LED Strip light Test

[Witblits]

I need a 101 course in installing these things in the bakkie, in the house. Transformers, controllers?? Please help.

[tersmit]

Morning All
This morning we are sitting at 12.27 volts.

[OOOOMS]

I need a 101 course in installing these things in the bakkie, in the house. Transformers, controllers?? Please help.

Sorry...a bit off Topic....
Hi Andre, it is quite simple actually:

Automotive:
Solar Panel------> Controller------> Battery------->12v Lights

Home:
Solar Panel------> Controller------>DB------->Battery------->Inverter------>220v Lights/plugs
or
Solar Panel------> Controller------>DB------->Battery------>12v Lights
(The above 'home' installation should be signed off by a qualified electrician and DB if installed must be separate from existing)

http://solarenergylive.com/solar_panel_installation.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.solarpanelinfo.com/installation/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.solarexpert.com/instroof5.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mud Dog]

Hmmm .... Tertius, it's dropping by one percentage point per 24 hrs ..... at this rate Pieter's battery may have performed better.

[tersmit]

It does appear that way !
The Battery I am testing with now is only about 6 months old. Newer than the High Cycle Batteries.

[Mud Dog]

Should be interesting. What is the difference between 'High Cycle' and 'Deep Cycle'?

[tersmit]

# Deep cycle batteries are designed to be discharged down as much as 80% time after time, and have much thicker plates. The major difference between a true deep cycle battery and others is that the plates are SOLID Lead plates - not sponge. This gives less surface area, thus less "instant" power like starting batteries need. Although these an be cycled down to 20% charge, the best lifespan vs cost method is to keep the average cycle at about 50% discharge.

[Family_Dog]

Hmmm .... Tertius, it's dropping by one percentage point per 24 hrs ..... at this rate Pieter's battery may have performed better.

Not really. The original battery voltage was measured immediately after removal of the charger. Best would have been to wait a few hours (up to a day) so that the battery could settle down to the correct 12.6 - 12.8v level before commencement of the test.


-F_D

[tersmit]

Morning
I am a bit late this mornig
But we are sitting at 12.14V this morning

[tersmit]

This Morning we are at 12.03V.

[tersmit]

This mornig we are at 11.93V, which should be enough to start a car with.
That would mean that the 110a/h Deep Cycle battery Lasted 144 hours !!. THis is 24 hours less than Pieter's test with the High Cycle. PLease note the High Cycle is 102a/h and the Deep Cycle is 110a/h
Now i do understand that some believe that the fact that the charger was taken off moments before the test started, but I really do not think it would have made such a big difference, in fact, it might not have made it 144hours if i had taken the charger off earlier.
I will run it a bit longer to see how close i can get it to 11.91V

[CasKru]

Very interesting indeed

[Niel]

Tertius, doen dieselfde toets maar met dieselfde omstandighede as Pieter se toets

[tersmit]

Met ander woorde, laai die battery vol, los hom virri dag en dan doen weer die toets ?
Ek dink nie dit gaan 'n groot verskil maak nie

[cprinsloo]

My attempt at a camping light:

[ChrisSwart]

Why dont you run it down to about 50% to simulate running lights of a dual battery system? It will be interresting to see how long it will last as a lot of guys will run lights of dual battery systems where starting a car of the seccond battery is not nessecery.

[tersmit]

Hi Chris
We are simulating it, as I removed one of my auxiliary batteries, and connected the light to it

[CasKru]

My attempt at a camping light:

Baie oorspronklik en ek dink daai kan nogal goed werk

[george]

My attempt at a camping light:

Baie oorspronklik en ek dink daai kan nogal goed werk

10/10. Gaan vir my ook een maak

[pietpetoors]

Tertius, how old is your battery?

[tersmit]

About 6 months

[FUDGES]

Iets maak nie sin nie of ons is al die jare om die bos gely???

[tersmit]

Ek het nou net noggi led strip bestel, selle as die een waarmee ons toets
Ek het nog 'n spaar high Cycle(selle as wat Pieter gebruik het).

Ek gaan die toets oor doen. Maar die keer loop ek die toets gelyk.
Dan sal ek weer die lesings elke dag vat tot dit by 11.91V kom, en dan die findings post

[FUDGES]

Dit klink na n blink idee!

[pietpetoors]

Dis reg Tertius, charge both batteries so long so you know they are fully charged by the time the strip arrives

[tersmit]

Will Start charging them at about lunch time

[george]

Here's my attempt at a camp light.This will be for my caravan with a 10m lead. i used one of my old florescent lights casings.
Next i am going to convert an old camping light with a battery.Also those florecent types that you recharge.I just opened the old one and saw that the battery is 6V :problem: I am going to look for the smallest 12 V rechargeable battery I can find.
Just a question.If I have a 12V rechargeable battery.Does it require just straight 12V input or do you need some clever recharge circuitry to recharge the battery?
Also what if I add a reflective cover at the top.Do you guys think I will have more light at the ground

led (Small).JPG (32.63 KiB) Viewed 2730 times

[ThysdJ]

I made one similar to that George, only difference is my LED's are inside the plastic tube. It works 100%..

[Mud Dog]

Fooled about a little with some LED strips and connected to the park lights ....... With the flash the LED light is counteracted, but you can see where I placed the strip.

Without the flash it's a little underexposed in the failing light of early evening, but you can get an idea of what it looks like.

In the dark the light from the LED's reflect off the H4 lamp reflector and illuminate the whole lamp area ..... looks like there is a light on inside, but of course there isn't .... should work well on rainy days and low light conditions so that you can be seen without having to use headlamps.

IMG_6006.JPG

(23.39 KiB) Downloaded 196 times

IMG_6005.JPG

(22.47 KiB) Downloaded 48 times

Still want to put in some canopy lights and under the bonnet for engine bay light, each on it's own toggle switch. Then perhaps some courtesy lights under the doors that come on with the door switch when the door is opened.

[Niel]

Andy, did you use the sticky tape at the back of the strip or additional adhesive, to secure the strip?

[CasKru]

Andy, did you use the sticky tape at the back of the strip or additional adhesive, to secure the strip?

Yes

[Mud Dog]

Yes, no additional adhesive (just cleaned the surface with benzine first) ..... still not sure that I will leave them there, so it will be easier to remove. If I decide to leave it as a permanent fixture, then I will re-glue if it starts lifting.

[pietpetoors]

Here is my version of the conversion of the old fluorescent work light into a LED work light:

I took the fluorsecent tube out, replaced it with a 330mm long 20mm diameter electrical conduit and stuck 3x 300mm long 5050 strips on it. The LEDs on the strips have a 120 degree beam angle so by placing the strips 120 degrees from each other gives you an even light all around

One mistake I made was to stick it so that the soldered ends was on the conduit as well. Because the end product is such a tight fit when you put it back into the sleeve, it did not fit when I wanted to put it into the sleeve. So I had to remove it again and stick the strips so that the joints are not on the conduit.

Picture of wrong poistion of strips


Picture of counduit with LED Strips inside the existing sleeve


The end product

[tersmit]

Die nuwe toets het sopas begin
110a/h Deep Cycle : 12.72V
102a/h High Cycle: 12.52 V
@ 19:00 27/02/2011

[george]

is there an easy way of running the strip from 6volts.The reason is I got a camping lantern that have a 6volt battery. Wouldn't mind converting that.

[pietpetoors]

You can run it but it will be weak, vlou, nie helder nie

[Family_Dog]

Change the value of the resistors, seems they are 220 ohms now so use 120 ohms. But try it on a small strip first.

Tricky, but certainly possible.


-F_D