These little PCB lights that plug directly into a USB port have really crashed in price since they first became available. It appears they are manufactured on large grooved panels that are then snapped apart as needed.
Here's a link to the listing I bought these from:-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271866481964
Here's a link to the listing I bought these from:-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271866481964
I've still got some.
One lives in the bathroom in a cheapy USB supply for showering in the early hours
I'm thinking about doing a batch of little lights like this for PCB design practice and ordering them in pretty purple boards from JLCPCB — and then I can give them away as cheap gifts!
Nice
I've got a few, they're good for checking if a usb socket is bad
Where can I get some to buy
I was looking for something like this video. I got plastic cased 3 LED USB light devices on Amazon. I was particularly interested in the current for each LED. The device has 3 LED (3mm x 5mm), 3 resistors (20 ohm) pulls 5VDC and 280 mA (I got a USB tester because of your videos). Looks like each LED is getting about 33 mA. I plugged it in and let it run and noticed that it did start to warm up not hot (I did not run it very long) for I wondered if the plastic casing would interfere with heat dissipation. I may get some of these uncased ones as well to play with. Thanks.
Clive, I picked up a second TI 84 Plus CE the other day from a local Goodwill, for a dollar or two. I am going to send it to you, so you can stop using that maths solver that I see in this video.
So I just won 2 auctions on ebay and I believe the items are your cup of tea and i'm curious how they would work with the design they are using..
They are DC 5V 16LED Micro USB powered lights and the other has 12LED's. The 16LED one seems to have 2 Resistors? for every 4 LED's, and the 12LED also has 2 resistors for every 4 LED's.
I looked them up and they appear to be slab resistors? its weird that they're being powered by Micro USB though instead of a direct USB connection on a power bank or something.
One flaw I noticed with the ones I got is that they didn't remove the copper coating from the other end where the hole is and it is conductive, so if you were to plug it in backwards it would just short out the port. It definitely goes in far enough and I doubt the LEDs would stop it from going further anyway, it even has the copper on the other side even though the USB part is single sided. So definitely need to make sure it's the right way in the dark or just cover/get rid of the copper on the other end
Still they're very handy and I'm going to keep using one as a night light as I don't have a proper one
lol
the groove goes by many names. A popular name is V-cut.
It is done as one of the lasts steps in PCB manufacturing with a spinning disc. It can only have straight edge.
Using this method many small PCB's (called a panel) can be manufactured in 1 go saving time and costs.
Breaking the PCB's by hand is not recommended (professionally) as they give a bending force on the PCB. potentially breaking the solder joints.
Machines for cutting V-cuts are used in the industry. Most of them are expensive. Quality machines go from €2000 for a manual to €8000 for a motorized.
A second way to make a panel is by break-off pips. The small PCB is milled all the way except for a few places where it is still attached. Also this can be removed with a machine. The advantage of break-off pips is that you can use any shape you want. But it is more labor intensive to remove.
I want these so bad…
Annndddd they dont deliver where i live
The new ones are dimmable with an off function without removing the PCB. Excellent night/emergency lights.