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I love to read in bed.
This is one of the true pleasures in my life, and I begin and end every day doing it. One day, I was reading an article about living off-the-grid, which seemed like a neat idea, but also a real stretch for a production home suburbanite like myself. But then the author suggested taking just one room off the grid, as a small start, a way to act, a way to learn.
I realized that the bedroom was the best candidate here. We plug in only an alarm clock and a reading lamp in here. What's more, I frequently fall asleep while reading, shutting the lamp off only the next morning.
I first tried a battery-operated book light, but was underwhelmed. It kept getting in the way and the light fell inconsistently on the page. Call me crazy (and I'm sure you will) but the best place for a reading lamp is about a foot up and over your left or right shoulder.
My next attempt was tape-mounting a wind-up flashlight up and above my right shoulder, but it was a graceless attempt and prone to falling. Also, you had to un-tape the flashlight to wind it up. I'm not even going to repeat here what my wife said when she saw it.
So I decided to combine the two ideas - wind-up power with a headboard mounted reading light. A form factor change that uses zero electricity from the grid (and in Ohio, our electricity is still, inexplicably, coal-fired) and had the added benefit of shutting itself off after 30 minutes or so.
This instructable is how I built my wind-up headboard reading lamp. Be forewarned: I'm not an engineer, nor a designer. I'm not even particularly handy. I'm just a guy in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio who wants to do right by the Earth and still read in bed every night.
This is one of the true pleasures in my life, and I begin and end every day doing it. One day, I was reading an article about living off-the-grid, which seemed like a neat idea, but also a real stretch for a production home suburbanite like myself. But then the author suggested taking just one room off the grid, as a small start, a way to act, a way to learn.
I realized that the bedroom was the best candidate here. We plug in only an alarm clock and a reading lamp in here. What's more, I frequently fall asleep while reading, shutting the lamp off only the next morning.
I first tried a battery-operated book light, but was underwhelmed. It kept getting in the way and the light fell inconsistently on the page. Call me crazy (and I'm sure you will) but the best place for a reading lamp is about a foot up and over your left or right shoulder.
My next attempt was tape-mounting a wind-up flashlight up and above my right shoulder, but it was a graceless attempt and prone to falling. Also, you had to un-tape the flashlight to wind it up. I'm not even going to repeat here what my wife said when she saw it.
So I decided to combine the two ideas - wind-up power with a headboard mounted reading light. A form factor change that uses zero electricity from the grid (and in Ohio, our electricity is still, inexplicably, coal-fired) and had the added benefit of shutting itself off after 30 minutes or so.
This instructable is how I built my wind-up headboard reading lamp. Be forewarned: I'm not an engineer, nor a designer. I'm not even particularly handy. I'm just a guy in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio who wants to do right by the Earth and still read in bed every night.
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Now, this project is conceptual - meaning your implementation can be very flexible. I strove to buy nothing new for this project, but instead use things I had in the house. (I ended up buying some Superglue to finish the job, but that was it.)
In any case, these are the tools that I used, but ultimately this will depend on your design, or the lamp form factor you are going for.
The two most important pieces for me were the power supply and the donor lamp.
The power supply was a wind-up flashlight that I had bought a year and a half ago. It generally gives of 20-30 minutes of strong light on a one-minute wind.
The donor lamp was a USB keyboard light I bought three months ago at Target for $2 before realizing that I couldn't imagine a scenario in my life in which this thing would come in handy.
In any case, these are the tools that I used, but ultimately this will depend on your design, or the lamp form factor you are going for.
The two most important pieces for me were the power supply and the donor lamp.
The power supply was a wind-up flashlight that I had bought a year and a half ago. It generally gives of 20-30 minutes of strong light on a one-minute wind.
The donor lamp was a USB keyboard light I bought three months ago at Target for $2 before realizing that I couldn't imagine a scenario in my life in which this thing would come in handy.
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No need. You can buy "warm white" LEDs. E.g.: have a look at this
Digikey search.
Too good, in fact. You'll be able to run the light all night long. Yeah. That problem again. However, it's free and green. Alternatively, the extra capacity allows you to add more LEDs (doubling and tripling in parallel). In the end, you'll likely need to get a simple timer to act as a circuit interrupter. It has the added advantage that you can set the power on time duration.
This is a rather nice idea in comparison. Being self timed (of course, a bit limiting there, but it eliminates the need for a "timer" circuit) is a plus.