diy lighting?

[ben.phelps]

im very into diy audio, and my father and i are building a shed-like structure in our back yard. we have been looking into some options to put lighing into it, and the best we can come up with is solar panels and led lights. due to city code, we cannot run electricty down into the structure, and we figured that a 12 volt battery and a solar panel to charge it would be the best bet. does anybody know of any websites where we could get some information on how to build a set of led's connected to a 12v battery connected to a solar panel to charge?

Thanks
ben

 

[jerb]

Led's are not a very good light source for the project you suggested, they have a viewing angle of only 30 degree's and are a very hot light ( a very focused beam). you can diffuse it but it doesnt help much. if you really want to go ahead just buy 3 volt LED's in any color you want, wire 4 of them together (on + leg to the next's - leg) with a very small ressistor (50 ohm?) then to your battery.

garden and lawn lights may work better, halogens run off of 12V

 

[VR6ofpain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerb Led's are not a very good light source for the project you suggested, they have a viewing angle of only 30 degree's and are a very hot light ( a very focused beam). you can diffuse it but it doesnt help much. if you really want to go ahead just buy 3 volt LED's in any color you want, wire 4 of them together (on + leg to the next's - leg) with a very small ressistor (50 ohm?) then to your battery. garden and lawn lights may work better, halogens run off of 12V

I am not so sure about the life of your battery, but you have not delt with luxeon star LED's apparently. They are very bright, and used in flashlights put out a much superior beam to halogen flashlights, at close to moderate distances. There are still issues with long distance throw (not an issue with this application), but they can be very bright. Both the 1 watt and 3 watt Luxeon star LED's are extremely bright and with the diffuser, create a great beam. This guy makes awesome flashlights with them. My light with three 1 watt (3 watts) Luxeons pretty much destroys any flashlight I have seen. My father has one with five 3 watt (15 watts, 360 lumens) luxeons. It is pretty ridiculous how bright this thing is.

Electrolumens:
http://www.elektrolumens.com/

 

[Garbz]

actually LEDs make excellent lighting, providing the beam is properly diffuesed. You can get some really bright 3000mcd lights or the ones mentioned above. But like jerb said it's a focused beam, you'll need a lens of some type.

 

[jerb]

Luxeons are just bright LED's, they still need to be diffused to work for interior lighting. As for the flashlight example you used, its comparing apples to oranges. Flashlights need a very fine, narrow, bright beam to be effective in most situations. Luxeons work well in flashlight because they are blindingly bring (I'm pretty sure some of the red ones can be 60 candela). now do your really want small area's of your shed to be blindingly bright? halogens make more sense.

 

[ben.phelps]

we wanted to use the led's because they are more efficient. I have a headlamp that has 3 leds that i use for backpacking, and it is like a sunrise when you turn it on. that is why i would like to use led's( and because they can be easily hooked up to 12V) and, no, i do not want it to blingingly bright, becaue it is acctualy a structure where my father and I will keep our falcons.

thanks for the replys so far, and does anybody know of any plans to make my own lighting, or will we need to build and design it all from scratch?

 

[mono]

LEDs, including luxeon stars, are inferior to fluorescents for anything but intense spot lighting.

Measurements of their light output have been done such that the intensity of an LED seems better, because it isn't diffused. With a traditional diffused light they aren't comparing total output in the measurements. When one takes into account the actual total light output, fluorsecent lights produce more per watt, and it's alread diffused so you don't incur futher losses like you would diffusing LED light.

Generally one cannot put 4 super-bright LEDs in series on a 12V battery because their vDrop for reasonable output is > 3V each. While it would be the more efficient use of light with correct battey voltage, it also means as soon as the battery voltage starts dropping, the lights go out with significant battery remaining. It would be better to use 3 LED in series plus a resistor if you use LEDs at all.