The typical night light isn't something new, and many have been on the market for some time. However making your own version is fun and also gives you that level of customisation that nothing else can. This has been demonstrated nicely by Jordan Heywood with his Arduino-powered night light. His system controls a popular RGB LED strip, and not only activates the LEDs upon movement being detected, but also checks for existing ambient light to save electricity and allows for pleasing lighting effects, for example:
The LED control circuit has been transformed into a custom Arduino shield, however you can recreate your own or have a PCB made using the files from Jordan's project website - so click here to get started. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
When adding your own external circuitry to work with your Arduino or compatible board, don't mount a breadboard in the final project! Instead, consider our range of ProtoShields. From the tiny LeoStick to the Mega range, we offer a complete range for you to work with.