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How to Make 6V Emergency Light

After I moved from Blogger to WordPress last year I did a Brocken link test and found that there are popular incoming backlinks to a Brocken URL. Sadly I didn’t have retained that “how to make emergency light for home” article.

There’s an interesting story behind that project I would like to share with you guys. That’s why I’m rewriting this article. I couldn’t resist myself even though this project is not worth much for this DIY blog now.

How to make emergency light solar Powered at home

Back in 2013 I built a simple emergency light for my home. It was really useful. Few of my friends asked me to build one for them too. That’s how I build a business around it. I made around 14 copies of my emergency light and sold them to some of my aquintances. And you know what I made 3000 plus in profit. My First business.

After the making video got noticed on YouTube I shift my focus on making projects instead of selling them. Anyway, it was a great experience. Then I added a solar panel to my project to make it more functional and useful.

make emergency light
how to make solar emergency light at home

Update: This blog post is actually written in 2014. Click here to read my latest off-grid solar power system project Buy components from my amazon store

How to make emergency light

Today, I am here to give a complete tutorial on how to make a simple 6v emergency light’ using the compact fluorescent lamp. This lighting device can be easily equipped with a solar panel, then it can be termed as Solar powered emergency light. You can make this device automatic by using a Light Detecting Resister.

We know that some countries are mostly dependent on hydroelectric power stations for electricity. In such countries during summer unavailability of adequate water reduces power production. Energy is one of the most valuable factors, which would affect the economical and industrial growth of a country.

Things you need to make emergency light

How to make rechargeable led emergency light at home

1. Rechargeable battery 6V,5A

6 v lead acid battery

Rechargeable batteries are used to store electric energy. There are different types of batteries having different capacities. Buy a new sulfuric acid-lead battery having 6V and 5 Ampere capacity. It costs around 5$.   

2. Inverter board or Emergency board 6V to make emergency light

6 V emergency circuit board

The main part of the emergency lamp. Buy a new 6v inverter board or emergency circuit board. There may be a connection to the transformer. If there is no facility to attach a transformer on the board you need to buy an adapter 7.5 V 500 mA. There are other 6 wires on the inverter board for battery, CFL, switch.

3. Step down Transformer 9 volt 500mA/ adapter 7.5 volt 500 mA

Some inverter boards may contain the facility to attach a transformer. The transformer is used to step down the AC voltage. There is a rectifier circuit on the board, which converts alternating current to direct current. Transformer costs around 1$. Some boards may not contain a rectifier circuit or facility to attach a transformer, you need to buy an ac adapter 7.5 V 500mA to charge the battery or You can simply build a rectifier circuit using transformers and diodes. ( how to make rechargeable led emergency light at home)

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4. Compact fluorescent lamp 11w

Buy a new 11 W CFL. It costs around 1$.

cfl light

5. Switch,2pin wire,connecting wire,plastic box

Costs around 1$

The main part of this ‘make’ is the inverter board. It costs around 1$. There are wires. At the starting point of the wire from the board there will be texts to guide you where you want to connect it. Among These 6 wires,2-battery2-CFL2-switchBesides there are two points on the board to attach a transformer.

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Connect those components properly using soldering iron as shown in the figure. The proper connection makes electronic equipment long-lasting. Then place those components in a plastic box to make it compact.
Total cost=9$

Connection procedure

1. Connect the transformer to the inverter board.

2. Connect switch, pin wire to transformer input,CFL etc

3. Connect the battery

circuit diagram of solar emergency light

Tips and warming

1. Connections must be properly soldered. Proper connections make electronic devices long-lasting.

2. Do not touch the output wires for CFL, because there may be several hundred volts.

3. When connecting the inverter board to the battery be sure the positive wire is connected to the positive terminal of the battery.

4. Initially Charge the battery for 5-6 hours for better performance.

5. Enclose all the components in a box and place it where children cant reach.

6. Bare connections must be insulated to avoid short circui

How to Make Automatic Emergency Light

We have discussed “how to make a simple emergency light using CFL at your home”. After publishing that post we realized the amount of potential visitors is very large. We conducted a analysis of the traffic sources and keywords to the article and concluded that most of the people need emergency lights working on light emitting diodes other than compact fluorescent lamps. I think this is because of the high energy efficiency of LEDs. Some people searched for solar powered emergency light.

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Here I am going to share a simple emergency light circuit using LED. The 6v battery can be charged by either solar panels or rectifier circuits. This device is based on an LDR (Light Detecting Resistors). An LDR can detect any changes in the intensity of light.

In previous emergency circuit there is a direct method to detect the power failure. Here, an LDR is used to detect the power failure. This automatic emergency circuit will trigger an Series of LED’s when there is a darkness in a room. The LDR will conduct electricity only when there is light in the room. This is the working principle of LDR based automatic Emergency lights.

Things you should have to build an Automatic Emergency light using LED

  •      Battery – 6v – 1
  •      R1,R2 resistor – 10k – 2
  •      R3 resistor – 1K – 10
  •      T1 transistor – BD140 – 1
  •      T2 transistor – BD139 – 1
  •      VR variable resistor – 50K – 1
  •       LDR -1

Devices and other equipments

  •    Soldering iron
  •    Box to enclose the emergency
  •    Copper wire

Circuit of a Automatic Simple Emergency Light Using LED and LDR

image credit

How does automatic emergency light work?

An LDR is made in a way that it only conducts electricity if there is enough light in the room. The resistance offered by the LDR against the flow of current is inversely proportional to the intensity of light falls on it. So if there is enough light in a room LDR will continue to conduct current and provides high current to the base of transistor T1. (so T1 is off).

Since the base is grounded transistor T2 is also off. If there is a sudden power failure in the room LDR will stop conducting current. At this time transistor, T1 becomes forward biased and provides base current to transistor T2. It then turns ON and allows current to flow through the LED.

How to charge emergency light Battery?

How to make a charger for a 6v Lead-acid battery? Connect the positive terminal of the charger output to the positive pin of the battery. Then connect the negative terminal to the negative terminal of the battery.

How to make rechargeable led emergency light at home

If you are living in an area that not connected to the grid this Solar emergency light can provide enough light for your home. Just buy a 7.5-volt solar panel from the store and connect it to the battery. It does not need any separate charger circuit. That’s it. Solar-powered automatic emergency light. Enjoy!!

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If any one of your friends is from a region where there is no power supply or lacks a continuous power supply, you should suggest this device to your friend. A solar-powered emergency light is similar to the ordinary one. But it has a solar panel to capture solar power and convert it and recharge the battery. A complete description of this project with a full video will be posted here in the coming days. Thank you.

Is this tutorial helpful? Then comment your opinion here! 

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