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LED strip lighting for small solar power systems
Started by aspen, Apr 01 2012 01:31 PM
3 replies to this topic
#1
Posted 01 April 2012 - 01:31 PM
I have a small solar power system on my home. Three panels at 60watts and 4x6volt batteries in parallel/series, for storage. It is important to keep the power usage down, so late last year I installed these amazing LED strips that give off a lot of light as shown in this photo. I glued a metre length on a piece of wood strip and screwed it to the ceiling bearer.The beauty of LED strips is all you need to do is wire straight into the 12 volts system. If it's wired in reverse it wont work and will not burn out. The power usage for this much light is about 8.5watts. The strips comes as a warm or bright light. I chose to use the warm variety as the bright was a too "clinical feeling".
#3
Posted 03 April 2012 - 10:20 PM
Excellent choice! 
That's the way to do it! No lossy transformers, bridge rectifiers, etc, just straight off 12V. I have seen these things before. They have an instant, full brightness start-up with no flicker. I would get mine from Rockby (factory surplus) Electronics in Victoria (very cheap new parts, wide variety and usually on special too).
http://www.rockby.co...chkey=led strip
Do they get warm after they have been running for a while? If so, they might need to be Liquid Nails'd to a length of aluminium and then onto the timber.
Are yours the "plug and play" type? How many can you run on your current system? There are much brighter and more efficient LEDs available, but for the money, what you have is certainly a step in the right direction.
When in college, we found that LEDs are much brighter when pulsed and take a lot longer to drain the batteries. The good thing about that, is that if you pulse them faster than 90Hz, the LEDs appear to be permanently "on" without any flicker due to our persistence of vision.
That's the way to do it! No lossy transformers, bridge rectifiers, etc, just straight off 12V. I have seen these things before. They have an instant, full brightness start-up with no flicker. I would get mine from Rockby (factory surplus) Electronics in Victoria (very cheap new parts, wide variety and usually on special too).
http://www.rockby.co...chkey=led strip
Do they get warm after they have been running for a while? If so, they might need to be Liquid Nails'd to a length of aluminium and then onto the timber.
Are yours the "plug and play" type? How many can you run on your current system? There are much brighter and more efficient LEDs available, but for the money, what you have is certainly a step in the right direction.
When in college, we found that LEDs are much brighter when pulsed and take a lot longer to drain the batteries. The good thing about that, is that if you pulse them faster than 90Hz, the LEDs appear to be permanently "on" without any flicker due to our persistence of vision.
#4
Posted 26 April 2012 - 07:36 PM
First, led strip lighting are polarity sensitive, meaning they have a + and - side. If you look at the
led strip lighting outdoor from the side you'll notice a flat spot at the base of the 12v led light bars. This is the negative side or the bigger metal part inside the LED is also negative.
You also must have a current limiting resister in most cases. In your case you may find it difficult to get the LED to light up from 1.5 volts as the voltage to light one is typically 3 volts.
led strip lighting outdoor from the side you'll notice a flat spot at the base of the 12v led light bars. This is the negative side or the bigger metal part inside the LED is also negative.
You also must have a current limiting resister in most cases. In your case you may find it difficult to get the LED to light up from 1.5 volts as the voltage to light one is typically 3 volts.
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