A number of years ago, I was on a team of support engineers that won our company’s international vision award. A nice honor!

Part of the award, was a trophy that resembled a stylized lighthouse. As a vision company, we literally made products that helped people to “see the light.”

I fully expected that the lighthouse award would actually light up – but it did not. Well, the award went on the shelf and there it remained for years.

So, a lighthouse without light is simply a ‘dust catcher.’

Just before I left the company, I decided that the ‘dust catcher’ award needed to “light up.” I asked a friend if he could ‘mill out’ the bottom of the award, and drill a hole up through the center for me.

Here is the bottom of the award milled out, and you can see a hole in the center as well.

I assembled the needed tools and parts to bring a little more light into the world.

The only parts needed are an LED, a resistor, a switch, some wire and a battery. The LED is a Light Emitting Diode. The resistor limits the current from the battery, preventing the diode from burning out.

Below is the simple circuit with illuminated LED, and a bottom view showing the parts installed. It was a bit tricky feeding the LED and wires up through the center of the lighthouse, but I was able to get the job done.

Here is the lighthouse lit up, as it should have been the day it was presented.

Moral: Don’t sit around collecting dust – Go out and seek the light!