Help Needed!!
Am currently creating a pro to type lamp with the aesthetics being the key to the design…
But as an electronics newbie, I dont know where to start!
I am wanting to have a rechargeable power source through USB and some bright but minimal LEDS. Space is also quite restrictive so cant have a massive battery souce.
What would I need to put all this together??
Many Thanks
Using a mobile phone boost battery might work. There are some available from our sponsors here, and also from Office Works, Dick Smith, and other places. They can be charged from a USB port, and provide 5V for your LEDs.
But you say you have limited space. What are the dimensions of the space you have available for battery? What dimensions for the space where the LEDs will go?
How many lumens of light do you need the LEDs to emit?
How long do you need one charge of the battery to light the LEDs?
How long do you need the LEDs to last before they darken? Enough for a demonstration (weeks), enough to sell the product to an ignorant market (months), or enough to be able to give a warranty (years).
Thanks for the help! The casing is 160mm long 80mm wide and 30mm high, so will need to be contained within. As its just a prototype at this stage its only being used for demonstration.
Not sure about the lumens but just needs to be bright to glow through a .5mm white plastic.
Cheers
Okay, thanks.
Comsol brand mobile phone boost battery is about 23mm diameter, 93mm long, a cylinder, with another 30mm on the end for clearance to plug in a USB cable. Inside is a 18650 Li-Ion battery and a step up converter to 5V. Just one of those, with a suitable resistor in series with an LED will at least get you started. Suitable means you have to calculate the resistance needed, and the resulting current and make sure the power drawn does not exceed the resistor maximum power, or it will get too hot.
For LEDs, have a look at these products
I’d make quite different recommendations if this was to be a permanent fitting!
Awesome!!! Thanks.
If you don’t mind, what would the recommendations be if it was a permanent fitting?
Cheers
For a permanent design, the things I’d do would include:
choosing an LED with a rated lifetime, and not an epoxy encapsulation, since the UV light damages epoxy, instead use a silicone encapsulation,
using a switch-mode LED driver circuit instead of merely a resistor, for efficiency, longevity of charge, and lowest possible heat, see http://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products/femtobuck-led-driver (but then you need higher battery voltage),
adding a proper charger circuit for the batteries, instead of using a consumer grade product like the boost battery,
switching from batteries to a wall socket power supply,
using an LED with the correct angle of view and either a lens or diffuser in front of it, which gets you into all the things you worry about with lighting design,
getting more involved in fire safety, how the wires are attached, where they go, how they are insulated, how to protect the battery from impact damage, or physical shock,
exploring radiofrequency interference caused by the switch-mode driver and the wires connecting to the LEDs; the field of electromagnetic compatibility.
worrying about electrostatic discharge damage to the circuit when the end user goes to use it.
Luckily you are only doing a demo. 
Very Lucky! Thanks for your help, has been perfect!