DI Y

CIRCUITS

BIG KID NIGHT LIGHT

Dollar-store hack makes a color-changing mood light. By Dan Weiss

Kids want night lights, they just don’t want them to look like night lights because that makes them “babies.” Here’s a shining star made from things you can pick up at a dollar store. Call it a “mood light,” and no one has to admit that they use a night light.

1. Open the touch lamp by removing the screws in the back with a Phillips screwdriver. Be careful that you don’t lose any of the springs inside.

Photograph by Sam Murphy

2. Use a utility knife to cut the wires leading to the light bulb (Figure A). Cut as close as you can, so you have the longest wires to work with. Remove the bulb from the lamp. Strip the ends of the wires.

3. You’ll use the switch built into the touch lamp and the power from the negative side of its battery

compartment. In this lamp the negative wire is blue (and not very long). You need to cut this wire in half (making it even shorter) and strip the ends. Be careful when pulling on this wire. If the solder connecting it to the battery case is weak, the wire will break off.

4. Now let’s turn to the LED ornament light. Flip the light over and use the flathead screwdriver to pry off the cover. Remove the holographic foil and save it for later. Using the flathead screwdriver, gently pry the LED module off the 2 posts (Figure B, circled in white). There’s no glue, so it should be easy. Cut all 4 wires, including the ones going to the switch, with the utility knife as far from the module as possible so you have the most wire to work with (Figure B). Strip the ends of all the wires.

Make: 131