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LEDs are quite different when compared with Filament Bulbs and EL panels/wires. There are so many different ways to "derive" power these days (electronics are cheap, engineering/labor is cheap, and copper is expensive)-It is getting very difficult to make any assumptions without taking things apart and/or understanding the labels and how to use a meter/oscilloscope. You can get a good start by reading the markings on the unit. all i ask is give me good plain english explanantions or a source for the info i need such as the following site which helps me greatly doing what i have done so farĪ wall wart is (usually) an AC Transformer and may, or may not, have a DC rectifier, a few filter capacitors, etc. I had absolutely no experience designing circuits before i did this and did well. its just that i am trying to learn everything i can so doing the project this way is a good challenge. How can i do this? worst case i just wire in a receptacle for a 12V wall wart, which i know is a hell of a lot easier. what i want to do is to wire in the inverter (which i have already successfully spliced the battery holder into so it can either run a device on battery or from a wall wart) so i can either run around at a convention with the disc on battery, or when at home i can plug it in and put it on the display stand im building as a lamp or night light for my kid. i got it for an LED strip that was not nearly bright enough. i found this thread during a google search trying to find out how to do what i have in mind.įor now im just going to go with building a few parallel circuits and running them on a 12v battery (really tiny one you find at radio shack) i have a 12v inverter ( radio shack 2760341) that outputs 160VAC max at 1W max. i dont mean to hijack the thread but i am trying top build a tron identity dosc replica for a costume. you wouldnt want to run a string of (10) 12v-20w LED's on a 22 gauge wire simply because you might melt it and set something on fire. ive experimented with a couple of higher power led's in the 10-20w range and here is the info i can convey: typically a 20w screw in florescent will produce more light than the 20w led's (i have anyway) at max power so imo the florescents would be more efficient if one needs maximum light per watt used, however, if running a 12v led lighting setup right off the bank its real easy to fine tune the wattage and draw you want with a simple 2$ dimmerĪgain though, wire size is a non-issue imo up to a point. The resistance from the wire in a 12v application would be a non-issue because its not adding to the draw but actually reducing the power consumption, and unless one needs to extract maximum performance and light from a led that would be the ideal situation is run them off 12v with nothing inbetween.
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Well a transformer will always be some dead weight and a draw, and the inverter will always pull some, although in the end if all your running is a couple of low watt led's its not going to be an issue on anything but the smallest system i would imagine.
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I have a Morningstar TS-300 running 24/7 anyway for certain items that need it, so run my LED lights off that (it's on anyway) and don't have to worry about voltage surges from battery EQ etc driving the LEDs too hard and shortening their life. Unless of course you have power to spare, which most of us don't. Unless you have power to spare, have extremely long runs from battery to lights that require high voltage to cut transmission losses, or have huge lights, go with 12 volt lights, only use them at night when the voltage isn't so high (charging batteries) and keep that 1000 watt inverter shut down unless it's really needed for big loads. Using a step-down transformer from 220 VAC to whatever voltage you want for the lights would work too, and if the transformer is small, would add little extra load to the batteries compared to the 1000 watt inverter powering it. If you want to run the lights off AC, I definitely would use a far smaller, less energy hungry inverter - that is unless you're lighting up the Wal*Mart parking lotīetter still, eliminate the drain of running an inverter altogether if you have only a few small wattage lights, get 12 volt LED lights, then the only drain would be when a light is actually on, and then only the wattage of the light. And when running the lights, will add it's running load to that of the lights. How many lights will usually be on at one time? And what wattage?įor instance, if only running 3 or 4 one watt LED's off a 1000 watt inverter, the inverter alone could be consuming 20 watts just sitting there idling, providing power just in case you might turn on a light. Re: Run LED lights direct from 12v or inverter.