Full_Tilt_Boogie

iTrader: (1)

If you think need that many LEDs I would say to hell with the LED strip and go to some high watt single LEDs with a constant current buck-boost driver. This will be a lot more efficient than 2000 LEDs with ~666 resistors wasting power as heat.

A 1W LED puts off quite a bit of light. I dont know how big your shed is, but it would have to be pretty damn big to need more than a handful of them.

y8s

iTrader: (8)

I haven't shopped for high current LEDs much. I'm familiar with the Osram OSTAR and that's about it. 500-700 lumens?

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors - Product Catalog

Full_Tilt_Boogie

iTrader: (1)

You sure you need 8000 lumens in your shed? Is it a warehouse?

I think these are pretty cool:
10W 20W 30W 50W LED Flood Light White Warm White High Power Outdoor Spotlights | eBay

Those numbers are probably measured in Chinese-lumens, but regardless, I would imagine even the 10 watt would put off some light. Id love to see how a couple of 10 or 20 watts would look trying to light up a 2 car garage. I havent seen many decent pictures showing the effectiveness of this kind of lighting, so maybe Im overestimating it.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I have a 2 watt LED headlamp on my bike. It throws a reasonably strong beam, albeit in a relatively narrow pattern.

I could see a 10 watt lamp with a broader throw putting out some decent illumination.

fooger03

iTrader: (2)

Step 1: order some bright, white, 3v LEDs on EBay - they should be between 2 and 5 cents a piece - $100 should get you no fewer than 2000 LEDs.

Step 2: buy a good solder gun and a spool or two of solder at your local radio shack

Step 3: buy a flat insulating medium - in the past I've used styrofoam or heavy duty flexible plastic. If you don't overvolt the 3v LEDs, you shouldn't have issues with heat.

Step 4: push the LEDs into your insulating medium from back to front. If you bought a thin plastic type medium (such as a landscaping border), drive an awl through the plastic to create a hole, then push your LED through the plastic. With a 3v LED, you'll want to set them 4 across, then you can go in rows of 4 all the way to kingdom come.

Step 5: Solder together your rows of 4 LEDs, connecting the + terminal of one LED to the - terminal of the next. You want all of your rows-of-four to have a single + terminal on one side of the medium, and a - terminal on the other side of the medium, with 3 Solder joints per row-of-four.

Step 6: run a wire down each side of the medium such that one wire connects to all the unconnected + leads, and the other wire runs to all the unconnected - leads. connect all the leads to these wires.

Step 7: Connect 12v battery, enjoy.

Step 8 (Optional): insulate/secure the wire side of the medium. Hot glue not only acts as a fantastic and flexible adhesive, but is also a good insulator. You can also use insulation of your choice.

Your end product should be a long flat strip, with all of the electrical wiring and connections on one side of the flat strip, and all of the light bulbs poking through to the other side of the flat strip providing light. Wiring four 3-volt lights in series will natively run on 12 volts of power. Running 100 of these low-amp (maybe 0.001 amp max?) 12-v sets in parallel will put you at about 1 amp of current draw if my math is correct... assuming 30ma of current per bulb.

y8s

iTrader: (8)

I'm not sure I do need 8000 lumens. That link was specifically for garage general lighting on a garage forum where, I suspect, they were estimating the high end of the high end for rich people in a garage with $30,000 in cabinets with stainless steel fronts.

I was thinking two 10 foot strips of the ultra bright product would be a great start. Or maybe 10 two foot strips spread out on my ceiling joists. Or something like that.

Creating it all from scratch with a soldering iron is something I will do when I am fired and the economy refuses to let me get a job ever again.

Also hot glue on styrofoam is just trolling!

Just like providing links to AC powered LED lights.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

I want every bulb in my house to be at least 1000 lumens. federal law prevents me from being able to acheive this goal.

Full_Tilt_Boogie

iTrader: (1)

Oops, lol

Im starting to like the buried extension cord idea more and more.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

props.

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

Nobody has mentioned the Harbor Freight solution yet, so I'll throw it out there:

Solar Panel Kit - Save on this 45 Watt Solar Panel Kit

Think that kit is kinda based around the idea you're attempting to achieve at a pretty reasonable price point? Btw, that's a beautiful kitchen... dat tile...

Full_Tilt_Boogie

iTrader: (1)

So that delivers 45 watts at peak sunlight


a typical 50 ft extension cord could easily deliver 150 watts

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

Correct, however you setup a few deep cycle batteries in parallel and it'll keep them topped off nicely and 100% "off the grid."

y8s

iTrader: (8)

dats what I'm talkin about. too bad they wont do a charge controller instead of an inverter.

your reward is my tile supplier's URL:
Glass Tile | Custom Mosaic Glass Tile at Susan Jablon Mosaics, LLC

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

brb, gotta fap...

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

ZING!




http://www.harborfreight.com/7-amp-s...tor-96728.html

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

I still dont understand what's so wrong with an extension cord.

y8s

iTrader: (8)

I saw that. HOWEVER

if I buy the kit you linked above, I get a shitty inverter with it.

if I buy the panels separately, I pay almost as much as I do if I get the shitty inverter kit.

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

Did a little more digging and found an ebay seller who offers a 40 watt 12 vdc panel for $75 each with free shipping, you could double the gigggga watts for $150 if you so desired.

Solar Panel Mono Crystalline 40 60 80 100 120 Watts Grade A UL CE TUV | eBay

Also found a 30Amp regulator for $45.00 with free shipping:

30A Solar Panel Charge Controller Regulator SOLAR30 30A 12V 24V Auto 360W 720W | eBay


Granted I don't use solar to charge them, however I've got a bank (20) of SLA (Sealed Lead Acid) 12 volt batteries wired in parallel connected to a 100 amp desktop power supply with a diode between the batteries and power supply. From what I've read this method isn't preferred if the batteries are discharged a significant amount because my supply isn't current limiting, and overcurrent charge can limit the capacity of the batteries, however they're not fully discharged very frequently so I haven't had to worry about it. Picked up the bunch of batteries for around $50 from a local Hamfest, most of them appear to be in fairly good condition capacity wise. Better choice would be deep cycle marine batteries, but you get the point.

Maybe that helps a little?

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Huh?

From what I read, they are merely suggesting that you can add an inverter to the system to produce 120v.

"Requires 12 volt storage battery and 300 watt power inverter (sold separately)."

If you just want 12v DC out of it, I get the impression it will do that all by itself. Though it's not obvious to me that what they supply really counts as a "charge controller." Aside from the cryptic warning not to leave batteries unattended while charging, it simply notes that it has a 14.5v cutoff. Who knows how it actually behaves in real life...

y8s

iTrader: (8)

i didn't ZOOM and ENHANCE. I just saw something that looked like every other inverter I've ever seen what with the extruded chassis.

Cheap panels plus a reliable charge controller and some cheap SLAs would be adequate, no?