Led strip lights

[Feeby100]

Hello 

right I am going to finish my lighting and I want led strip light the stuff come in a roll.

now will this be ok on a 12 v system wired in to my wires I have left out of wall

And with the battery charger coming on it put the voltage up to maybe 14 v ish 

will this burn them out I know they won’t last as long as just no higher v 

 

[dmr]

Most (all) LED striplights specify a good 12volt supply. I don't know just how fussy they really are but the charging voltage (probably 14.6) and other voltage spikes would be a big risk. There are various 12volt stabilisers available but they are quite big and costly (maybe £20 ish), though there are little bare chinese circuit boards on eBay for a lot less.

Another option might be to fit a USB power socket and get a USB striplight.

[blackrose]

You need to check the the LED strip lights have voltage regulation built in, otherwise you need to fit an external voltage regulator. Without regulation the LEDs may burn out so quickly you won't even see it.

 

Have a look at the products available on the Bedazzled website. You may find lights cheaper elsewhere but everything they sell has internal voltage regulation and the quality of their stuff is good.

Edited March 13, 2023 by blackrose

[BEngo]

The other thing you want in addition to a voltage regulator is a fuse built into the LED lamp unit or light strip.  That way,  if the LED fails short circuit there will be circuit protection.  Often the cables are quite capable of carrying much more than  the operating current  of LED because they were originally installed for incandescent or halogen lamps.

 

N

[steve hayes]

We fitted a cheapo colour changing / selectable led strip years ago, wired to the 12v circuit. No problems at all. At the end of the day it was a few quid.

[CanalRiverHub]

I did the same as the poster above. Just wired the colour changing led strip in several years ago and its still good today.

[GUMPY]

I use these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362255962936?

Low drop out regulators mounted to the metal housing on my strip lights when I converted them from tubes. 

With this striplight

https://amzn.eu/d/fVsDb8K

Edited March 13, 2023 by Loddon

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, Loddon said:

I use these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362255962936?

Low drop out regulators mounted to the metal housing on my strip lights when I converted them from tubes. 

With this striplight

https://amzn.eu/d/fVsDb8K

Graham converted some of his fluorescent fittings to LED using the tape ones and they didn't last long at all, he redid them with a voltage regulator in the fittings.

The long strings are quite current hungry, I popped a power supply at home because I didn't check what they drew.  

[nicknorman]

We fitted some RGB led tape via a controller that limited voltage. We then fitted quite a lot more white LED tape fed direct from the battery/alternator/charger. I was a bit concerned about feeding them with 14.4v when cruising, but several years later they are still fine, possibly because the copper tape is good at conducting the heat away from the little current limiting SM resistors. Whereas some cheapo led bulbs I got for the caravan are most unhappy when the voltage goes up a bit towards 14v -  they struggle to dissipate the heat.

 

So in summary, it’s likely that LED tape fed directly from the battery will be fine.

[MtB]

4 hours ago, BEngo said:

Often the cables are quite capable of carrying much more than  the operating current  of LED because they were originally installed for incandescent or halogen lamps.

 

 

Point of Order yer 'onner....

 

Halogen lamps ARE incandescent! 

 

Aren't they??

[Jen-in-Wellies]

7 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Point of Order yer 'onner....

 

Halogen lamps ARE incandescent! 

 

Aren't they??

Excellent pedantic point. Yes they are. I didn't know how they worked, other than there was some halogens present in the gas inside the bulb, so looked it up. That counts as the something new I've learnt today and it isn't 8am yet. 😀

Jen

[GUMPY]

9 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Graham converted some of his fluorescent fittings to LED using the tape ones and they didn't last long at all, he redid them with a voltage regulator in the fittings.

The long strings are quite current hungry, I popped a power supply at home because I didn't check what they drew.  

Hence the reason I used the regulator for 18" of tape 🥴

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Excellent pedantic point. Yes they are. I didn't know how they worked, other than there was some halogens present in the gas inside the bulb, so looked it up. That counts as the something new I've learnt today and it isn't 8am yet. 😀

Jen

 

Yes I was curious a few years back about someone claiming halogen lamps were high tech low power yada yada so I looked it up, and they simply aren't! They are ordinary incandescent filaments which the halogen gas allows to burn hotter and therefore whiter. That's about it really, IIRC.

 

 

[David Mack]

28 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Yes I was curious a few years back about someone claiming halogen lamps were high tech low power yada yada so I looked it up, and they simply aren't! They are ordinary incandescent filaments which the halogen gas allows to burn hotter and therefore whiter. That's about it really, IIRC.

 

 

Found on t'internet:

"Regular incandescent light bulbs are filled with a combination of argon (93%) and nitrogen (7%). Argon is chemically inert, the higher vapor pressure reduces evaporation of the tungsten filament, and its low thermal conductivity reduces conductive cooling of the filament. However, since argon has a comparative low breakdown voltage, a small amount of nitrogen is added to prevent arcing between filament supports. Some high-intensity projection bulbs may use pure nitrogen to prevent arcing between closely-spaced lamp electrodes. If a vacuum was used instead, evaporation would reduce the diameter of the filament over time while redepositing a darker layer of tungsten onto the inner surface of the bulb. Both of these phenomena would shorten the useful life of the lamp.

Certain high-brightness "halogen" bulbs use a mixture of argon and a small amount of a halogen, typically bromine or iodine. The gaseous halogen combines with evaporated tungsten, and the resulting tungsten-halogen compound then breaks down upon contact with the hot filament, redepositing the evaporated tungsten back onto the filament. This process, called the "halogen cycle", allows the filament to run more reliably at a higher temperature than a normal incandescent lamp. However, because of the higher operating temperature, the envelope is typically made from quartz instead of glass."

[Feeby100]

Ok thank for advice 

I going to order what loddon stated

and give that a go 

I may fit from 12 v fuse box a voltage Stabiliser if that would work for them so then the whole wiring system will have to stabilise at the beginning

[GUMPY]

17 minutes ago, Feeby100 said:

Ok thank for advice 

I going to order what loddon stated

and give that a go 

I may fit from 12 v fuse box a voltage Stabiliser if that would work for them so then the whole wiring system will have to stabilise at the beginning

You will need to check the maximum length you can put on each regulator, mine was a retrofit into existing lights so only about 18" of led on each regulator. 

[Feeby100]

Ok I find out thanks 

[Tony Brooks]

3 hours ago, Feeby100 said:

Ok thank for advice 

I going to order what loddon stated

and give that a go 

I may fit from 12 v fuse box a voltage Stabiliser if that would work for them so then the whole wiring system will have to stabilise at the beginning

 

Not sure if I fully understand what you actually mean, but voltage stabilisers may well have a current rating and the higher that is the more expensive. You only need to stabilise the circuits using the LEDs. Not a lot of point in stabilising the water pump supply, in fact it is likely to be not so good, a car radio, or ordinary bulb lamps.

[GUMPY]

You should be able use 3m of strip per regulator.

3m is 9.6 watts

Since Watts / Volts = Amps

9.6W/12V = 0.8A

Each regulator is 1Amp with a heatsink.

[ditchcrawler]

Take care what you buy, some are quite high current