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Electric Candle
by Tool Using Animal on October 3, 2008 Table of Contents intro: Electric Candle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 1: The polarity problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 2: Attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 3: Voltage drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 4: The LED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 5: Finally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Make Magazine Special Offer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 5

http://www.instructables.com/id/Electric_Candle/

intro: Electric Candle

Where I live, we frequently go without power 3-8 hours at a time. It can get annoying and expensive running down batteries for light and burning candles is simply a bad idea. Rummaging through Instructables I found MooseTooths project, and though I liked it, it seemed the efficiency could be greatly improved with an LED replacement, but who wants to struggle with getting the polarity of an LED right in the dark? We'll take care of that.

step 1: The polarity problem

The problem of polarity was solved by building a bridge rectifier. We usually think of rectifiers in the sense of converting AC to DC, but they can also be used if the polarity of the source is unknown. I already had one assembled from an old project ,however the wikipedia page contains more than sufficient information in this case. One source of diodes, indeed the source I used is CFL's, instructions for disassembly have been posted by Westfw.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Electric_Candle/

step 2: Attachments
The springclips on a lantern battery can be frustrating to attach things to. I decided alligator clips were the best solution. They are imply soldered onto the inputs of the diode bridge and bent to fit the battery.

step 3: Voltage drop

If you want to be accurate at this point, you can measure the voltage drop caused by the bridge to accurately compute the resistor you will need. I didn't and simply put two 68 ohms in parallel to get 34 ohms.

step 4: The LED

I have these lovely little 10 mm LEDs from Alan Parekh, which are very bright, but I didn't just want a spot on the ceiling so following guyfrom7up's instructions I diffused the LED.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Electric_Candle/

step 5: Finally
I attached the LED resistor combo to the bridge, remember, here polarity matters. Now we have a circuit that we can clip onto the battery, in the dark without regard for the polarity and that will provide somewhere between 10-15 days of light.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Electric_Candle/

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Comments
17 comments Add Comment

Lance Mt. says:

Im sorry but isn't this more of a say.. "LED" then a candle? Regardless -Cheers, Chris

Feb 16, 2009. 9:43 PM REPLY

Justdoofus says:

Jan 22, 2009. 10:40 PM REPLY Wonderful, I bet that'd last maybe a week or two, Or maybe even more than that, considering how much energy a tiny little LED Bulb uses.

Gadre says:
Good project!

Dec 2, 2008. 6:09 PM REPLY

Another variation could be to build the bridge rectifier itself using LEDs. The input of the bridge rectifier could have a couple of current limiting resistors. Ofcourse it would end up using 4 LEDs instead of 4 diodes and a LED.

junits15 says:
i like the rectifier, i didn't know they could be used for that. im going to use them in alot of projects.

Nov 11, 2008. 11:46 AM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Electric_Candle/

wirecutter says:

Oct 19, 2008. 4:03 AM REPLY A Nifty and quick method but if you use a second LED diode reversed across the first you will have light whatever the connection, and as you have done away with 2 lots of voltage drops you can use the last dregs from the cells. Also if ever the first LED 'turns up its clogs' just swap over the connections and you have light again!

chuckr44 says:

Oct 6, 2008. 8:39 AM REPLY Good idea. But I can't think of a more expensive battery to clip this to. I use 9 volt batteries from the dollar store. Do they even sell these monster 6v batteries anymore?

Tool Using Animal says:

Just a little math 9 volts are 2 for $1, Lantern Batteries are $7. capacity of a 9 volt is about 250 mah, capacity of a lantern battery is about 10000 mah......

Oct 6, 2008. 10:29 AM REPLY

acaz93 says:
You are lieing (is it that right ?) in McAllen TX they are 2 4 battery packages for 1 dollar

Oct 15, 2008. 5:32 PM REPLY

Tool Using Animal says:

I don't live in McAllen Texas. And even at that price point the lantern battery is still cheaper.

Oct 15, 2008. 6:07 PM REPLY

acaz93 says:
ok , though . (2000 mah for one dollar)

Oct 15, 2008. 7:07 PM REPLY

Personman says:
Alkaline 9v batteries are 595 mAh An Alkaline 6v lantern battery is 26,000 and 52,000 mAh depending. This information is from the third edition Pocket Ref. And yes they still sell lantern batteries :).

Oct 10, 2008. 1:42 PM REPLY

Tool Using Animal says:

So lantern batteries still come out WAY ahead cost wise.

Oct 10, 2008. 4:05 PM REPLY

chrisla says:

Oct 3, 2008. 11:54 AM REPLY Why bother with the rectifier? If you hook up the LED backwards you will have no light, but it won't be damaged. It would seem "no light" would be a pretty good indication of reverse polarity. Something tactile like a piece of tape on the ground side clip would also seem to be a simple solution. Otherwise nifty!

Scott_Tx says:
It might help drop the voltage to the led a bit also?

Oct 3, 2008. 1:00 PM REPLY

Tool Using Animal says:

It does, and really,why not use a rectifier? BTW I love that book. ;-)

Oct 3, 2008. 1:07 PM REPLY

Scott_Tx says:
I wondered if anyone ever knew what that was :P Maybe one day I'll put up my lantern. It uses 4 AAs, a 3 watt cree q5 and an 800ma current regulator.

Oct 3, 2008. 2:35 PM REPLY

Rob K says:
I was trying to figure out why you did a bridge rectifier but you said it. "clip onto the battery, in the dark without regard for the polarity"

Oct 3, 2008. 11:32 AM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Electric_Candle/