My obsession with my invention started while watching an episode of “The American Inventor”.  Or was it the invention project my step-daughter Kelsey was assigned at school?  Maybe it was the stubbed toe on the laundry basket.  Whatever the triggers were, the result has been that I’ve been consumed with building a better “mouse trap” and pulling my friends and family along for the ride over the last 2 years.  It’s been a creative outlet and source of enjoyment for me and hopefully my family.

While watching “The American Inventor”, my son Davis looked up with those wide, curious, blue eyes and said “Dad, we can invent something WAY better.”  I have to admit, I was thinking the same thing.  Some of the inventions on the show seemed like a complete waste of time, money, and energy.  Disposable bed sheets?  A bicycle with a seat on the handle bars?  A bib to wear in the car when you are eating?  Come on!  “Okay son, let’s do it”, I said half heartedly.   Soon after that, ideas began to float around at the dinner table or in the car.  How about an electric matt to keep the dogs off of the furniture? Or a folding backpack equipped with everything you need for school, etc.  We quickly realized that coming up with a viable product was harder than it looked.  Either it was already in the marketplace or it was just a bad idea! 

Our invention ideas went into the back of my brain and laid there swirling around for awhile. Then, it was a late night trip to the bathroom that began to set the real wheels in motion.  As I pulled myself out of bed in a sleeping stupor and shuffled off to do my business, I had to flip on our Bright as the SUN, overhead bathroom light!  I was immediately shocked into a fully awake, and ticked-off, state.  I felt like I was in the psycho movie with the blaring screechy music ringing in my ears! I decided that I did not want to ever be awakened or shocked by blinding light again.  So the next night I did away with the lights altogether.   After going to the bathroom by brail for the next several weeks, my wife indicated that this was not going to be a good long term solution unless I would like to start cleaning the bathroom on a daily basis!   

I then started to look for nightlights of any kind to help solve my little problem.  Unsightly, socket sucking, and cheesy were the only things I could find.  So I went about building my own.  I went to Target and bought a $7 LED lamp and started to use it.  Because my toilet is in a room without any electrical outlets, I attached an extension cord to the light and ran it into the bathroom.  Functional, but not very nice to look at.  Lets just say, my wife was not pleased with this solution either.

It occurred to me that the light needed to be portable; battery operated and have some motion activation to make it right.  I researched on the web and found components that would allow me to modify the $7 Target light and make it what I envisioned as the perfect solution.  It was the first time since I left college in 1987 that I actually used my electrical engineering degree.  I found my old electronics tackle box with test equipment and went about designing the circuitry for my “smart” light.  It was about this time, I told the family.

After the laughter died down, they were enthusiastic and very supportive.  We started brainstorming on a name for the product – the “bowls-eye” and the “p-light” were the top contenders.  We unofficially started calling it the p-light because, yes, it helps you see when you go for a pee!  And thus began my obsession with building the best ”p-light” known to mankind!

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