PRS-900 Light cover - stonger LED?

m-reader · 03-03-2010, 12:36 AM

I have been using my PRS-900 for a few weeks now and the thing is simply fantastic. I have been reading an average of 1-2 hours per day and the battery is still going strong (more than half full still).
As I tend to read in bed a fair bit, I use the light cover almost all the time while reading. Even in ambient light I find that a bit of additional light improves readability.
I was wondering if anyone knew of a similar product (compact) that uses two or even three AAA batteries and a stronger LED light? I think that Sony could have made their light a little bit stronger for my taste.
Any ideas?

Cheers

m-reader

Mike_73 · 03-03-2010, 01:36 AM

I have a one LED Booklight which always didn't work properly as only the center of the screen was lit. I went out and bought a USB-Laptop light with 8 high power LEDs. I tried it plugged into the PC and the output was just awesome for reading. I'll go ahead and get me a Battery-USB adaptor (which are usually used to temporarily power your mobile gadgets) and make my own booklight.
The LEDs are arranged in 1 row and the lamp has a goosneck which makes adjustment very easy. The 1 row arrangement makes for really even light from side to side and top to bottom. Now I just have to find the Battery-USB adaptor somewhere in a store. I'll check on that on Friday. If I get it done, I'll post some pics.

banjobama · 03-03-2010, 01:41 AM

I have a Mighty Bright Xtra flex 2 book light. I got it from Barnes and Noble. It uses AAA batteries and the LED light is incredibly, obnoxiously bright. It has two light settings, both of which are very very bright. It isn't attached to a cover but it has a clip you can use to attach it to the Reader or to the back of the cover you are using.

I just need to emphasis that it is BRIGHT. lol.

m-reader · 03-03-2010, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banjobama

I have a Mighty Bright Xtra flex 2 book light. I got it from Barnes and Noble. It uses AAA batteries and the LED light is incredibly, obnoxiously bright. It has two light settings, both of which are very very bright. It isn't attached to a cover but it has a clip you can use to attach it to the Reader or to the back of the cover you are using.

I just need to emphasis that it is BRIGHT. lol.

I had a Mighty Bright with my Iliad, and I know what you're talking about. It's like a construction site floodlight

It's too big for the PRS-900 though - I love the form factor of the Sony light cover, I just wish it were a tad brighter ...

m-reader · 03-03-2010, 01:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike_73

I have a one LED Booklight which always didn't work properly as only the center of the screen was lit. I went out and bought a USB-Laptop light with 8 high power LEDs. I tried it plugged into the PC and the output was just awesome for reading. I'll go ahead and get me a Battery-USB adaptor (which are usually used to temporarily power your mobile gadgets) and make my own booklight.
The LEDs are arranged in 1 row and the lamp has a goosneck which makes adjustment very easy. The 1 row arrangement makes for really even light from side to side and top to bottom. Now I just have to find the Battery-USB adaptor somewhere in a store. I'll check on that on Friday. If I get it done, I'll post some pics.

Would it be possible to plug it into the mini USB port on the e-reader itself? I know this would be a drain on the batteries, but at least you would cut down on the clutter. I look forward to the pics!

Mike_73 · 03-03-2010, 03:22 AM

I don't know if the current of the reader goes both ways. When the reader is connected to the PC, it gets charged, but I don't know if anything attached to the readers usb port will get any voltage (which I doubt). Good idea though.
But I won't try as I would have to change the connector.
There are several Battery-USB adapters out there, I just don't know if I can get them in Germany in a store. If not, I'll go and get a battery compartment and a USB port and build my own casing. I'm really looking forward to that. If I get it done, I'll also post an instructable on instructables.com. There you can find a leather pouch and a cup holder I made and posted so far.

m-reader · 03-03-2010, 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike_73

I don't know if the current of the reader goes both ways. When the reader is connected to the PC, it gets charged, but I don't know if anything attached to the readers usb port will get any voltage (which I doubt). Good idea though.
But I won't try as I would have to change the connector.
There are several Battery-USB adapters out there, I just don't know if I can get them in Germany in a store. If not, I'll go and get a battery compartment and a USB port and build my own casing. I'm really looking forward to that. If I get it done, I'll also post an instructable on instructables.com. There you can find a leather pouch and a cup holder I made and posted so far.

I'm a complete and utter dummy when it comes about electronics - you may well be correct re current direction.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Mike_73 · 03-03-2010, 06:44 AM

I won't get anything diy-ed during the week, but I'll try to take a picture of the reader under the 8LED-Light and post those. This way you can see how it compares to the lights you know.

kc5cychris · 03-03-2010, 09:16 AM

Mike
how are your instructables listed? so that I may search them, have been unable to loacte the above metioned items. I too am an Electronic Tech and always interested in others inventions
Chris

Mike_73 · 03-03-2010, 10:47 AM

Chris, I've pm-ed you as this is kind of off-topic

MelC · 03-03-2010, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m-reader

I love the form factor of the Sony light cover, I just wish it were a tad brighter ...

In my experience the m-edge eluminators are brighter and have more even illumination. I can't say whether the difference will be sufficient on the larger form of the PRS900 but for the PRS600 the difference is notable (and quite satisfactory). Since you can buy cases with built in pockets for it from m-edge it works similarly in form factor to the Sony.

Mel

SCION · 03-03-2010, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MelC

In my experience the m-edge eluminators are brighter and have more even illumination. I can't say whether the difference will be sufficient on the larger form of the PRS900 but for the PRS600 the difference is notable (and quite satisfactory). Since you can buy cases with built in pockets for it from m-edge it works similarly in form factor to the Sony.

Mel

This is what I'm waiting for...M-Edge cover for the 900 so I can get one of the lights. I'm using 2 different models of the Mighty Bright now.

Mike_73 · 03-03-2010, 03:40 PM

Hi all, I just took pictures with my LED-light attached to a powered USB-Hub. I have them in a public album but don't know how to get the thumbnails in the post. So here is what you can do:

-Click on my name on the left to get to my profile.
-Click on the albums thumbnail on the right side of the page.

This is the order of the pictures left to right:
1. LED-Light only to give a short glimpse on the lamp. When I picked the lamp up at an electronics store, I was fairly impressed by the array of LEDs.
2. Picture taken of the lamp over the reader, the lamp not powered. Desk lighting was on and still I had to use flash to get a good exposure without shake.
3. Picture taken without flash, just to show how shaky the picture got (so exposure time was very long)
4. I tried to capture the glare at the bottom of the screen (a really bad angle of the lamp for reading) just to show how bright the lamp is
5. Lamp angled so that the brightest spots get on the frame of the reader. The frame doesn't reflect the light so mirror like so that it's not blinding. Actually I found it pretty good and much better than the dim desk light (which has a low wattage) for reading.

Pictures 4 and 5 were taken without any light in the room. So it really was pitch black, reader only lit by the 8LED-lamp.
The 8LEDs make for pretty even distribution. My single LED lamp always showed vignetting so that the brightest spot had to be moved around depending on where I was just reading (top, middle, bottom).
The single LED lamp also had a bright spot, but when angled to a convenient point on the frame, you would only get light on half the screen.

Next step would be a housing for the batteries and USB-connector. Attaching some sort of clip to the housing so it can be used with the readers' cover. I plan on permanently attaching the goosneck to the housing so I won't strain the connector and put a power switch to the circuit. If someone has a similar light and the option for a USB-Battery-adaptor (I found a brand called Revolt), the I think the whole thing could be made by just using a factory USB-Battery adaptor and the LED, utilizing the connector as the switch.

Battery durability:
If you take for example 4 AAA bats. with 1200 mAH you would get 4800 mAH at a voltage (using rechargable batteries) of 4.8V.
The lamp uses 150 mA (max). This gets us to 32 hours. As the voltage drops while using the batteries, there would be a time where the lamp just shuts down as the LEDs have a breakthrough voltage (I don't know where that is).
But lets say due to power drain the voltage drops below the breakthrough voltag after 1/3 of the time, you would still get 10 hours of continuous light.

Ok, sorry for the long post (and any typos)

palo · 03-03-2010, 05:16 PM

Actually when you hook the batteries in series to get 4.8 volts you would only have 1200mAH available.

If you want 4800 mAH of current available you would have to hook them up in parallel, but that would only produce 1.2 volts.

You can't have it both ways

p

Mike_73 · 03-04-2010, 12:58 AM

Ok, maybe I made a mistake here. Then go with AA and 2100mAH or more. I think you can get them up to somewhere around 3600mAH. Still pretty good.

03-03-2010, 12:36 AM	#1
m-reader Guru Posts: 785 Karma: 100000 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Sony PRS-300. PRS-650, PRS-900, iPad2, Iconia A500, Irex Iliad (sold)	Light cover - stonger LED? I have been using my PRS-900 for a few weeks now and the thing is simply fantastic. I have been reading an average of 1-2 hours per day and the battery is still going strong (more than half full still). As I tend to read in bed a fair bit, I use the light cover almost all the time while reading. Even in ambient light I find that a bit of additional light improves readability. I was wondering if anyone knew of a similar product (compact) that uses two or even three AAA batteries and a stronger LED light? I think that Sony could have made their light a little bit stronger for my taste. Any ideas? Cheers m-reader

03-03-2010, 03:40 PM	#13
Mike_73 Guru Posts: 750 Karma: 1323 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: PRS-505, PRS-600, iPad 16GB Wifi, Kindle Voyage, Nexus 6, Razr HD	Hi all, I just took pictures with my LED-light attached to a powered USB-Hub. I have them in a public album but don't know how to get the thumbnails in the post. So here is what you can do: -Click on my name on the left to get to my profile. -Click on the albums thumbnail on the right side of the page. This is the order of the pictures left to right: 1. LED-Light only to give a short glimpse on the lamp. When I picked the lamp up at an electronics store, I was fairly impressed by the array of LEDs. 2. Picture taken of the lamp over the reader, the lamp not powered. Desk lighting was on and still I had to use flash to get a good exposure without shake. 3. Picture taken without flash, just to show how shaky the picture got (so exposure time was very long) 4. I tried to capture the glare at the bottom of the screen (a really bad angle of the lamp for reading) just to show how bright the lamp is 5. Lamp angled so that the brightest spots get on the frame of the reader. The frame doesn't reflect the light so mirror like so that it's not blinding. Actually I found it pretty good and much better than the dim desk light (which has a low wattage) for reading. Pictures 4 and 5 were taken without any light in the room. So it really was pitch black, reader only lit by the 8LED-lamp. The 8LEDs make for pretty even distribution. My single LED lamp always showed vignetting so that the brightest spot had to be moved around depending on where I was just reading (top, middle, bottom). The single LED lamp also had a bright spot, but when angled to a convenient point on the frame, you would only get light on half the screen. Next step would be a housing for the batteries and USB-connector. Attaching some sort of clip to the housing so it can be used with the readers' cover. I plan on permanently attaching the goosneck to the housing so I won't strain the connector and put a power switch to the circuit. If someone has a similar light and the option for a USB-Battery-adaptor (I found a brand called Revolt), the I think the whole thing could be made by just using a factory USB-Battery adaptor and the LED, utilizing the connector as the switch. Battery durability: If you take for example 4 AAA bats. with 1200 mAH you would get 4800 mAH at a voltage (using rechargable batteries) of 4.8V. The lamp uses 150 mA (max). This gets us to 32 hours. As the voltage drops while using the batteries, there would be a time where the lamp just shuts down as the LEDs have a breakthrough voltage (I don't know where that is). But lets say due to power drain the voltage drops below the breakthrough voltag after 1/3 of the time, you would still get 10 hours of continuous light. Ok, sorry for the long post (and any typos) Last edited by Mike_73; 03-03-2010 at 04:02 PM.

03-04-2010, 12:58 AM	#15
Mike_73 Guru Posts: 750 Karma: 1323 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: PRS-505, PRS-600, iPad 16GB Wifi, Kindle Voyage, Nexus 6, Razr HD	Ok, maybe I made a mistake here. Then go with AA and 2100mAH or more. I think you can get them up to somewhere around 3600mAH. Still pretty good. Last edited by Mike_73; 03-04-2010 at 01:07 AM.

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03-03-2010, 01:36 AM	#2
Mike_73 Guru Posts: 750 Karma: 1323 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: PRS-505, PRS-600, iPad 16GB Wifi, Kindle Voyage, Nexus 6, Razr HD	I have a one LED Booklight which always didn't work properly as only the center of the screen was lit. I went out and bought a USB-Laptop light with 8 high power LEDs. I tried it plugged into the PC and the output was just awesome for reading. I'll go ahead and get me a Battery-USB adaptor (which are usually used to temporarily power your mobile gadgets) and make my own booklight. The LEDs are arranged in 1 row and the lamp has a goosneck which makes adjustment very easy. The 1 row arrangement makes for really even light from side to side and top to bottom. Now I just have to find the Battery-USB adaptor somewhere in a store. I'll check on that on Friday. If I get it done, I'll post some pics.

03-03-2010, 01:41 AM	#3
banjobama Busy Read'n Posts: 980 Karma: 5039283 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Auburn, WA Device: Pocketbook Touch Lux 5	I have a Mighty Bright Xtra flex 2 book light. I got it from Barnes and Noble. It uses AAA batteries and the LED light is incredibly, obnoxiously bright. It has two light settings, both of which are very very bright. It isn't attached to a cover but it has a clip you can use to attach it to the Reader or to the back of the cover you are using. I just need to emphasis that it is BRIGHT. lol.

03-03-2010, 03:22 AM	#6
Mike_73 Guru Posts: 750 Karma: 1323 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: PRS-505, PRS-600, iPad 16GB Wifi, Kindle Voyage, Nexus 6, Razr HD	I don't know if the current of the reader goes both ways. When the reader is connected to the PC, it gets charged, but I don't know if anything attached to the readers usb port will get any voltage (which I doubt). Good idea though. But I won't try as I would have to change the connector. There are several Battery-USB adapters out there, I just don't know if I can get them in Germany in a store. If not, I'll go and get a battery compartment and a USB port and build my own casing. I'm really looking forward to that. If I get it done, I'll also post an instructable on instructables.com. There you can find a leather pouch and a cup holder I made and posted so far.

03-03-2010, 06:44 AM	#8
Mike_73 Guru Posts: 750 Karma: 1323 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: PRS-505, PRS-600, iPad 16GB Wifi, Kindle Voyage, Nexus 6, Razr HD	I won't get anything diy-ed during the week, but I'll try to take a picture of the reader under the 8LED-Light and post those. This way you can see how it compares to the lights you know.

03-03-2010, 09:16 AM	#9
kc5cychris Connoisseur Posts: 53 Karma: 497152 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: South Georgia, USA Device: PRS-600, PRS-900	Mike how are your instructables listed? so that I may search them, have been unable to loacte the above metioned items. I too am an Electronic Tech and always interested in others inventions Chris

03-03-2010, 10:47 AM	#10
Mike_73 Guru Posts: 750 Karma: 1323 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: PRS-505, PRS-600, iPad 16GB Wifi, Kindle Voyage, Nexus 6, Razr HD	Chris, I've pm-ed you as this is kind of off-topic

03-03-2010, 05:16 PM	#14
palo Enthusiast Posts: 37 Karma: 28 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: Sony T2	Actually when you hook the batteries in series to get 4.8 volts you would only have 1200mAH available. If you want 4800 mAH of current available you would have to hook them up in parallel, but that would only produce 1.2 volts. You can't have it both ways p

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