The Smallest USB LED

Here is the smallest USB LED you've probably ever seen! It uses a USB plug made with a piece of perfboard, so you should already have everything needed to make this. No cutting up USB cables here!

This kind of homemade USB plug could also be used for other things, like repairing USB cables.

Step 1 Supplies

All you need for this project is:

A Soldering Iron
150-200 Grit Sandpaper
1k Resistor
Blue LED (Other colors will work just fine, too)
Small Piece of Perfboard
X-Acto Knife

I used a 1k resistor because I just wanted a nice looking light, not a blinding one. ;P Feel free to use a different value if you choose.

Comments

[petalee]

This is really cool, I'd like to try this out sometime :)

[firesail]

nice one..

[Orkekum]

what about using micro sized leds?
you'd be unable to remove it, if you don't attack a string <.<

[woodstockbirdy]

first thing: where do u plug it in the computer? second: which is the positive end on an led the long end or the short end

[1up]

You plug it into a USB port. The longer leg is positive, or the anode.

[woodstockbirdy]

Does it work for mac???

[1up]

Yes, of course. ;)

[dombeef]

Though you have to install the software first.

[woodstockbirdy]

Where can you buy the Perfboard????

[1up]

RadioShack, or online.

[jakebaldwin]

..... LOL.

Just sayin'.

[woodstockbirdy]

???

[day-veed]

Awesome ibble'! I really like this concept. I made one with the resistor in reverse
(i.e. on the left, not on the right) and it still works great. The 1k ohm resistor makes it a little dim though. I might use an 18 ohm resistor (cos' a lot of other ibbles' use em').

[mettaurlover]

[manoaguy]

i made smaller with same idea but with surface mounted parts including the led

[godofal]

look at mine :) i made them with RGB leds so they change colors :)

[Jodex]

Cool! Too bad that there's no RGB LEDs with a built in oscillator in my local electronics store..=(

[beehard44]

you stuffed all LEDS in this hub?!?!? hehehe! imagine if you connect 50 USB ports in parallel via polarity and make 50 of these!!!!! Radioactive PC!!! LOL

[godofal]

lol, that wont happen, this HUB has an extra power suply so you always get enough ampere ;) but i made something like this, 3 RGB leds, 3 resistors a small length of USB wire and a home-made USB connector. filled a small piece of plastic with hot glue and that really makes it pretty, il upload a video soon! its the same principle, but on a small piece of protoboard.

[stephenniall]

Wow The usb making aspect of this ible has helped me alot Thank you

[stephenniall]

Ps it helps to repair Old wifi dongles etc so ty i will try make a ible sometime

[james.mcglashan]

nice i like the cheep lighting lol

[godofal]

btw, awesome guide! p.s. they really gotta make a "edit" button

[james.mcglashan]

i wish they would we can edit everything else pity i have deleted so many posts and redone them lol

[1up]

Those look really cool. And that's a lot! :D

[amakerguy]

sweet! where would I get the resistor?

[beehard44]

Rip your computer apart (what about the lights????) Get them from old electronics. Do not mistake diodes or inductors for them coz they look about the same. My encyclopedia mistook them.

[1up]

From RadioShack, or you can fin d one in old electronics.

[GorillazMiko]

How come in the 1^st image and 2^nd to last image, the resistor shows brown, black, red, gold OR gold, red, black, brown... I can't really tell, but in step 1, your yellow note over the resistor says color code: Brown, Black, Red?

Do you know how you can figure out which way it goes?

Like lets say there are colors WXYZ.

The resistor is eithe WXYZ or ZYXW, how can you tell?

(In the image, is this the resistor you're using?)

[Gamernotnerd]

Metallic colors always go last, like gold, or silver.

[kill-a-watt]

if you are asking, no the polarity of the resister does not matter.

no, it does not matter if the resister comes first or the LED

and you read resisters from the band that's closest to the end toward the gold ban (sometimes silver or wide-stripe brown)

these are brown, black, orange, gold = 10 K ohms with a ±5% tolerance

[brandon20904]

It doesn't matter witch color first, but they do have to go on positive.

[emuman4evr]

Why do they go on positive, Ive never figured this out, if electrons flow from negative to positive wouldn't it make sense for them to go on the negative?

[1up]

... Don't they flow from positive to negative? And it actually doesn't matter if the resistor goes on the positive or the negative terminal.

[emuman4evr]

I read in one of my dad's electrician books that it was believed that electricity flowed from positive to negative but then proven it actually flowed from negative to positive. So it doesn't matter?

[1up]

Well, a quick Google search confirmed that you are technically right. Electrons are negatively charged, therefore they have a tendency to flow towards the positive end of the power supply.

But, in electronics, it is said that they flow from positive to negative, so as not to be confusing.

And again, it does not matter if the resistor is hooked up to the positive side or the negative side.

[Berserk87]

this is what you guys are talking about.<br/><br/><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rkm.com.au/ANIMATIONS/animation-graphics/circuit-diagram.jpg">http://www.rkm.com.au/ANIMATIONS/animation-graphics/circuit-diagram.jpg</a><br/><br/>Conventional Flow, and Electron Flow.<br/>

[1up]

Ah, yes, perfect. Thanks for the diagram.

[dark sponge]

The gold band comes last, and is there on almost all resistors. The first three bands give the resistance and the last band (gold) gives the tolerance. The resistor he is using in this instructable is Brown-Black-Red. The resistor in your picture is not the right type, you need a 1k resistor (Brown-Black-Red) and yours is a 10k resistor (Brown-Black-Orange).

[GorillazMiko]

Oh okay, so gold is always last? That's how you can figure out which order it is?

Thanks, that helps a lot!!! :-)