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

Cydonia

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
958
Location
Vancouver BC
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:

9.6V_01.jpg


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

9.6V_02.jpg


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

9.6V_03.jpg


Same preparation with LED:

9.6V_04.jpg


LED and resistor attached:

9.6V_06.jpg


RC connector connected to wire with simple crimp connectors:

9.6V_07.jpg


LED with resistor and solder connections slide into tube:

9.6V_09.jpg


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:

9.6V_010.jpg
 

Jarl

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Messages
1,745
Location
Southern UK
Nice! I have a 9.6V battery pack doing absolutely nothing, I may use it for this.
 
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