Altenergy
Here's How John Thomas Made His Own LED Lights with the LED Lightboard
posted Tuesday, 16 May 2006
John Thomas, from Montana, sent in these photos showing his LED lighting project in his recreational travel trailer. As John says, he bought a bazillion LEDs, about 15,000 mcd each, and proceeded to mount them on lightboards. He used velcro tape to install the LED lightboards in the light fixtures.
Four 100 watt solar panels are mounted on the roof of John's 33 foot trailer. They feed four big Optima gel cells through a 22 amp charge controller. John has an inverter to convert the battery power to 12vac for a tv, stereo, and satellite dish, but other than that he runs on 12 volts dc.
"I haven't figured out all the power requirements," John says, "but I do know that 4 LED lights ( each with 40 LEDs) uses the same power as one incandescent bulb (12v). The motors that pull out the trailer's slideouts draws a lot of power from the batteries, but the solar panels will pump out the full 22 amps and charge up the batteries in a matter of minutes in full sun, a little longer with clouds. After that we can use all the lights/fans/tv we want (within reason of course -- don't waste the power!)."
LEDs are notorious for their highly focused lightbeam, making them a good choice for task lighting, but less effective as general lighting. John has effectively "spread out" the light by mounting the LEDs on the Lightboard so he can bend them as shown below. Angling the outer rows will broaden the area of illumination.
Four 100 watt solar panels are mounted on the roof of John's 33 foot trailer. They feed four big Optima gel cells through a 22 amp charge controller. John has an inverter to convert the battery power to 12vac for a tv, stereo, and satellite dish, but other than that he runs on 12 volts dc.
"I haven't figured out all the power requirements," John says, "but I do know that 4 LED lights ( each with 40 LEDs) uses the same power as one incandescent bulb (12v). The motors that pull out the trailer's slideouts draws a lot of power from the batteries, but the solar panels will pump out the full 22 amps and charge up the batteries in a matter of minutes in full sun, a little longer with clouds. After that we can use all the lights/fans/tv we want (within reason of course -- don't waste the power!)."
LEDs are notorious for their highly focused lightbeam, making them a good choice for task lighting, but less effective as general lighting. John has effectively "spread out" the light by mounting the LEDs on the Lightboard so he can bend them as shown below. Angling the outer rows will broaden the area of illumination.
John powers his lightboards straight off the trailer dc coming from his converter, which is fairly well regulated between 11.5 and 12.5 volts.
An astronomer and president of the Central Montana Astronomy Society, John put red LEDs on one lightboard which he uses in his observatory. He found the red light was too bright running the board at the same voltage as his other boards so he corrected it by doubling his resistance value.
"I have replaced all the trailer's light, from the fridge to the storage area, with LEDs and even replaced all the trailer's marker and tail lights with LEDs (store bought) to lighten the load on the truck's electrical system and just to have bulbs that will LAST!" said John.
Thank you, John Thomas, for sharing your wonderful ideas here at Altenergy. Readers may follow this link to a full description and ordering information for the LED Lightboard. You might also wish to view the complete Lightboard assembly instructions.
An astronomer and president of the Central Montana Astronomy Society, John put red LEDs on one lightboard which he uses in his observatory. He found the red light was too bright running the board at the same voltage as his other boards so he corrected it by doubling his resistance value.
"I have replaced all the trailer's light, from the fridge to the storage area, with LEDs and even replaced all the trailer's marker and tail lights with LEDs (store bought) to lighten the load on the truck's electrical system and just to have bulbs that will LAST!" said John.
Thank you, John Thomas, for sharing your wonderful ideas here at Altenergy. Readers may follow this link to a full description and ordering information for the LED Lightboard. You might also wish to view the complete Lightboard assembly instructions.
PLEASE SEND A COMMENT (2)
1. Earth Day Network left...
Thursday, 29 June 2006 3:49 pm :: http://spaces.msn.com/earthdaynetwork
Great posting... I love to see ideas on Green interior designing!
Keep up the good work and check out out blog if you have time!
2. craig sparks left...
Monday, 5 January 2009 12:25 am :: http://www.wildnaturesolutions.com
Love this story!! Nice Work!
Please check us out at:
www.wildnaturesolutions.com
we have all the parts and pieces that us builders need!
thankx!