Trash can (or other sweet box) usb light

An absolutely 'rubbish' way of lighting your desk or showing off at LAN parties



UPDATE: For a crucial safety update and time saver head to Step 6

Step 1: The shopping list

For this project you need:
>>1 USB wire, doesn't matter what kind as long as at least one end is standard USB A (look below)
>>1 3-5v LED
>>A sweets tin, in this case a small box from some garbage shaped sweets.
>> OPTIONAL: If your box or case has any plastic that is dark in colopur it will absorb the light more, if you cover this plastic on the inside of your box or case ((in this case at the top of the box there is a bit of dark plastic on the lid)) with a layer of tin foil, shiny side facing the light source, then your box will be better lit.

Also to ease the job along you should consider:
>>A standard pair of wire clippers
>>A handheld drill
>>Some blu-tac

Comments

[Mr.Cire]

I tried this and my computer made a really high pitched noise, is there any thing i can do about that? The LED lit up though.

[bwilkinson3]

Run Like HELL!!!!

[Evil_Computer_Wizard]

dollar tree cables suck they dont even carry current very well!

[lifelong-newbie]

i have heard this going round and so just stay away from dollar tree anything, this particular cable used in this instructable is just one i had hanging about, cant remember brand

[Darkshot]

awwwsome :) ima try this when i get a usb cable from the dolla tree

[killerjackalope]

there is a way to know which leg is which in LED's, the longer leg is positive and if they've been cut the negative leg will always have a flat edge on the bottom of the LED on it's side

[Fenwick]

If you added some tinfoil under the black part on top, the rest could light up brighter. The light would reflect off the tinfoil and diffuse into the rest of the box, instead of being wasted on the black plastic.

[lifelong-newbie]

Thats a good suggestion, the revised version of this project does have tinfoil on it. Cheers

[tykenfitz]

Cool i did it with a cd cake box. also to use it w/o a resistor just use two in a series circuit.

[tykenfitz]

dude i blew like 10 leds doing this until i figured out i needed a resistor thx for that update but would a 390 ohm resisitor be the right one?

[lil devils x]

lol! that's hawt!

[Dr.Help]

Awesome you can use it as a trash can at night when you have a small snack and you can see were it is lol. P.S. I love Gta Lol

[Aeshir]

I likeee!