Help with a led light.

[Sea Chief]

Hi chaps,

could anyone help. I need a battery light for my shed ( no electricity to shed). I find one on amazon below, & it charges via a USB. Ie charge it in the house during day, evening I take out to my shed.

Thing I don't have now, is a convenient USB port, which I used to have on my laptop side. I now just have an ipad. Laptop died. So how do I charge it is the Q.

I do have a simple cheap mains plug, with a USB port on it. But I thinkI bought for my ipad, but found it got hot ( & odd things happened on the ipad whilst using its lightning lead into this plug... tho it showed it charged up ok). So I thought better not use with the ipad.

But could I use it for this lamp? I have no idea, nor, what 'thing' the lamp's cable is meant to plug into, in order to charge it ( apart from a "USB port" that is.. I know this much).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rechargeabl...p?ie=UTF8&th=1

Could anyone shed any light ? ( thats two puns in one.. my brilliance, honestly).

Thanks SC

[mozz]

I bought the one with a solar panel from Amazon, works good so far. I can't find the link. Most i have it on is a few minutes before work so i can't say how many hours continuous.

[Sea Chief]

I bought the one with a solar panel from Amazon, works good so far. I can't find the link. Most i have it on is a few minutes before work so i can't say how many hours continuous.

Hello mozz. Its really the usb charging thing, rather than the performance of another type which doesn't use a USB charging situation.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks Abbot.

[J M Fahey]

USB is an established norm, so anybody using its name "should" mean the device complies with it.

Meaning in principle "any" USB device (your lamp) "should" be happily powered from "any" USB supply (your wall one with a USB socket)

Of course, you get what you pay for, so a cheap one might be just too close; if in doubt buy a better one.

USB is used *both* to exchange data and supply +5V, guess up to 2A.

In a plain charger, of course there is no data, so only power pins work.

Small world: just yesterday I went shopping downtown and bought two PC mount female "large" USB sockets, the most common type, one "straight", the other one "angled" for testing, I want to add a USB charging socket to all my amps, as a convenience to users which becomes an extra selling point.

In a nutshelllug your light bar into your current charger and check it now and then for the first 4 hours (lamp claims that charge time)

If everything fine, good for you.

[Sea Chief]

USB is an established norm, so anybody using its name "should" mean the device complies with it.

Meaning in principle "any" USB device (your lamp) "should" be happily powered from "any" USB supply (your wall one with a USB socket)

Of course, you get what you pay for, so a cheap one might be just too close; if in doubt buy a better one.

USB is used *both* to exchange data and supply +5V, guess up to 2A.

In a plain charger, of course there is no data, so only power pins work.

Small world: just yesterday I went shopping downtown and bought two PC mount female "large" USB sockets, the most common type, one "straight", the other one "angled" for testing, I want to add a USB charging socket to all my amps, as a convenience to users which becomes an extra selling point.

In a nutshelllug your light bar into your current charger and check it now and then for the first 4 hours (lamp claims that charge time)

If everything fine, good for you.

Hi there JMF, thanks alot for this reply: you seem to get my pov ( as well as my humour! I must watch the idiot astronauts again).

When you say " might be too close " I'm not quite understanding this though.

So Im more confident that my plug could be used with this lamp's cable then. Im still confused as to it's compatibility though: whether it's an ipad " charger " I cannot recall. It doesn't say so on it. But I did buy it for this intended use. It's not apple mfr, just a generic china cheapy off ebay.

Here it is anyway. I wonder if the info actually on it ( if you can zoom in & see it ) gives any better idea.

Thanks, SC

[Sea Chief]

If someone here bought this item, for example, how would they charge it?

It says it has a ' micro usb cable' included. But with two different ends (so which end plugs into the lamp.. I have no idea either).

So I do not know two primary things:

1) which end is meant to be plugged into something, to charge it..

2) & what this something might actually be.

SC

[Dave H]

1) which end is meant to be plugged into something, to charge it..

2) & what this something might actually be.

Well, it says "Micro USB Charging" so I'd expect the micro USB end of the cable to connect to the light and the "Large" USB end to connect to your plug.

[Sea Chief]

Well, it says "Micro USB Charging" so I'd expect the micro USB end of the cable to connect to the light and the "Large" USB end to connect to your plug.

Hi Dave, so you think my plug would be suitable for this?

Thing I cannot understand, is the " charger ". What is it/ where is it exactly?

My ipad has it's charger, within the plug. You need a specific plug, you insert the usb cable into. You wouldn't just use any old plug which has a usb port in it. Well I did, & it didn't seem at all happy ( hence I know its important to use a correctly compatible plug, for whatever X it is to be charged ).

My builders light. I dont just use any old plug that its cable might plug into. I - specifically- & - only- use its dedicated plug to charge it. This is another similar led light. So where is the charger?

Yes your reply might be correct. Its a 50/50. But it doesn't get me closer to what on earth Im meant to plug the lead into, to charge it.

I've sent a question to the seller... via amazon, so therefore, I don't expect a reply at all.

[big_teee]

Here's a diagram of USB
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...MygAegUIARDTAQ
Usb has 5v on pin 1 and ground on pin 4.
Check your wall charger with your volt multimeter.
5V on 1, ground or Earth on pin 4.
If you have that you should be good to go.
T

[Sea Chief]

Here's a diagram of USB
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...MygAegUIARDTAQ
Usb has 5v on pin 1 and ground on pin 4.
Check your wall charger with your volt multimeter.
5V on 1, ground or Earth on pin 4.
If you have that you should be good to go.
T

Hi bigteez,

thanks, the mention of 5v gets me a step closer only bc my plug says 'output 5v... 1A'. But sticking probes into the plug's port.. doesn't seem like a good idea, let alone aiming for the right tiny spot.

Am I veering along the wrong thinking, having used this plug in my photo, unsuccessfully with my ipad?

Is just "5v output" regardless of any other facet, enough to safely use it?

Any charger that's not specific to the thing to be charged, in my estimation, is a potential fire risk. And/ or potentially might damage the thing to be charged.

Thanks, SC

[big_teee]

What's with the bigteez?
If you are making fun of me, I will return the favor.

There are many kinds of lights besides using usb to charge.
Here in the US, we use the wall wart transformer for small voltage to charge things.
https://www.google.com/search?q=a+wa...&bih=595&dpr=1
For portable lighting I use 20v tool battery lights.
I also use coleman gasoline camp lighting, in outside conditions.
GL,
T

[big_teee]

Here are some different forms of portable rechargeable lighting.
https://www.google.com/search?q=port...=firefox-b-1-d

[Sea Chief]

What's with the bigteez?
If you are making fun of me, I will return the favor.

There are many kinds of lights besides using usb to charge.
Here in the US, we use the wall wart transformer for small voltage to charge things.
https://www.google.com/search?q=a+wa...&bih=595&dpr=1
For portable lighting I use 20v tool battery lights.
I also use coleman gasoline camp lighting, in outside conditions.
GL,
T

Im not making fun of you. It just seems natural to want to put a z on your teee.. that's all. Or something, teee spooon?

I know there are different types of light, I have a usual-heavy battery LED 'builder's light'. But each one you mention & mine, have either a charger with it (my builders one I wouldn't expect to come just with a lead only & no charger, as it wouldn't work simple as!) or power within it to be the "charge " (gasoline).

For some reason this led lamp is the exception. You're meant to provide the charger (as far as I can establish) without it telling you even what type to have to buy. I find it strange & confusing.

SC

[Sea Chief]

big_teee Here, on your link page, is a similar light. This has an extra photo which may be of some help/ use. It shows the light being charged, via an identical cable, going straight into a UK plug socket (but a modern one with a usb port on it ).

https://energylightbulbs.co.uk/light...SABEgLV2vD_BwE

So, this might imply then (if I might consider the UK socket doesn't have any "usb charger" within it, as seems logical to think it wouldn't) but it might then just restrict the voltage output to 5v @ the USB socket as opposed to 230v at the sockets adjacent to it.... so... the charger section must be within the light itself.

Where this leaves me with my plug, whatever the heck it is, Im not exactly sure. But might it be simply a restriction type plug & Usb socket, similar to the socket's usb in the photo? I might hazzard a guess so.

SC

[g1]

Here, on your link page, is a similar light. This has an extra photo which may be of some help/ use. It shows the light being charged, via an identical cable, going straight into a UK plug socket (but a modern one with a usb port on it ).

https://energylightbulbs.co.uk/light...SABEgLV2vD_BwE

So, this might imply then (if I might consider the UK socket doesn't have any "usb charger" within it, as seems logical to think it wouldn't) but it might then just restrict the voltage output to 5v @ the USB socket as opposed to 230v at the sockets adjacent to it.... so... the charger section must be within the light itself.

That is a USB cable being plugged into a special outlet. The outlet appears to have two 240V sockets and a USB socket. The USB socket will be giving 5V for charging. You can see the cable in one of the other photos, it is USB at one end and micro USB at the other end.