Energy-Saving Light

In the spirit of Earth Day, I have created a revolutionary new energy-saving lighting solution that is only ever on when your eyes are open. This is remarkably more efficient than normal lighting that remains on, even when your eyes are shut. Using my device, you get light when you need it, and darkness when you don't. This is not only beneficial to you and your energy bill, but great for mother Earth.

This device was made as part of my ongoing effort to use less energy, reduce my footprint, and prevent climate change. I foresee similar technologies being implemented in televisions, computers, and electric cars. I am confident that future generations will thank me for this innovation.

Step 1: Go get stuff

You will need:

(x1) 8" x 6" x 3" project enclosure
(x1) 3" x 2" x 1" project enclosure
(x3) AC power sockets
(x1) SmartFan AC-VX fan controller
(x1) Arduino
(x1) Arduino project board
(x2) 1/4" stereo sockets
(x1) 4-pin female header socket
(x2) 9V battery connectors
(x2) 9V battery clips
(x2) 9V batteries
(x1) EMG sensor board
(x1) set of electrode cables
(x3) adhesive electrodes
(x1) cable stress gland
(x1) European terminal strip
(x1) AC lamp cord (with plug)
(x1) 1/4" male-to-male stereo cable
(x10) 6-32 x 1" nuts and bolts
(x8) 4-40 x 1" nuts and bolts
(x2) 4-40 x 1/4" nuts and bolts
(x1) spool of 14AWG stranded wire
(x1) acrylic front panel (from attached template)
(x1) acrylic mounting base (from attached template)

Comments

[carfur]

Nice work ! But I remember a long time ago MythBusters were working on the on/off light when leaving the room and they discovered that incandescent lightbulbs use more power when they are turned on.If you really want to "save" energy i think you should use LED's.But the good part of you i'ble is that it can be used with whatever lightsource we want.except neon because that will suck :))

[bircoe]

Mythbusters didn't discover that... it's called inrush current and it's been a well known fact for a very long time... probably since the light bulb was invented.

[mgalyean]

Thanks for that comment bircoe. I wish more folks would spend more time reflecting on the depth of history, giving credit where credit is due. The universe didn't spring into being with Hollywood, TV, and the Internet as its progenitors. To the contrary! ;^)

[Soarak]

There is always a slight increase in current at the initialization of any electronic circuit. It has to do with the principals of electronics and the requirement of additional power to be applied to the circuit to achieve stable current flow. Additionally, with the introduction of semi-conductors there is a requirement of increased initial current, or a surplus of electrons, as the potential difference from the source surpasses the barrier potential in the depletion region. There are no excess electrons present in this zone and it essentially acts as a good insulator, believe it or not. There are quite a few more aspects that influence the current consumption in a circuit, many of them being as simple as the biasing of the semi-conductors in use or even the temperature of the components and the air surrounding them. I'm gonna stop rambling now because this is getting out of hand but your essentially bang on with your assessment. =)

[bircoe]

Or more simply put the resistance of the filament is lower when the globe is cold, causing the current to be higher, as the filament heats up the resistance increases.

Using ohms law you can calculate the inrush current, so for example a 120v 40w globe should have a typical resistance of 360ohms which equals .33 amps, when the filament is cold the resistance might be as low as 100ohms (or lower) which equals ~1.2 amps, 1.2amps at 120volt is 144watts... so the inrush current of a 40w globe is over 140w, thankfully this only lasts for 10-15ms however it still makes switching incandescent globes off and on incredibly inefficient, you may as well leave it on.

[Soarak]

Exactly, I'm preaching to the choir here so I'm just going to shut up. =)

[carfur]

Anyway,the idea is good but not for this project.

[carfur]

Thx for the info.I didn't know that,but also I'm not a big fan of the ordinary light bulb.And I agree with your proposal of using a LED lightsource to save energy.

[JensonBut]

I'm rating most of your i'bles 5! Awesome stuff, affordable and compact.

[DividersMaker]

OMG Thank you so much!

[waterlubber]

How about reversing it, and adding a slight delay, so when you open your eyes, you see the light go off.

[waterlubber]

The energy draw of the Arduino will counteract the savings

[webs007]

Hi,

I have a project that you might be able to help with.

Ive got to beat another 3 teams in producing something that allows a human to take a reaction test and react the quickest.

I know one team have looked into peoples ages etc ad have a fast button that someone will press. Surely there must be a device I could produce which takes a human blink to win the test ? or capture anther muscle movement ? Would that work ? would t be quicker ? anyone know any states or what I could do ? any help would be great.

Cheers
-Alan

[blinkyblinky]

How do you get the code to scroll like it does? It would be very useful if I knew...

Question: Don't you wreck fluorescent lights if you turn them on and off constantly?

[randofo]

I'll PM you with the HTML code

[blinkyblinky]

Sorry for my ignorance but, how do you use it?

[randofo]

When looking at the rich editor (i.e. Instructables text editor), click the Source" button, copy and past the code in, and remove the extra characters (I had to stick them in to prevent the PM from reading it as HTML). Click the "Source" button again and you should be good to go. Let me know how that works out.

[Bot1398]

Me too please!

[MagicalToasterz]

Lol, clever!
Do you actually notice when you open your eyes that the light is still turning on, or does it actually look like its been on the whole time?

[randofo]

You see it a little, but its hard to tell.

[MagicalToasterz]

Cool! =)
Gotta start on this..

[iceng]

So...... I would like to understand how the opening 7.6 gig Gif is done.

Like the project very much great EMG application.

BTW the EMG kit is NO longer available.  Replaced by a $44 smd part.

A

[lloydrmc]

Well, yes, except that they publish the schematic, and even have a very detailed 'able on the subject: http://www.instructables.com/id/Muscle-EMG-Sensor-for-a-Microcontroller/

[randofo]

I make a video and then export it from Quicktime Pro as an image sequence. I then have an app called GIFfun which stitches the image sequence back together as a gif. Many video editing apps should be able to do this though.

[AntzyP]

Hi! I'm from the future and I thank thee...

[Lindie]

Interesting, funny and bright (at times)! good one!

[Eirinn]

While it probably wont outperform motion sensing it is still a fun project. Nice job on the EMG's.

[agittins]

All my lights already go out when I close my eyes, but I guess if yours don't then this could be useful.

[Jayefuu]

Ha ha nice. Love the gif, it totally makes the Instructable.

[Jayefuu]

PS I hope people understand it's a joke. Queue ranters:

[randofo]

Shhhh....!

[Jayefuu]

Congrats on getting on Treehugger and Dvice. The commenters there didn't. :p

[canucksgirl]

Love it... They should use this in classrooms to monitor when kids nod off. :)

[Ilija Miljkovac]

i dont know how to tell you but this instructable is a piece of greatness if i have enough money i will do this for sure

[Collin Amedee]

Very great idea, this is exactly what i needed to make me finally buy one of those boards from Advancer Tech.

[igor2999]

Good idea

[rimar2000]

MASTER!

Maybe one day its use will be mandatory!

[lemonie]

It would be possible to use eyeball tracking, but how difficult would it be?

L

[randofo]

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-EyeWriter-20/

[lemonie]

Ah, yes that was what I'd got in the back of my mind, thanks.

L