Battery-Powered Night Lamp

Ultra-low current drawing 1.5V battery supply

This circuit is usable as a Night Lamp when a wall mains socket is not available to plug-in an ever running small neon lamp device. In order to ensure minimum battery consumption, one 1.5V cell is used, and a simple voltage doubler drives a pulsating ultra-bright LED: current drawing is less than 500µA. An optional Photo resistor will switch-off the circuit in daylight or when room lamps illuminate, allowing further current economy. 

 
This device will run for about 3 months continuously on an ordinary AA sized cell or for around 6 months on an alkaline type cell but, adding the Photo resistor circuitry, running time will be doubled or, very likely, triplicated.

 

Parts:


R1,R2___________1M 1/4WResistors 
R3_____________47K 1/4W Resistor
 R4____________Photo resistor
C1____________100nF 63V Polyester
 Capacitor C2____________220µF 25V Electrolytic Capacitor
 D1______________LED Red 10mm. Ultra-bright
D2___________1N5819 40V 1A Schottky-barrier Diode IC1____________7555 or TS555CN CMos Timer IC 
 B1_____________1.5V Battery (AA or AAA cell etc.)
Circuit Operation

IC1 generates a square wave at about 4Hz frequency. C2 & D2 form a voltage doubler, necessary to raise the battery voltage to a peak value able to drive the LED.


Notes:

• IC1 must be a CMos type: only these devices can safely operate at 1.5V supply or less.
• If you are not needing Photo resistor operation, omit R3 & R4 and connect pin 4 of IC1 to positive supply.
• Ordinary LEDs can be used, but light intensity will be poor.
• An ordinary 1N4148 type diode can be used instead of the 1N5819 Schottky-barrier type diode, but LED intensity will be reduced due to the higher voltage drop.
• Any Schottky-barrier type diode can be used in place of the 1N5819, e.g. the BAT46, rated @ 100V 150mA.