AquaLight - Water Bottle Flashlight

Have you ever shined a flashlight around the house and noticed how beautiful it looks under a glass of water? Now you can capture that beauty in a water bottle of your choice! So, build your AquaLight today!

AquaLight is a portable flashlight you may use around the house to gently light up an entire room. It may also be converted to plug in to a wall outlet, and thus be used as either a low-powered lamp or beautiful night-light. The best part is, it's so cheap and easy that anyone can build it, so build yours TODAY!!

Step 1: Parts and Tools

Parts:

Cheap 3x AAA flashlight - $1 (Any dollar store should have one - it's preferable to have one with a tail, click switch rather than side, slide switch since the slide switches are usually mechanical in cheap ones and will be difficult to use.)

2' of Wire - Free (I used 22 guage)

High Powered LED - <$5 (This is an essential part of your AquaLight. Mine was from an $11 flashlight here of which I used the LED for this project and the flashlight case to house a high powered laser. I believe this might be just the LED inside, and higher powered ones may be found here, though some may require a circuit driver, so do your research.)

Water Bottle - <$1 (Brand is of course your choice.)

Alligator clip - <$1 (Optional - helps connect to negative case of flashlight.)

Tape - Free (I used clear tape so it's less visible. Or, you may use epoxy or SuperGlue for something more permanent. I do NOT recommend using hot glue since in my experiences, the LED's star heatsink may get hot enough to melt through the glue and detach from the bottle.) 

Paper - Free (Used to keep 3x AAA holder in place.)


Tools:

Soldering Iron w/ Solder

Comments

[vikolord]

like it, but ahm.. what's the utility? ._. just for fun? hehe :]

[Alexizupinhea]

Do you mean the purpose? Well I personally love the way water looks, especially when lit up brilliantly. The AquaLight disperses light enough to be used to situations where one wants to lit up an entire room a little bit, rather than a specific spot. It also does make a great night-light and I've used it for that purpose before. It is also so easy to make rather than other instrucables which may look amazing and I would personally love to build them, but don't have the time. And yes, of course it's fun :)

[vikolord]

nicee!!! :D that's an awesome answer ! :P

[swinfos]

Uh-oh I just saw your instructables linked to mine and they are almost exactly the same, I hope your not mad at me but it wont let me delete mine because it's in the flashlight contest too, I am so sorry.

[Alexizupinhea]

I see yours now, but it doesn't show up in the Flashlight Contest. Maybe it is still being reviewed by the contest holders. It is no problem though, if you wish to keep it it's fine. I like your idea as well. The AquaLight tries to conceal the LED and uses a higher-powered, white LED so that it shine's through brilliantly. Mine wasn't meant to look like a lamp, but to simply look like the AquaLight has an usual power within it. At first, friends ask, "Where is the light coming from?" It's hard to see it's under the bottle, and it overall adds to the effect. Hope you maybe build an AquaLight and post pictures :)

[L.A.C.I.E]

I just joined the site and this will be my first experemental project! Thanks for posting this! By the way, that is some cool scenery, with the glasses and all. Creative and simple, best way to go!

[Alexizupinhea]

Thanks for the kind words! And welcome to the site, I'm sure you'll find tons of fascinating projects. This one is a good beginner's if you've never soldered before. Hope you make one, and of course, post pictures when you're done! :)