10mm White LED Torch:

I recently got worried about the amount of power the CCFL I use as a desk light was using. 0.5A for 6-8hours per night means Im using about 4Ah of power. For a 17.2Ah battery thats pushing the safe discharge limit of 25% which I like to stick to if possible.

I decided an LED light would be a better option since the CCFL gives out more than enough light. A little less wouldnt hurt. I got 50 10mm white LED's from eBay for £10, including some resistors for 12v use.

I got to work as soon as they arrived and came up with the light you see below. Unfortunately it didn't come out as planned. The light it emitted was confined to a spot, it didnt spread out. I expected it might spread out a little more than it did because I have another LED light that does, but that uses 3mm LED's as appose to the 10mm LED's this one uses.

This was a small setback. However after testing I decided it wasnt so bad afterall. It made the perfect LED torch. The range was about 5-10m before the light fades off too much, and the current draw was only 180mA.

Number of LED's: 21
LED size: 10mm
Luminous Intensity: 130,000mcd
Total current draw: 180mA @ 12v
Total cost: approx £5