There have been a lot of advances in both LEDs and their prices in the year and a half since I wrote this article. At the time they were new on the market and quite a bit more than $5, I think closer to $15-20.

I’m tempted to buy a few of them now though just to see how bright they are.

I don’t have a charger than can handle an odd number of batteries, I had room for the 4th battery, and the extra battery gives a little more time between charges.

Last summer, I put twenty-five 3mm 6000mcd white LEDs into an Altoids tin. I used a 9V battery and a high wattage, wirewound resistor. Here are some pics:

http://img49.exs.cx/img49/8302/altOutside.jpg
http://img49.exs.cx/img49/4329/altSwitch.jpg
http://img49.exs.cx/img49/1921/altInside.jpg

Get your LEDs from Hong Kong on Ebay. The money you save on the lights will make up for time it takes to ship - though it really doesn’t take long anyway. I’ve placed about eight different orders from four different Hong Kong LED manufacturers on Ebay and the shipping time has been between five and ten days every time - usually 6-7 days. (I’m near the Gulf Coast in the U.S.)

I’m waiting on some samples from maxim-ic. It’s been a while since I ordered samples, but they used to turn them around in a week. I was hoping to put a charging circuit in as well, but that may have to wait.

I’m also looking for some brighter LEDs, and have a few places in mind, but they will require shipping from Hong Kong to get decent prices. I’m checking eBay and a few other places, but not finding anything local. (US)

I haven’t completely settled on what V2 will entail, I’m still debating if I want a USB port to charge my phone or ipod, or if that’s too much hassle for what it’s worth. For now I think V2 will be a more efficient version of the first lamp using a single 3.3V regulator to drive the LEDs.

I’ve also been wanting to try my hand at surface mount components and may try to build a fancier circuit for version 3 with all the features I can cram into the case.