Bawls Automatic Light

bawls lamp

[Alan] from Hacked Gadgets put this Bawls automatic light together pretty quickly. He used a photocell, transistor, LED, and a 9V battery to make it turn on automatically when the lights go out. It creates a nice eerie blue glow. You might remember that he isn’t the first Hack-A-Day reader to get lured in by the Bawls lamp. [Chris] made a cold cathode Bawls lamp last fall. I found this picture on ZapWizard’s photostream as well.

16 thoughts on “Bawls Automatic Light

  1. Posted Apr 12, 2006, 3:02 PM ET by tweak

    I would build it up with a capacitor and a solar cell… Then no need for a battery!

    u mean like a BEAM pummer? pummers can last all nite if u make em rite ^^

  2. Posted Apr 12, 2006, 3:02 PM ET by tweak

    I would build it up with a capacitor and a solar cell… Then no need for a battery!

    u mean like a BEAM pummer? pummers can last all nite if u make em rite ^^

  3. It never fails that every day some noob makes a double post in the comments….

    I find that with a BEAM pummer it is very dependant on how much light is avalible. My pummer in the window with full sunlight lasts all night but if I try to put it somewhere with only incandesent light all day it only lasts an hour.

    I would have to say that this is a cool project and I may even build it, but it is more of a make project than a hack. It is hard to draw the line where a hack ends and a project begins. I still think eliot is doing a great job keeping it fresh every day on this page. It is always the first page I check when I get to work in the morning.

  4. Am I the only one that *hated* that video? Seriously, is a photoresistor really that sensational?

    Don’t get me wrong, this is a neat little project that I’ve actually been planning on doing for quite some time. It’s just… the video… ugh…

  5. I thought it was pretty cool, but would personally bouild a circuit similar to the joule theif to power it from some old button cells. It could all be glued to the bottom of the cap with the led secured so it dosen’t have the “hanging” look. Pretty cool, especially since I have a few bottles around here somewhere..

  6. NOT A HACK.

    This is a shame.

    This is again, like that IR audio crap it’s MUCH too easy to be considered a hack. Do you know what this is called? A NIGHT LIGHT!!!

    Except this one is powered by a 9v battery instead of plugged into a wall.

    AGain, a 5 year old could have done this

  7. Heh, I didn’t even notice that I’d been linked until today when I noticed that I had 1975 page views on my website yesterday. My average is 120. Anyway, that thing is pretty nifty. I wouldn’t have thought to mount an LED in the cap. Clever.

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