Blue LED night lites from the Dollar Store

Andy · 2011-09-18T14:39:52+00:00

I recently bought some blue LED nite lights from our localDollar Store ( for $1 USD each ) and find that , while they don'tgive out as much light as the 5 or 7 watt nitelights I have beenusing, they are perfectly adequate for keeping me fromstumping my toe on the dresser on the way to thebathroom at 2 am...... They are advertised to draw only 0.4 watts ... That wouldmean if plugged in 24 hours a day, they would cost me only35 cents a year ( 10 cents per kwh ) . I kind of like that... So I took one apart and made a schematic. Thelimiting is done by a series capacitor.... I then fed thenetwork into a PSPICE simulator and checked out theclaim..... Truly, it uses only 0.4 watts of real power..... I went back and bought a sackfull..... If anyone else hasexperience with these items, please post your experience.... Sure, the light is weird ( kind of cool, actually ) and it isonly useful if you have been in a dark room for a few minutes,but that is nomally the case for our household..... Andy in Eureka, P.E.PS If anyone is interested, I can Email you the schematic.....

Sep 18, 2011 Last reply: 5 years ago 52 Replies

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Andy 14 years ago

Andy replies: Thanks for the website -- I'll bookmark it in my circuits folder..

The first circuit shown under AC Circuits is similar to the light I'm talking about, except a 470K resistor is added across the capacitor, apparently to make sure the circuit doesn't hold a charge to surprise someone when it is unplugged....

In a reply to krw@att today, I posted a nodelist. Very simple.

I really like your idea about adding a second LED to replace the reverse diode..... The units I have are simple to disassemble and modify, and I'll probably try it out ..

Andy in Eureka, Texas P.E.

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Hell Toupee 14 years ago

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I've got a showerhead that lights up the water in a stream of multi-colors. The (non-LED) lights are powered by the water running through the showerhead. It's fun.

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Jim Yanik 14 years ago

Hell Toupee wrote in news:j581cb$vod$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

heh,I was thinking these guys must like to change batteries,with all those LED lights in their fixtures;lots of little coin cells.

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willshak 14 years ago

Thanks, I have one near me. I'll have to check if they carry them.

Beer would be less than a dollar if they sold it by the can. :-)

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Andy 14 years ago

Andy comments:

Wow !! That link has a pix of a really cool faucet ..

What's next, ... a bidet that shoots three streams of different colors....----- a rainbow of cleanliness,.... a caucophony of toilet potpourri....?????. If it ever gets to the Dollar Tree, I'll buy one !!!

Andy in Eureka, Texas

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Han 14 years ago

Andy wrote in news:40e369d3-8cfc-454a-b766- snipped-for-privacy@24g2000yqr.googlegroups.com:

Aiming is too much trouble. Sitting is more relaxing. Damn prostate ...

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Mike 14 years ago

I have taken to sitting down for the 2 am potty run. I have always left the light off for this event. Give it a try.

Mike

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krw 14 years ago

I'll have to draw it out later. No sharp sticks on this beach. ;-)

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GranmaBillie 11 years ago

I really like these nite lights. I'm going to look at the Dollar Store and see if I can find some more. They are great for all over the house.

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mike 11 years ago

Put a big fast-rise power glitch into your simulation to see why all LED's don't just use series caps for limiting.

A few years ago, the $-store had nightlights with R-G-B leds that summed to white...sorta...

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Ed Pawlowski 11 years ago

They are good, but, you may want to consider buying a $10 emergency night light. There are some LED night lights that are also a rechargeable flashlight. If the power goes out, the bright light goes on to light the way and is then able to be used as a carry around flashlight. I have one on each floor and they are very handy when the power goes out at night.

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Jerry.Tan 11 years ago

I'd be interested in a few of these lights, but which dollar store? There are many of them....

In my area we have Dollar General - Dollar Tree - Family Dollar and there's at least two more in a nearby larger city.

Please name the store!

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Chef4church 5 years ago

I see it's been years since anyone has replied to you. Our Intermatic note lite model #GN141P, finally expired, after 30+years of service. Don't remember what we paid for it, whatever it was, it was WORTH IT! ❤

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