Glass Jar Lantern (With Independent Power) 2026

Glass Jar Flashlight (Powered Independently), was inspired by watching sunlight refract through my glass water bottle one afternoon, and thinking it was a bit like carrying a jar full of light.

This brief moment of enlightenment sparked something in my mind that made me wonder how I could capture this experience more permanently.

While attempting to bottle the light may be a foolish task, he could at least attempt to recreate the sense of magic he had briefly experienced. After pondering several methods to achieve this, I decided to make a jar with a floating light bulb. The beauty of this seemingly impossible object is that the light bulb has no clear power source, but it seems very natural and familiar.

Step 1: Go get your things

You will need:

• 1 Glass Jar
• 1 CFL Bulb
• 1 disposable camera
• 1 AA battery holder
• 1 Switch
• 1 Roll of magnet wire

(Please note that some of the links on this page contain Amazon affiliate links. This does not change the price of any of the items for sale. If you would like an alternative suggestion for a supplier for any of the parts, please let me know.

Step 2: Open the disposable camera

• Open the disposable camera case. Note not to touch the large capacitor which could give you a good jolt.

Step 3: Cut the capacitor and flash

• Discharge the capacitor by connecting the wires with a long screwdriver that you don't care much about.
• Be careful not to touch the metal part of the screwdriver while doing this. Once downloaded, cut it off the board so it doesn't reload.
• Also, cut the flash tube from the circuit board.

Step 4: Hack a CFL

• Use a pair of diagonal cutting pliers to make a hole in the plastic body of a CFL bulb.
• Then use this hole to insert a screwdriver and gently pry up the base of the glass tube.
• Finally, uncoil the CFL tube wires from the posts on the circuit board.

Step 5: Bypass the switch

• Remove the pressure tab above the flash charging switch.
• Solder the switch terminals together.

Step 6: Prepare the CFL Bulb

• Cut the sheathing of the wires coming out of the CFL bulb with a razor blade.
• Coil the wires together and solder them.

Step 7: Remove Extra Parts

• Remove any protruding parts of the board, such as the terminals of thebattery. However, remember to take note of which terminals on the bottom of the board they are connected to for future reference.
• I also removed the cable that connects the top of the trigger transformer to the flash tube for a very high price.

Step 8: Cut Out the Circuit Board

• Trim corners that have unnecessary electronic traces (or no traces at all).

Step 9: Prepare the magnet wire

• Strip 1/2″ of the plastic coating from both ends of two 3″ pieces of magnetic wire with a razor blade.

Step 10: Hack a Camera Flash

• Now it is time to connect the cables to the board that will power the light.
• Solder the first magnetic wire to one of the terminals connected to the ground plane.
• Solder the other wire to the terminal of the inverting transformer to which the diode is connected.

If you are confused, a more practical way to solve this is to use clip-on jumper cables to connect the battery to the board. The board should now be live, so be careful of high voltages.

Using another wire, connect one of the bulb wires to ground. Finally, connect a fourth cable to the other battery cable. Briefly touch this wire at various points on the dashboard until the bulb comes on. Once it's on, you've found the right connection.

Step 11: Connect a switch

• Cut the red wire from the battery holder in half. Solder the cut pieces to the center terminal of the switch and the red wire still connected to the battery holder to the outer terminal of the switch.

Step 12: Drill the lid

• Drill a 3/16″ hole near the outside of the cover to mount the switch.

Step 13: Assemble the switch

• Pass the switch up through the bottom of the cover and secure it in place with its mounting nut.

Step 14: Connect power to the camera flash

• Solder the red wire from the switch to the point on the camera flash circuit board where the positive battery terminal was connected.
• Solder the black wire to ground.

Step 15: Hot Glue

• While I'm not normally a fan of hot glue, it is the perfect adhesive for attaching the circuit board and battery holder to the inside of the lid.
• Center them inside the lid and then glue them in place as flush with the lid as possible.
• Use a generous amount of glue, but be careful not to get anything on the inside edge of the lid or it won't close.

Step 16: Connect the bulb

• Solder one of the magnetic wires to each of the CFL bulb wires.

Step 17: Insert the battery

• Insert the battery into the battery holder.

Step 18: Screw on the bottle

• Turn the lid onto the jar.

Step 19: Turn it on!

• If the flashlight is not already on, turn it on by pressing the switch.

Step 20: Illuminate the darkness

More ideas:

Go ahead and take advantage of your new flashlight.

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