Get Inspired with more back to school projects from the Adafruit Learning System!
Wireless Inductive Power Night Light
Wireless Inductive Power Nightlight: Every time I hear about wireless power systems, or see a wireless charger in action, it feels like some sort of crazy magic. The idea of harnessing an electromagnetic field to produce enough power to even glow an LED is amazing to me.
So, when Adafruit started to carry a couple of Inductive Charging modules, I knew I had to create a project with it beyond just charging a battery.
I often go to bed much later than my wife, and like to do a bit of reading before going to sleep. I decided to create a nice little night light / reading light that I could easily set at just the right brightness without waking up my wife. With this light, all you need to do is slide the LED block closer to the power block to make the light brighter.
It’s a bit of a hack, which takes advantage of the fact that the inductive chargers work ‘better’ the closer they are together. In this case, pulling them apart dims the LEDs because the voltage drops. This won’t work with Qi chargers, which don’t have this ‘bug’! I mean, you can still use a Qi charger, but it will only be on or off, no dimming.
The Wireless Inductive Power Night Light is a very simple and easy to complete project. All you need is to make one is an inductive charging set, a power supply, leds, an enclosure, and couple other pieces.
Wireless Game Show Poppers for the Classroom!
Is it time for school already? Need ways to keep students engaged but on a tight budget? We have a $15.00 game show system for you based on a combination of wireless IR poppers and game show software for PC and Mac computers. All you need are 1) the Duo Pop for iPad Game , 2) a 5 volt Pro Trinket Arduino-compatible microcontroller, 3) Game Show Presenter Software (free demo version available) to create your questions as well as host your game, and 4) a little bit of time to hack and solder on the Duo Pop for iPad Receiver. Once finished with this project, you will have a popper USB receiver system that is completely hackable allowing you to interface the poppers with all kinds of other learning software for both PC and Mac computers. Are you ready to hack the Duo Pop? Before hacking, let’s discuss the parts that you will need for this project.
Make your own backup battery and recharge it with the sun! This is an upgrade project to our original Solar Charging Handbag and uses a PowerBoost 500 Basic, a solar lipoly charger, slide switch, and 2000mAh rechargeable battery, all housed in a 3D printed enclosure.
Before you begin, read through the following guides:
For this project, you will need:
- 3D printer with filament
- A sturdy handbag or backpack
- #4-40 3/8 flat Phillips machine screws
AND MORE! Check out our searchable learn system for many more projects!
August is Back to School Month here at Adafruit! Each week we’ll be bringing you a two #BackToSchool posts on the blog! Stay tuned for product and gift guides, tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System, and inspiration from around the web! Get started by checking out Adafruit’s educational resources, such as our kits and project packs, suggested products for young engineers, blog posts for educators and an extensive selection of books to help you learn!
