Poundlands 2021 Halloween lights (and USB hack)

The local Poundland has been struggling with some stock this year due to the effects of covid and brexit. I picked an item from their meagre display for us to explore and hack.

This is a string of orange phosphor based LED lights. They are actually a blue/UV LED being used to stimulate a layer of orange phosphor to give a brighter and richer colour than classic orange LEDs. It's a really nice soft orange with a hint of pink.

To make the modification for guilt free running with USB chargers instead of batteries, I added a 10 ohm quarter watt resistor in series with each of the two wires. That results in a current of 100mA and total power dissipation of about half a watt. The current is high enough that it should prevent most "intelligent" USB power banks from going into standby.

You can adjust the intensity/current by using different resistors. Using 5.6 ohm resistors would increase the intensity and using 22 ohm resistors would decrease it.

The components needed are:-
String of chosen parallel LEDs
Two 10 ohm resistors
Salvaged USB cable
2"/50mm of 2.4mm diameter heat shrink

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