Project: How to make a “light accessory” for old 9.6v RC pack (pictures!)

[Cydonia]

Let's make a "light accessory" for an old 9.6volt Ni-Cd battery pack. A simple tough light - consisting of nothing more than some wire, a resistor, and a single 5mm Nichia CS LED. A really dumb simple light that simply works.

Parts list:

• Male Tamiya RC pack connector - $0.75
• 67 ohm ½ watt resistor (close enough, on hand, so it will do
• 30 inches of 2 conductor 16AWG wire (simply to match the RC pack connector gauge)
• wire crimp connectors
• 3" opaque piece of plastic tube from a roll of dental floss!
• 9.6 volt RC battery pack and charger

I filled as much of the plastic tube with epoxy as possible. Should be pretty solid Anyway, this simple "LED on a wire" light puts out oodles of useful light. And I found a use for the old RC pack too. Are there any off the shelf LED lights that can utilize the millions of RC packs out there? Seems like an interesting market niche to me...

Effects of overdriving quality LED's? Read this lengthy article by newbie.

Parts ready to go:

LED and resistor with wire leads trimmed to length and ready to solder:

Sand leads of resistor with fine sandpaper and apply coat of solder to leads:

Same preparation with LED:

LED and resistor attached:

RC connector connected to wire with simple crimp connectors:

LED with resistor and solder connections slide into tube:

Nichia CS overdriven hard at about 85ma - slowly warms up, but the 16AWG wire helpes wick away heat.
Who cares how long the LED will last or if it turns blue :nana:

 

[Jarl]

Nice! I have a 9.6V battery pack doing absolutely nothing, I may use it for this.

 

[ICUDoc]

Runtime = shelf life?!?!?!?!?!