Taslim Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hi. There have been some threads about on fitting LED lighting. Rather than hijack Serenity Malcs' thread I am opening this one . A first for me. My chum is fitting out a van as 'live aboard' & being tight by nature he wants to do a sound job but at low cost. Re cycled materials etc but it needs to work properly & look decent too. I've just sorted the lighting. The bits were bought last week, and now I'm snowed in so.... Light Stew. Ingredients. 4x £ Shop 9 LED aluminum torches. 30mm Dia x 90mm. I chose red ones but other colours are available. £4 2x £ Shop 5 LED USB powered swan neck (flexi) lights. £2 4x £ Shop little swivel head camera tripods. £4 (Other discount stores can offer similar etc etc.) 6x voltage regulators of the ZR or LMS type. 4x 3.3 Volt o/p, 2x 5Volt £13 inc postage 6x 100nf 60V capacitors £2 postage included with regs 6x 100mf 16V capacitors £3 as above 1.5 wire Well.. it was all we had. 4 bits of Mecano. We chose yellow to 'match' the van lining. Nicked it from the kids toy box. Heat shrink stuff. £1 1x in line fuse (Halfrogs) £2.35 (robbing g***) 2x USB sockets Donation from dead computer TOTAL £31.35 Method. Torches. Remove the legs from the swivel head tripods. Put legs in the 'it might be useful one day' box. screw Mecano where the legs were. Drill & tap the torch bodys to suit the camera thread on the swively bit and assemble & screw in the swivel bit with a good blob of epoxy gunk. Build the regulators (3.3V) sleeve it with heat shrink & fit in torch body. Big capacitors on output side) Google for info on the regulator you use and typical layouts are on other threads on this forum. You now have 4 switchable 10/20V spotlights. Strip lights. Build regulator onto USB socket, heat sleeve, screw to wall, plug in light. They are switched from a wall fitting. The lamps are mounted above the table/desk and are easily good enough to read by. Bonn Apatite. Is this the onset of cabin fever? Seriously though, I ran them up ( thrashed them! ) on my bench power supply & got a good result. time will tell if they last but it was fun to do. The installation looks good & and works. I will try to put up 'photos but don't hold your breath. taslim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Malc Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 (edited) Yello, Most 12v LED's will run from a few volts to 30V .... so I can't see why you'd want to faff about with voltage regulation on such a shoe string set up. This my 'cheap' 12V lighting solution ... for now, as they happen to match my 240V lights as well. 6 x stainless switched adjustable bullet spots ... proper GU10 240v fittings £57 delivered. 6 x 12v GU10 warm white LED lamps £15 delivered. Wire them up and enjoy ! Malc. Edited January 24, 2013 by Serenity Malc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Yello, Most 12v LED's will run from a few volts to 30V .... so I can't see why you'd want to faff about with voltage regulation on such a shoe string set up. 6 x stainless switched adjustable bullet spots ... proper GU10 240v fittings £57 delivered. 6 x 12v GU10 LED lamps £15 delivered. Wire them up and enjoy ! Malc. Madness! I can get a hundred IKEA tealights and a box of Swan 'strike on the seat of yer pants' Vestas for far less than that! Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Malc Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Yello, Sniggering ...... Fork handles ! Malc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taslim Posted January 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Madness! I can get a hundred IKEA tealights and a box of Swan 'strike on the seat of yer pants' Vestas for far less than that! Richard When I was a lad........... S M got some useful kit there but my chum was playing a different game. 'Photos of the fittings are off for now since,as soon as I fitted the multi fuel ( former gas cylinder) stove he hit the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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