Battery Powered Night Lamp

Description

This circuit is usable as a Night Lamp when a wall mains socket is not available to plug-in an ever running small neon lamp device. In order to ensure minimum battery consumption, one 1.5V cell is used and simple voltage doublers drives a pulsating ultra-bright LED: current drawing is less than 500µA. An optional Photo resistor will switch-off the circuit in daylight or when room lamps illuminate, allowing further current economy. This device will run for about 3 months continuously on an ordinary AA sized cell or for around 6 months on an alkaline type cell but, adding the Photo resistor circuitry, running time will be doubled or, very likely, triplicates. IC1 generates a square wave at about 4 Hz frequencies. C2 & D2 form voltage doublers, necessary to raise the battery voltage to a peak value able to drive the LED.

Circuit Diagram:

Battery Powered Night Lamp-Circuit Diagram

Parts:

  • R1 = 1M
  • R2 = 1M
  • R3 = 47K
  • R4 = LDR
  • C1 = 100nF-63V
  • C2 = 220uF-25V
  • D1 = Ultra Bright 10mm LED
  • D2 = 1N5819
  • B1 = 1.5V Battery or AA Cell
  • IC1 = 7555 CMos Timer IC

Notes:

  • IC1 must be a CMos type: only these devices can safely operate at 1.5V supply or less.
  • If you do not need Photo resistor operation, omit R3 & R4 and connect pin 4 of IC1 to positive supply.
  • Ordinary LEDs can be used, but light intensity will be poor.
  • An ordinary 1N4148 type diode can be used instead of the 1N5819 Schottky-barrier type diode, but LED intensity will be reduced due to the higher voltage drop.
  • Any Schottky-barrier type diode can be used in place of the 1N5819, e.g. the BAT46, rated @ 100V 150mA.