Looks perfect for a play or musical in a theater that does not allow open flame. Perhaps a high school or middle school.

The flicker is great but I might use a orange led.

Posted at 1:49 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by techyguru

:awesome:

Posted at 1:50 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by epicelite

Perfect for that tense moment in a horror flick when all you have is a single match in a dark room.

Posted at 2:58 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by BigD145

this dude sounds exactly like 90% of my college professors.

Posted at 3:02 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by yup

next step is to put a jack in the matchbox, and replace one wall with a solar panel, that will charge the cap when it is just sitting around

Posted at 3:32 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by Graham

Hey, an LED coooool!!!! SO GFOOD!?!

Posted at 3:34 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by weeee

Perfect for most performing theatres- open flames on stage are never a good plan, and something like this would be a great substitute.

Posted at 3:54 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by jamesharr

this is so deliciously pointless, i love it!

Posted at 4:48 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by Emma

it’d be good for lighting an electric cigarette…

Posted at 4:57 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by dan

add the ability to blow it out, and it’s perfect :)

Posted at 5:33 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by mikeyberman

crap

Posted at 6:40 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by bob dods

It would be awesome if it could be inductively powered by swiping it by the box full of magnets. I doubt that would be able to provide enough power with just one swipe though.

Posted at 6:52 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by nick

@Dan
I had a great laugh at that. Though I was thinking more for an electric cigar or possibly pipe.

Posted at 6:55 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by Winphreak

<>

I remember an electronics kit that did this with a photo transistor in a black box. Blowing would temporarily close an attached shutter over the box’ pinhole thereby removing the incident light of the LED. Use that as a signal input to the CPU and there’s your blow out match.

Posted at 7:14 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by Marco

It is cool. However, methinks he hath to much time on his hands.

Posted at 8:40 pm on Feb 11th, 2009 by El Nochero

add a mic and you can blow it off

Posted at 12:07 am on Feb 12th, 2009 by speps

cool for theatre.

useless for anything else.

the “simulation” is not close to a real match. less flickering towards off and more random. I already see the pattern. it needs the same algo that you use for a racer game or tunnel game.

random +1 and -1 to wiggle between two extremes and then have a button to que it to slowly die out.

Posted at 5:58 am on Feb 12th, 2009 by fartface

you could use it to light theose fake cigarettes

Posted at 6:29 am on Feb 12th, 2009 by The Steven

amazing…that someone took the time to make something so useless.

Posted at 6:35 am on Feb 12th, 2009 by bub

At least he has good taste in batteries. Those things are awesome.

Perfect for stage performances. Add a big black switch to ‘blow it out’ and you’re there.

Posted at 7:32 am on Feb 12th, 2009 by Mark

No instructions on how to make it? wiring diagrams? microprocessor programming code?

Has this become show-and-tell-a-day?

Posted at 7:32 am on Feb 12th, 2009 by Old Number 7

having been a stage tech for a lot of high school plays i think this is pretty cool. especially when the lead actress is just to sorry to light a match, then when she finally does, she catches her $400 costume on fire. It could be used in fake candles too. Maybe sell the candles and match as a set. the match could use a magnetic tip to “light” the candle.

a circuit diagram would be nice though.

Posted at 7:51 am on Feb 12th, 2009 by poylmath

@Old Number 7

amen to that. seriously HAD where is the link. Do you want one of us to go and make this. Seriously we want links! (even if it is to instructables)

Posted at 7:54 am on Feb 12th, 2009 by Hal Hockersmith

what a waste of time

Posted at 9:34 am on Feb 12th, 2009 by Bob

In India, every year on Ganesh Chaturthi, people setup temporary structures with temporary idols. The entire setup stays up for 15-20 days after which the idols are immersed in water. These diases aren’t fire-proof. So, they don’t decorate the dias with lamps. They use electric lights instead. The problem is that some of the prayers require the priest lighting a lamp. There are LED lamps available that from a distance look like a regular oil lamp. I guess this is a good LED matchstick for the LED lamp :)

Posted at 11:50 am on Feb 12th, 2009 by Jay

This is just the thing I need to light my electric stove!

Posted at 2:50 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by Hirudinea

Replace the LED with a blue laser diode and create an electric match that really does light something on fire.

Posted at 6:25 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by midiwall

When even the blogger says “file this under totally useless” you know the post has no value. Why the hell is this on Hackaday?

Posted at 10:13 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by if you don't like it don't read it

Hear hear on the ‘is this show-and-tell-aday’ remark.
The same thing is actually happening on instructables.com too though, people describing what they have rather than how to do/make it :[

Posted at 3:20 am on Feb 13th, 2009 by Wwhat

Well, to be fair, this is good for theatre, and I’m a theatre tech. student, so I like it. That being said, not entirely the single most useful thing I’ve ever tried to make, but it’s an interesting prop.

C’mon guys, step up the awesome! Or get a new gadget to come out so people can have something to hack. Either way.

Posted at 10:09 am on Feb 13th, 2009 by Anarchistsend

I agree that this needs a mic that you blow into to turn it out. It also needs a gryometer to sense when you shake it out though the mic could do that as well. The gryometer would also determine its position so if you tip it upside down it would get brighter just like you would do with a real match.

Posted at 1:23 pm on Feb 13th, 2009 by snorkle256

at least he dint use a camera :)

Posted at 2:34 pm on Feb 13th, 2009 by therian

Seems like some people can’t enjoy the fine art of a flickering led. Not everything has to be about solving the world energy crisis and other important stuff.

If you’re feeling down, just make a blinking led. The answer to everything isn’t 42, it’s a blinking led

Posted at 4:14 am on Feb 17th, 2009 by jcgv