The Easy Way to Make Wireless LEDs for Fun and Profit

We have all collectively developed an ingrained idea that electronics need power supplied through wires, batteries, or maybe solar panels. All of those are obvious and visible. So, it kind of messes with your brain when you see something that is clearly electronic, but lacks a noticeable power source. That is definitely the case with wireless LEDs and Myth Made has a fantastic video demonstrating how to make them easily on a miniscule budget.

Wireless LEDs are exactly what they sound like. They’re little LEDs that illuminate without any wires or obvious power source. The word “obvious” there was doing a lot of heavy lifting, because there is a power source, of course. The LEDs get their power from inductive transfer, AKA “wireless charging” like your phone uses.

Inductive power transfer works because the primary coil has a conventional power source and induces a current in the secondary coil without making physical contact. The secondary coil, which feeds the LED, can be very small. So small, in fact, that such coils are available for purchase as tiny SMD (surface-mount device) components.

These wireless LEDs, as designed by Myth Made, each have one SMD coil, one SMD LED, and one SMD capacitor to smooth out power delivery. Because those are all so small, the complete package is roughly the size of a conventional through-hole LED.

Surprisingly, it is also easy to assemble those packages in large quantities. The SMD coils come with their pads pre-tinned. All you need to do is put some flux on the pads, stick an SMD LED and SMD capacitor across them in parallel, then pop the assembly in a reflow oven (or toaster oven) to melt the solder and get good joints. You can put dozens of them in the oven at a time for maximum efficiency.

The best part is that this is all very affordable. If you live somewhere that allows for cheap component sourcing, you can easily get the price per completed wireless LED down below $0.10 USD, which is pretty amazing considering how magical they are.