How to Make a Quick Cheap LED Flashlight With a Stick of Deodorant!

Intro: How to Make a Quick Cheap LED Flashlight With a Stick of Deodorant!

In this Instructable, I will show you how to make a coll quick, and cheap LED flashlight out of a stick of deodorant! (and a few other parts)

STEP 1: Collect the Parts!

You will need:

Parts:

1: 5mm LED's (1-6)

2: 330 Ohm resistors (one for each LED)

3: 9 volt battery (1)

4: 9 volt battery adapter (1)

5: a switch (optional)

6: a project enclosure (I used an old deodorant case)


Tools:

1: a soldering iron

2: solder

3: a drill (or anything else that will make a 5mm hole in your project enclosure)

4: your hands

(Sorry, the picture is really blurry)

STEP 2: Deodorize!

Use the deodorant!

STEP 3: Decorate!

Remove the label, and decorate your enclosure as you like!
I just left mine black, because I thought that it looked best like that.

STEP 4: Connect!

I connected the LED's in parallel, so that I could not accidentally burn out all of them at once.

Solder all of the negative leads on your LED's together.

(the negative lead will be shorter)

STEP 5: Resistance!

Now, solder a resistor to each positive lead of the LED's

Then, solder all of the resistors together, above the actual resistor!

STEP 6:

(Sorry, the picture is really blurry)

Now, solder the negative(black) wire from the battery adapter to one of the negative LED leads.

Next, I connected the positive(red) wire from the battery adapter to one of the resistors through a flip switch, but you can use anything to connect them, you could even connect it directly, but the LED's would burn out pretty quickly...

STEP 7: Drill!

Next, drill one 5mm hole for each of your LED's on your project enclosure.

I put one hole in the side of mine for the switch.

STEP 8: Put It All Thogether!

Now, insert your LED's into the hole that you drilled in the project enclosure.

I put the switch in the hole that I drilled for it.

now close, put the lid on, or seal your enclosure.

YOU'RE FINISHED!!!

Comments

[DavidKaine]

Don't the entire bottoms of the axe deodorants twist to push the product up? I could think of a few ways you could use it as the switch for the light

[jbv6]

That's a good idea, I'll try that!

[DavidKaine]

I can think of a few ways to do it right off the top of my head, I'd have to have one of those particular deodorant sticks in front of me to really figure it out. Let me know how it goes!

[jbv6]

Ok, I tried your idea, and made one way to do it. I put one connection on each part of the twist thing, so that when you have it turned one way, its off, and when you spin it 180 degrees, it turns on.

[stratos13pao]

do you get the pic with a web cam

[jbv6]

yes, sadly. I made this the same day that i uploaded the instructable, and i was being a little lazy and just snapped a few pictures with my webcam

[anafam]

step 2 , that is just plain nasty

[finnrambo]

I agree.

[jbv6]

haha, thats about what i was shooting for there

[masterochicken]

I like. 5 star.

[fllynt]

This is very cool!

[allegfede]

try to make a powerfull dive light that will burn for 2 hours ... and you would notice that PWM current modulation is the only choice to get every electron from your battery pack :D

[cyrozap]

Better Idea: No resistors, just connect the LED's to the 9V directly, wired IN SERIES.

[jbv6]

The reason that I connected them in parallel was because in my last project (which used over one hundred LED's) , I did connect them in parallel and I accidentally touched the positive 9v battery lead to the LED's and burnt out all of them. And, when you connect an LED directly to a 9v source, it will burn out in 3 seconds.

[cyrozap]

Each LED takes about 3V, so, when wired in series, 3+3+3=9V. It should be fine. Well, red LED's actually take 2.7V, so you should use bright LED's. Blue or white LED's should be good.

[the_don125]

You ALWAYS want a resistor when using LEDs, no exceptions. While you can do without, it is very poor practice, and can easily lead to prematurely failing LEDs. Small variations in the power source can cause the current to go way too high.

For example, if you test with some slightly used alkaline batteries, they might be at 1.5V each, but after you assemble everything and put in fresh batteries, those new batteries could be as high as 1.8V each, a major increase, easily enough to blow your LEDs!

Also, red LEDs take 1.8V-2.2V (even for the superbrights), not 2.7

[cyrozap]

I see, but many simple LED toys have a 3V coin cell connected directly to the LED. LED throwied have the same setup. How is it possible for them to not burn out?

[the_don125]

Coin cell batteries typically (though not all) have an extremely high internal resistance, so they effectively act like a battery and resistor all in one. 9V, AA, and other forms of batteries, however, have very low internal resistances, so you must use a resistor to prevent LED death.

[Skyfinity]

Some of you guys obviously don't understand the practicaltiy of using a deoderant container as a flashlight. The lights will glow with an obnoxiously odiferous scent that will set you apart form the other guys, who just have 9-volt battery lights and candles. Chicks will go crazy over you.

[jbv6]

Than you! (lol) Nobody notices these things!