A night light in the shape of a moon is very original, beautiful and unusual. The effect this lamp produces is simply mesmerizing.
Materials for the night light
For the moon night lantern you will need:
- Transistor TIP31 - aliexpress
- Transistor TIP42 - aliexpress
- Photocell - aliexpress
- 1 M resistor - aliexpress
- Resistor 10K - aliexpress
- Power supply 12V - aliexpress
- White LED strip - aliexpress
- Bread board - aliexpress
- Sheet with printed moon.
- Wooden circle 21 cm.
- Wooden oval with the letter “O” 15 cm.
- Wires.
- Clothes Velcro.
Transistor night light circuit
In this circuit, I used two transistors to turn the LED strip on and off. The first transistor reacts to changes in light and triggers the second transistor, which responds by turning the LED strip on and off.
This is a compound transistor of two, only turned on in such a way as to provide better amplification of the electrical signal from the photosensor.
A 1M resistor can be used to adjust the sensitivity and threshold of the backlight.
Manufacturing
First you need to prepare everything in advance. Cut a circle out of plywood, cut out the base in the shape of the letter “O”, print out a drawing of the moon. If everything is ready, let's start.
First of all, we drill two holes in the base: on one side, on the top - for mounting the lamp on the wall and on the bottom - in order to pass the wire.
Then, glue the base to the plywood circle with PVA wood glue. Surfaces must be clean and smooth, otherwise it may not stick well. The design is not complicated.
Leave for a short time until everything is dry. Once everything has dried along the oval, measure out the LED strip. We cut off the excess in the place where it is indicated, otherwise not all LEDs will burn.
Solder the wires to the LED strip.
Glue the moon drawing to the circle. We glue it carefully and iron it. We bend the edges and form a skirt. Let's wait until the glue dries.
Drill a hole for the photocell. It is advisable to choose the place where this hole will be combined with the moon pattern.
Remove the protective layer from the LED strip and glue the strip along the oval. We pass the wires into the hole from below.
We pass the power wires from the source into the same hole.
We secure it with a nylon tie to prevent it from flying out.
We assemble the circuit on a breadboard.
How transistors are connected.
We solder the wires to the photodiode and insulate them with heat shrink tubing.
Solder the power wires to the board.
I attached the board with the circuit to clothing Velcro so that it could be removed at any time.
We insert the photosensor into the hole and fill it with hot terminals.
Our lunar night light is ready. We hang it on the wall and check it.
It turned out very beautiful and creative. The power supply is switching, in idle mode, when the lamp is not turned off, it consumes practically no energy, so you don’t have to worry about it.
Original article in English
