotating machinery, shouldn't strobe. Is that something you could cover sometime?
Was shopping at a bargain grocery store/market the other day amd stumbled upon a few intresting led lights amd one of them had a hair in it.
On the topic of USB protection, last night I read an article about a 13 year old in China that needed surgery because he had cut the connector off the end of a USB cable and ran it up in his urethra where it curled in to a knot inside him.
It was an Apple style cord, but I don't know if that is a factor.
looks like something from the war of the worlds.
clive how long do these batteries last, charge and discharge, with them being cheap
Clive, you mention a transistor but I don't see a transistor in the PCB or on the schematic? There must be a transistor that's switching the leds but where is it?
Currently having a lot of building work and "camping" out in one room, at night it's like an assault course getting past all the obstacles, so I've scattered a few ebay and aldi pir controlled 6 and 10 LED lamps about the place. No rechargeable types but all are incredibly sensitive.
Rechargeables terrify me after watching clive and his tin of doom ... I bought a selection of charge/discharge protection boards for pennies on fleabay. I'm still a fan of "ordinary" cells
Rechargeable cells are perfectly safe if not severely damaged. If you're without power right now I'd strongly recommend a head torch as a very convenient lightsource at night.
#@@BigClive Headlamp not a bad idea for evening when hands full of brew and bikkies, the PIRs do add a certain something to a journey. Swanning round with lights automatically following you does add something.
At 60+ "getting about" is actually a euphemism for going for a pee. At 3am I've usually waited to the last second so need to make the journey quickly, hunting down headgear isn't always an option.
Looks like a fancy sex toy.. which could be true for over half of your reviews. The other half one needs only a little more bravery.
How does that thing stay upright? Stick a big weight in the base along with the new batt
There is the tp5100 for 2 amp or series of tp4056 for 2.4 amp but no 3 amp chip?
Nice video Clive, keep up the good work and videos!
I would just buy one of those 2 Amp lithium chargers, a LiIon protection board, put 2 NRC18650B into this thing and wire it all up. Then this would be really nice. How is the color rendering of the LEDs?
you can always put in a segment of a led strip or maybe some sort of COB
@@izimsi In that case, I could make my own lamp. :D
It might be an interesting project to try to incorporate a DW01-P charge/discharge protection IC into this. BigClive probably has a few DW01's laying about his work bench somewhere. ;)
I swapped in a protected phone cell with that circuit built in.
The Range in London rd Glasgow do something similar to this for £6. 2 rows of 7 LEDs in the head also has slider off switch (unfortunately underneath) to stop it discharging .1200mAh LION. 2W on max power it's pretty bright and quite useful.
hey @bigclivedotcom how often do you find a product you actually like so you upgrade it, ie bluetooth speakers with 4650 mah batteries upgrade from 650mah etc, leds swapped for a dif color(i KNOW you're guilty of this 1)
The controller may be an ATtiny202 or 402. Power pins match and the capacitor is on the reset pin which has an internal pull-up. The ATtiny has got capacitive touch channels and PWM peripherals.
are those really recycled old phone batteries? if so, are they likely tested to see if they even hold a charge? one part of me feels that you're getting cheated in a way by getting a used cell, but the other part feels that if it works then recycling them is a good use for things like this. i just wonder how long they would work for..
I have one of these, very similar model. Would it be best to just entirely remove the battery and run it off a usb charger? This is what I do anyway, I don't care about the battery operation...
That actually sounds like a very reasonable mod!
Sounds like a good idea.
Just put in some weight so at least it can stand stable.
@@Landogarner83 Mine came with a clip to attach to surfaces, so that isn't a problem with my model at least.
Heh, this space is perfect for battery from my old cheap android tablet that I bought 5 years ago and it just sit in closet not used... I would buy that lamp for that but I dont like that short pole and light it self is a bit... Meh... And I don't see much space to put there some custom Leds, like mix of warm and red leds that I really like(I made light that have one red led for every 4 warm led and light is really good for reading or night light if you set it to low power)
We had two fail for us, too. Not sure if it was overcharging, they started to flicker erratically and get dim
Had one of them - was shite
Come to think of it, I should have taken it apart...
@@ralpha679 Don't turn it on... TAKE IT APART!
Thought about buying one like that (with a clamp instead of a "base"), but probably now won't bother.
Are there any "good" rechargeable/battery operated lamps like this that you can clamp to a shelf?
On the plus side, at least it doesn't have an SOS or flashing mode :D
I have seen some micro usb chargers that output 4.2v I wonder if that is what came with that light to charge?
It's a standard micro USB socket on it.
@@BigClive then indeed dodgy.
Being professional and Hoicking it out, looks like a remarkably similar approach. LOL
SGL8022W Single-channel DC LED control touch chip
I have several old phone batteries and 18650s knocking about (from an old laptop battery), they're literally no use to me as I'll probably just end up blowing a finger off - are they any use to you?
NIce, thanks for sharing again :-)
Cool thumbs up
Perhaps that bit of stuff under the touch point isn't actually copper, but copper clad aluminum? :-)
Could you just use 3-4 AA/AAA type rechargeables?
Clive, love your channel. Just wondering how I could send you things for you to take a look at. I live in Malaysia but I often go to Shenzhen on business. I always go to the Electronics market and I don't mind sending on a couple of the things I come across.
I always put extracted screws in a container. If left on the bench they always seem to disappear into an alternate universe.
You should include a link to the product, I've had a great modification idea for a couple of these
i have a similar version however i think you missed the chip has low Voltage cutoff protection and it charges slowly ~45ma to right around 4.16v
mine can fit 2x 18650 and with 4000mah from 2 CGR18650A (laptop pull) on LOW i get ~100 hours and on HIGH i get ~20 not finished testing
the light will dim below 3v but will turn off at ~2.75v
Mine had no protection circuitry at all. So I put in a lithium cell with built in protection.
@@BigClive how can i email you
LEDs in parallel?
Clive.....When you say "HOICK" (I don't know how to spell that) . What is the derivative of the phrase. Sureley not based on the driech scottish town of Hawick.
Those were in an hotel i was sleeping in on Mallorca...
Be professional, smash the feet anyway 😁 good work!
oh man your voice is really cool :D
Maybe you have to remove the diode to "enable" that charging control chip as it just prevents the battery from backfeeding?
Clive I wonder has your upload rate on the IOM already improved ?
Do what David Jones does to get the chip number.
How bright is it IRL?
Our local pub dishes these out during the pub quiz to improve the lighting...
That lamp really reminds me of the craft used by the aliens in "War of the Worlds". Dose anyone else see that to?? Also Clive I have a HOPI meter HP-9800 that died on me about 2 days after getting it! Would you be interested in "Takin it to Bits"?? If so where do I send it?? PEACE:)
Not protected cell!... That is scary! Imagine leaving that plugged in all the time. I wonder if the battery is going to get pretty warm and may catch fire if left plugged in for a long period of time?.
I have a similar-looking light which also has a clip on the base and an additional on/off switch on the back next to the Micro-USB. It's actually not bright enough for most purposes, so it doesn't have much of a point. Is yours bright?
It's not super-bright, but OK as a basic desk light. it's brighter with the diffuser removed.
I have a usb powered version which I converted to a 1w warm white by dint of chopping off most of the head, hot gluing on the bottom of a beer can as a 'reflector' and changing out the resistor. I've used it as a bedside lamp for about two years now without really ever thinking about it again, it works really well now.
The best (but expensive) portable desk light is Yeeligh YLTD01Y 5W
Cost about ~50 but not Chinese cheap quality
I'm in Canada and I've bought two lights similar to that one, the same but mine take AA batteries instead of being rechargeable. I bought them for $4 at Dollarama(a dollar store) I've been thinking of converting them to USB and sticking a rechargeable battery in them.
Could be something like an AT-tiny13 as an uC as it has PWM and it is possible to get an capacitiv button working.
Also if it seems if you remove the diod you can enable the battery protection if populated - but hard to tell on my screen.
The Attiny13 has earth on pin 4, probably an ultra cheap one time programmable microcontroller.
No, i'm not aware of any uC that can sink 300mA of current, i doubt it can even be done. It has to be a special purpose chip. It's not an ATTiny for numerous other reasons too.
@@SianaGearz No, you are right, it wouldn't work to use a uC, not one I can think of anyhow.