LED matchstick

Technology

MAKE contributor Dhananjay V. Gadre wrote in with this cool project:

I just completed a new project: a fire-free and fire-safe LED matchstick. To light this matchstick you strike it against a normal matchbox filled with neodymium magnets. The LED matchstick has an inductive sensor that detects the magnetic field as you strike the matchstick against the matchbox and it lights up a LED in a flickering fashion. The power to the matchstick is through a 3F/2.7V supercapacitor and a DC-DC converter. As the LED lights up, the supercapacitor discharges and eventually the matchstick splutters off just like a normal matchstick.

The matchstick is controlled by a Tiny13 microcontroller. Still need to put it in a perspex tube so that its easy to handle and is not damaged.

Fire-free and fire-safe LED matchstick

4 thoughts on “LED matchstick

  1. tuckerch says:

    It needs an accelerometer so that it can be “shaken” out.

    Also needs another sensor so it can be “blown” out.

  2. Csmiler says:

    remember the led lit birthday candles?put in a light sensor.and light the led candles with the led match!!

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I'm a tinkerer and finally reached the point where I fix more things than I break. When I'm not tinkering, I'm probably editing a book for Maker Media.

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