AA Battery Powered Light String to USB Power Conversion
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- How to convert a battery powered light string from using AA batteries, to using a USB power source. I used a 1/4w 100 ohm resistor.
**By attempting this modification, the user assumes all risk and is responsible for any damages caused by this modification.
Ok. Is there any way to turn 5 different lights into 1 USB powered light? They are all 2AA and I'm sick of switching them on and off one by one. Please be kind to this old lady since she knows nothing about electronics, but willing to get all the parts and tools to give it a try if that is at all possible.
❤ Me too! (Old Lady)
I agree! I would love to switch all on at once!
This was the best instructional video I've seen!
Direct, Easy to follow.
this is literally the best video ive ever seen to cover this subject.
Agreed
WOW.... love the clear and specific instructions. Plus thank you for the high quality resolution of your video.
Oh... So it requires a resistor. Haha! Im just trying to do everything myself without much knowledge about electricity and stuf.. But thanks to this.
the resistor is AT your discretion, you can go without it but it MIGHT reduce the lifespan of the device your using it on if the 5v usb is WAY more then the original. i personally use a switchable voltage adapter .
Very good. Very thorough. Thank you very much!! I wanted to hook up some Xmas tree lights to a power cord an I was looking for ways to step up (transformer, etc). I never thought of using an USB. Ingenious! Thanks again.
How did you come about your calculation?
The first time I ever did this I didn't add a resistor. Needless to say they started smoking after about 20 minutes lol.
does the resistor value change if you used a different adapter/power supply?
Thanks for a great video! Question: does the orientation of the resistor matter? In other words, does it matter which end of the resistor goes on the circuit board versus which end gets the power from the USB cable?
No, it doesn’t matter.
I'm sorry your video is excellent I just had a question about the resistor
My circuit board isn't labelled 🤔
Do you need a resistor if you’re connecting it to a 3V wall adapter?
Hey there, a very interesting vid thanks for sharing! I have a small water fountain pump. I would like it to operate on batteries instead of by a plug, the opposite to this video. I have cut the plug off and there’s two copper wires, would I need to somehow connect the two wires to a battery capacitor?
Thanks in advance!
I have a 20 LED bulb looks like the one you have I hooked up a 5 volt charger to it Saturday everything in but I didn't put in the resistor it work good for about 3 hours then the bulb started stopping working one at a time until only ones working if I put that resistor in it should take care of that LOL??
Results??🤓
Use a blue Solder Pullit like I have to remove the solder and save some cash.
Never touch the trace with your soldering iron unless you have on with variable temp.
If you do hold your sharp point tip close to the lead of the device/wire to be removed with a bead of solder on it your solder pullit close.
Then touch the solder on the device and the solder on your tip will melt the solder on the lead
Trigger the pullit to suck the solder off.
40 years as a professional electronics tech so I just might know what I'm talking about.
Same procedure if you have a desoldering station like I do.
this is a SUPER professional video for those who want to do it the RIGHT way. but for me don't have all that lol and with the closing of radioshack I don't have easy access to resistors and desolder and whatnot. i just gamble on the extra 0.50v not frying my light 🤣
Hobby Town has been selling some Radio Shack stuff, try there.
I keep trying to just splice a USB cord to led lights, and it works but burns them out. One burned out slowly, another strand burned out and started smoking right away. I have another plugged into my pc usb port and they seem to be ok for now. But why is this happening to the others? I know they are getting too much power but why? I just wanna cut the battery box off and splice a USB cord on and be done. The one that slowly burnt out and the one that is working now connected to my pc are the kind that came with the tester switch and cord attached to the battery box. So I just spliced the cable to the tester cord so the power is still running past the battery box, maybe that is why it didn't burn out instantly like the others did, and am assuming its still surviving because its getting less power from my pc than the wall plug. Also, I have no knowledge about any of this stuff so don't make fun of my ignorance, i know I sound like an idiot :(
If you would like to remove the battery box completely, you would still need the resistor. 5v is just to much for those little LEDs to handle. You can take your USB cord, attach the resistor to the positive wire(normally red), then connect the positive end of the LED string to the resistor, and the negative end of the LED string to the negative(normally black) wire of your USB cable. Usually the green and white wires in the USB cable are the data lines and will not be needed for this type of project.
@@theKunkelater Ok I'll try it, thank you! :)
@@theKunkelater What kind of resistor should I get? I see they have different kinds, ohms and other numbers on them.
I used a 1/4w 100ohm resistor.
USB works at 5v/500mA, if you don’t add resistor, the current led lights receive is just too much.
What resistor to add if it uses 2 AA batteries?
On my controller it looks like it might have a resister (one blue and one black stripe) will I still need to put one on?
So I have this "fairy lights" kind of led light strings. They are powered by 2 3v cr2032 button cell. They don't have any kind of pcb boards. They are just straight up power switch and battery contacts. I want to power them via usb, do I still need to put a resistor on it? If yes, how many ohms should I put? And which wire should I put it?
All depends if the 2 cr2032s are in parallel or series. If they are in series a boost converter maybe be needed to boost the 5v usb voltage to 6v or the lights may work on 5v just at lower brightness.
Way to much effort! But nicely done because who wants to use 100 packs of batteries lol. I never soldered in my life and omg o really want to buy a battery powered statue but convert it to plug power. Is soldering straight forward or takes long to learn
🎉
Thank you for this video 💙 and if my garland has 4.5v, I just need to properly solder the + and - to the USB?
I would love to switch multiples on all at once! This was the best instructional video I've seen!
How does one formulate strength of resistor?
Direct, Easy to follow.
I made three of those for my sister thanks man.... if it would be possible to show you on comment
Hello I need some help, new to this type of stuff and would like to solder together some lights please let me know if you can help me I can give u contact info
I’m trying to wire together several lights all take 3 aaa batteries but eat thru them like Halloween candy. Would like to wire them to a USB chord and string them together any help is awesome
Very good video, thank you. Your clamp is really great, I would like something more stable than the helping hands stand, what is it?
The clamp is a PanaVise 350 Multi-Purpose Work Center
Could you do this in reverse? How do you power a 5v, 2A heating pad from batteries?
Dude, I love the way you explain and get to point and teach!!! Im not to smart but I think I can do this!! Please post more!!! Also what was that thing (Recestor)you put into the Neg part ,, like how does that work??
Thanks for the video!
If I have a block of 2 batteries (3V total), how to cut voltage in this case? Thanks
Thanks man. Really nice job and well shot video.
Still managed to almost set mine alight :( I don't know what I did wrong
Thanks for posting this video
Brilliant!
nice, i need to do this now to my doom eternal collectors edition helmet wich has lights in it
Well done, and this is a good video to teach us DIY our device
Can I use the same resistor on any those kind of lights? Or do I have to do more research?
informative!
Wao
what resister did you use
Great info! Thanks!
Awesome video thank you!!
Would this work also for a led string that normally uses 2 AA batteries? Or do you need to use a resistor or something?
Yes, but since each battery is 1.5V at 1A, you just need to do a voltage divider with the resistors to bring it from 5V to 3V
Nice, very clear and hands on.
Hey man, I have this nice LED Mask that I wanna convert. It has two parts but also has a detatchable wire. Could I just strip the wire and solder it onto my USB cord or would I need a resistor for that too
I think that would depend on the controller for your lights. If you are removing the controller and connecting the lights directly to a 5v USB power source, then yes, you need a resister. If you are connecting the controller to a USB power source, you might not need the resister. It all depends on the controller. You can always try it with a resister first, if the lights are to dim, remove it. You will know if the LEDs are getting to much voltage :)
Hope that helps.
theKunkelater Thanks, I will try it
Thats a really nice camera quality, it helps alot for these small electronic videos so thank you. Also, this is a much cleaner way to do the same thing I was trying with a step down converter that kept overheating so thanks for that too. I am going to order some resistors now and give it a try on my EL light strips that have almost the exact setup as your lights.
I really enjoyed this video. Thanks
I'm about to order resistors online, do I get the 100 ohm 1/2w 0.5?
I used a 1/4w 100ohm resistor.
@@theKunkelater ok ty! :)
What is the calculation behind this?
5V can be drop to 4.5V by using 100ohm resistor
I just want to know so it is easier for me to lower my Volt next time
V=IR
First you need to measure how much current the circuit pulls from the batteries ( before conversion). Then using ohms law, you can work out the resister required and the power rating of that resistor. R = V/i. R = 0.5/i.
If R = 100 ohms the current draw would be 5 milliamps/0.02 watts (i = V/R). So the ampage seems a bit low to me.
Hi. Would a 5v power USB cable work with LED strips that require 4.5v? Is there a risk of overpowering it? I'm a noob so excuse my stupidness. Thanks.
I have the same problem and the resistor is getting very hot
I'm confused: why do you refer to yourself in the plural?
Super awesome!