From das.harvard.edu!kites-request Mon Jul 5 18:19:43 1993 Flags: 000000000001 Received: from endor.harvard.edu ([128.103.50.55]) by util.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu with SMTP id <13516>; Mon, 5 Jul 1993 18:19:37 -1000 Received: by netop3.harvard.edu (5.65/DEC-Ultrix/4.3) id AA24180; Tue, 6 Jul 1993 00:00:02 -0400 Received: from KITES-NEWS-GATEWAY by netop3.harvard.edu with netnews for kites-news@das.harvard.edu (kites@das.harvard.edu) To: kites@das.harvard.edu Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1993 14:15:58 -1000 From: grantm@syacus.acus.oz.au (Grant Mc) Message-Id: Organization: Australian Centre for Unisys Software, ACUS Sender: kites-request@das.harvard.edu Subject: Simple Night Lights G'day everyone, For you Wes and anyone else that would like to know, here is how I went about making those cheap yet very effective night lights. I must say it was originally intended to be placed on a single line kite, but I couldn't resist putting it on the stunter! What you need: 3 ultra bright leds. 1 small switch. 3 led mounts (keeps leds in place). 1 car alarm activation switch case. 1 small battery to supply enough juice for leds. 1 battery holder. some wire, solder, and soldering iron All my supplies were bought from an electronics store (Jaycar, Sydney), and should be readily available at any other electronics store. If you need more details please ask and I'll check the setup when I get home. Just remember I am not an electical engineer, I merely hunted around the store with the goal to make a small light. Steps for construction: 0: Make sure everything fits inside case!! 1: I drilled 3 holes along the top of the switch and inserted leds with mounts. 2: I then drilled a hole for the switch making sure the case could still be closed when the switch was inplace. 3: Put battery in case and soldered the whole thing together, with leds in parallel (optimum brightness). Connecting to kite: This is the simplist way I could think of doing it. It only requires two elastic bands. One elastic band is tied to the clip on the case and loops around the t-connector to merely act as a safety line to stop the case from dropping off the kite. The second elastic band holds the case in position. I have mine positioned under the t-connector and on the spine. NB: My kite has rather a big hole where the t-connecter joins the spine so it is no problem wrapping an elastic band around it. When you are ready, flick the switch and you are in action! Crude Diagrams: Front View of Case Side View of Case +-------------+ +------+ | | | | | L L L | L| |-+ | | | | | | | | | |(Clip) | | | | | | +-------+ | +--| | | | | S | | |S | | | | +-------+ | +--| | | | | | +-------------+ +------+ Partial view of kite with case in place | | | | -----=======----- --- /\ |C| /\ \ --- / \ \ | / \ \|/ \ \ Legend: C - Case S - Switch L - Led in mount Must go, Bye. Thanks for all the replies. Grant. Grant McCauley Australian Centre for Unisys Software (ACUS) 115 Wicks Rd, Internet: grantm@syacus.acus.oz.au North Ryde 2113 UUCP: uunet!munnari!syacus.acus.oz.au!grantm N.S.W AUSTRALIA Ph: +61 2 3901333 Fax: +61 2 3901391 ****************************************************************** This message was written by the kites/rec.kites mail/news gateway. Mailing list requests and inquiries should be sent to "kites-request@das.harvard.edu". Mail sent to "kites@das.harvard.edu" will be forwarded to rec.kites. From das.harvard.edu!kites-request Tue Jul 6 06:22:00 1993 Flags: 000000000001 Received: from endor.harvard.edu ([128.103.50.55]) by util.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu with SMTP id <13532>; Tue, 6 Jul 1993 06:21:51 -1000 Received: by netop3.harvard.edu (5.65/DEC-Ultrix/4.3) id AA25860; Tue, 6 Jul 1993 12:00:06 -0400 Received: from KITES-NEWS-GATEWAY by netop3.harvard.edu with netnews for kites-news@das.harvard.edu (kites@das.harvard.edu) To: kites@das.harvard.edu Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1993 04:31:03 -1000 From: tjs@earth.wustl.edu (tom sullivan) Message-Id: <1993Jul6.143103.26465@wuecl.wustl.edu> Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO Sender: kites-request@das.harvard.edu References: Subject: Re: Simple Night Lights In article grantm@syacus.acus.oz.au (Grant Mc) writes: >G'day everyone, > > For you Wes and anyone else that would like to know, here is how I >went about making those cheap yet very effective night lights. I must say it >was originally intended to be placed on a single line kite, but I couldn't >resist putting it on the stunter! > ... More about LEDs deleted..... I saw an interesting way of doing this several weeks ago. I was on vacation and saw that the guys who run "Kites Unlimited" in Atlantic Beach, NC were going to be doing night flying. They used the little chemical luminescent lights. (You know, the ones you bend to break the glass tube that's inside the bigger plastic tube.) They put three (one in each corner) on their delta stunt kites. I'm sure the balance is critical, but it sure put on a nice show. They had different colors for different kites blue, red, and green, but the green was by far the brightest and best color. Red was ok, but blue was very dim. tom ****************************************************************** This message was written by the kites/rec.kites mail/news gateway. Mailing list requests and inquiries should be sent to "kites-request@das.harvard.edu". Mail sent to "kites@das.harvard.edu" will be forwarded to rec.kites.