Cheap & easy LED spots [Archive]

hedg12

08-14-2009, 10:34 PM

It depends on your power supply, the LED you use, and the way you wire them (series or parallel.) The site I linked to in the how-to has some good information on LED wiring and how to calculate your power needs. I have 10 spots in total that I'm planning to run in parallel from a PC power supply (along with 2 tombstone poppers), which should have no problem with the current demand.

Toktorill

08-18-2009, 12:55 AM

WOW those are really well done! They look so amazing for being so cost-effective. :)

dionicia

08-18-2009, 02:48 AM

hedg12

08-18-2009, 04:54 PM

This looks good. I'm curious how you are connecting to a PC Power Supply. I have heard of other folks doing that but I can't wrap my head around how.

I'm going to see if I can get a make and take together for this.

Thank you for posting this.

Thanks, glad you like them.

Modern PC power supplies put out +3.3 volts D.C., + & - 5 volts D.C., and + & - 12 volts D.C. They commonly have a 20 or 24 pin main connector and several smaller conectors with 2 or more pins, depending on the design & output of the power supply. The color of the wires denotes the voltage: yellow = +12V, red = +5V, orange = +3.3 volts, black = ground, blue = -12V, and white = -5V. To turn the power supply on, connect the green wire from the main connector to any of the black (ground) wires. It's good practice to provide a dummy load to the supply by connecting a 10 ohm, 10 watt resistor between one of the red (+5 volt) leads and ground. This isn't absolutely necessary and the supply will work fine without it, but if it's shut off without a load the capacitors in the supply won't discharge and could cause a shock or damage equipment the next time it's hooked up. Also, some power supplies have a feedback circuit on the +3.3V rail. If your supply has a small gauge orange wire that goes to the same pin as one of the larger orange wires, you'll need to tie them together to keep the power supply running.

Sorry - I'm not the greatest at trying to explain these things. I have a few in my barn that I want to convert - I'll try to get some pictures this weekend. Hopefully that'll make it a little more clear.

<edit> Oops, I just remembered - we're moving the kid back to school this weekend. I'll try to sneak out to the barn one evening this week and get one done. </edit>

The Archivist

08-18-2009, 06:16 PM

Thanks for the how-to! Ghost Train always needs better lighting in our graveyards!!

psyko99

08-18-2009, 09:23 PM

Very nicely done.

dionicia

08-19-2009, 04:44 AM

Cant wait to see pics.

hpropman

08-19-2009, 02:59 PM

great ho-to thanks for posting - I think that I will use just 3/4 pipe and use 3 or 4 leds per spot.

hedg12

08-21-2009, 01:14 AM

I have a few pics up of a PC power supply hack here (http://haunttheyard.blogspot.com/2009/08/haunt-juice.html).

dionicia

08-21-2009, 02:56 AM

I can't wait to see the controller. :D

silent night

09-11-2009, 08:08 PM

went to home depot here in california and nobodt knows what the hell im talking about and i cant find them anywhere in that store. any ideas or a part number? maybe i can order some online...thanks for the help... gary

silent night

09-11-2009, 08:29 PM

that would be the 3/4 in reducers... thanks again

jaege

09-11-2009, 09:07 PM

that would be the 3/4 in reducers... thanks again

Its in the plumbing section. Just look for a short piece of pipe that has a 45 degree bend (as opposed to a 90 degree bend). One end hass 3/4 inch opening, the other 1/2 inch. But from the looks of the specs you could always use a 3/4 inch 45 degree fitting and set the light on a 3/4 inch pipe rather than a 1/2 inch pipe. Not all the people working at Home Depot are knowledgable about the "trades".

hedg12

09-11-2009, 11:17 PM

I'm fairly sure the PVC parts I used were intended for air conditioner condensation drain. I found them in both Lowes and Home Depot locally. They weren't with the rest of the PVC fittings, but closer to the air conditioning hardware. Hope that helps.

silent night

09-12-2009, 05:46 PM

thanks jaege, i will check there today!...

silent night

09-12-2009, 05:48 PM

thanks hedg12... if i dont find them i will just go with the 3/4 45s... great how to...

jaege

09-12-2009, 09:30 PM

I have to agree. It is really good "how to". You have everything covered.

hedg12

09-13-2009, 12:23 AM

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the positive feedback.

I was at Lowes today & looked at the PVC again - It's actually potable water line. Look for the copper tubing, it should be near there.

dionicia

09-15-2009, 12:21 PM

I was meaning to ask, how many spot lights can you power with the PC power supply?

hpropman

09-15-2009, 12:39 PM

Well each led will take 20 to 30ma so figure about 33 leds to 1 amp of power and most PC power supplies are at least 8 to 12 amps some are a lot higher. so worries about stressing the power supply.

fick209

09-15-2009, 02:15 PM

It is portable water line and it is also used in the HVAC industry as condensate line. If you are not finding them at the big box stores, go to any local hvac or plumbing place of business, they should have them on hand and usually at a much cheaper price. Industry businesses are able to buy the stuff cheaper than the big box stores.

silent night

09-15-2009, 08:45 PM

is there any other method of powering these little beauties?

hedg12

09-15-2009, 09:05 PM

is there any other method of powering these little beauties?

Sure. If you use a 270 ohm resistor instead of the 470 ohm one you could use a 9 volt battery, or you could use 4 AA or D cell batteries with a 120 ohm resistor. Radio Shack sells quite a few battery holders (http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=battery%20holder&origkw=battery%20holder&sr=1) that would work nicely.

Alternatively, you could use a wall wart like this one (http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G9596) to power 10 -12 of them.

keysplayer

09-20-2009, 10:25 PM

how would you use a wall wart to power all of them?

hedg12

09-20-2009, 11:31 PM

Assuming you're using the wall wart I linked to, you'd wire them in parallel. You'd connect all the positive leads together, and all the negative leads together.

BobC

09-23-2009, 04:36 PM

I am going to give this project a whirl being I want to get away from the old school big flood spots for my display next year. I am going the power supply route which I find the best for all my motorized props. My problem is I want to string along 15 or so lights together. I was thinking it would be nice to make the lenses detachable as to put lights where needed or replace old lights easier. Do you know of any other retailers that sell the needed LED's and supplies for a decent price? I would like to mix the colors and the link you posted earlier in the how-to only has about two of the colors I wanted to use?... I know nothing about LED's so this will be a learning project for me Thanks for any help you can give me. :jol:

hpropman

09-23-2009, 04:59 PM

BobC,

Go to the link below to learn about leds. It is part of a free electronics course that is available for free. The link is also in the links section of my website.

http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/led.htm

Here is a link to a good resistor calculator:

http://ledz.com/?p=zz.led.resistor.calculator

regarding power supplies you never want to drive a power supply to its limit. For example if you have a 5 volt 1 amp (1000ma) power supply you really do not want to push it past about 500 to 600ma. Ideally you want the power supply to supply twice the needed current for what you are powering with it. The cushion will prolong the life of you power supply and compensate for manufacturing variances and a possible short circuit. I would install a fuse in the line as protection from shorts anyway.

silent night

09-23-2009, 06:43 PM

hey hedg...finally got around to making these. 1 problem- i got everything in your parts list. i hooked everthing up right and went to plug them in (with a 12 v wall wart) and it barly lits up. do i need another resistor? thanks for your help...gary

hedg12

09-24-2009, 12:44 AM

Well that's odd. Sorry you're having problems. How many lights are you connecting to the wall wart? What's the amperage of the wall wart? If you have access to a multimeter, you can check the voltage output of the wall wart, and measure the resistance of the resistor. Make sure it's close to 470 ohms, not kilohms or megohms. As a test you could also try connecting one to your cars battery (carefully - not a lot of voltage, but LOTS of current potential. Be careful not to connect it backwards.) Make sure you don't have any loose connections or shorts. If everything checks out, you may have a bad LED. Also be aware that if there's a lot of ambient light the blue LED won't appear to be very bright. You might want to try it in the dark just to see. Good luck.

hpropman

09-24-2009, 09:33 AM

Are you using high brightness leds or just regular leds? There is a huge difference in brightness. You have to use high brightness leds for these spot lights.

silent night

09-25-2009, 06:45 PM

hey hpropman,i am using the one he said to buy in the how to. blinder 10mm blue leds. i got 10 of them and tryed a couple of different ones for the test and they are all doing the same thing (bairly a glow) ive even hooked them up to my car battery and still the same thing. might have to put this one on hold untill next year....gary

hedg12

09-25-2009, 11:50 PM

SN, can you tell me the colors of the bands on the resistors you're using, starting with the one closest to the end?

silent night

09-26-2009, 04:12 PM

hey hedg, got them from radio shack. the pack says 470k-ohm resisters 1/2 watt 5% tolerance. the colors are yellow-violet-yellow then gold. tryed to hook them up gold first then turned it around and put yellow first, didnt help. i hope they sent me the right led's thanks for the help! ...gary

hedg12

09-26-2009, 04:26 PM

That would be the problem. They are 470 kilohm resistors - you need 470 ohm resistors. It doesn't matter what direction you connect them, they work the same both ways.

silent night

09-26-2009, 04:45 PM

thanks hedg, will try to stop by and pick some up. i will let you know the results. thanks again...

silent night

09-27-2009, 12:16 PM

IT WORKS!!! thanks again hedg

hedg12

09-27-2009, 06:52 PM

Great! Glad you got 'em figured out.

dionicia

10-14-2009, 10:13 AM

I'm trying to locate a power supply like the one you used. Would something like this work? http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=18000+PS

hedg12

10-14-2009, 11:43 AM

AT power supplies are a little different than ATX supplies, & the process for hacking it that I have on my site won't work. You could certainly still use the AT supply though. AT supplies have a switch that turns them on and off, so you don't need to tap in to the main connector to turn them on. Be aware though that the switched leads are switching 110V AC (straight from the wall socket) so BE CAREFUL if you go this route. The supply you linked to doesn't come with a switch, so you'd have to add your own or just bypass it all together by tying the 2 switched leads together and plugging it in to turn it on.

MPJA has this (http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=17986+PS) supply that would work fine with my how-to. It's not quite as powerful as the AT, but unless you're planning to run more than about 30 of the spotlights, you should be fine.

dionicia

10-14-2009, 12:54 PM

Good to know. Thank you. :)

Hallowennie315

10-18-2009, 12:56 AM

Hey Hedg12. I just wrote on your blog but I wanted to write again here about how great these are. I am not a LED guy, but these were so easy! I can't wait to make more. Btw everyone, HERE (http://www.moddersmart.com/en/lighting/leds/10mm.html) is a link to a cite that is selling the 10mm LED's in different colors for 25 cents! Thats awesome! Thanks again and happy haunting1

dionicia

10-18-2009, 02:13 AM

Those are some good MCDs. Thank you for posting the link.

hedg12

10-18-2009, 11:24 AM

That's a great deal for those LED's, Halloweenie! I'm really glad you like the how-to, too (how-tutu?). Simpler is always better in my book.

Rascal

10-19-2009, 10:58 PM

Halloweenie, any idea how bright those LED's are in your link?

Rascal

10-22-2009, 01:47 AM

I just received my LED's that Hedg recommended and I have to say that I am more then happy with them. Not only are they easy for a electrophobic guy like me to hookup but they work fantastic!

Hallowennie315

10-22-2009, 01:14 PM

Halloweenie, any idea how bright those LED's are in your link?

Hey, Rascal. I honestly just got the LED's yesterday and have only gotten a chance to try out one amber one that I got. They seem pretty bright... maybe a little less than the blue ones. I am trying to put some together tonight and will definitely post pics soon.

Aquayne

10-27-2009, 05:57 PM

Just in case anyone is still interrested. The CPVC pipe is for hot water use. It is sized according to copper pipe. I will be found in the same area with copper pipe. It is the stuff coming out of you hot water tank if you have plastic pipe.

RavensHollow

11-05-2009, 08:50 PM

Thanks for posting! I'm definitely getting to the point that my gravestones needs individual lighting I'm starting to loose a lot of them in shadow and these would be a great remedy for that!

Ouijam

11-07-2009, 03:56 PM

Hedg12...thanks! I used the 12 volt power supply that you had recommended and had 5 brite Blue LEDs on a low voltage 16 gauge wire; same that is used for low voltage landscape lighting. Here's the illumination that it gave my gravestone props...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/ChasRX/STA70374.jpg?t=1257627822

Longtimer

11-11-2009, 07:10 PM

I like your small spots - very clever.

I've been adding LEDs to our haunt for two years, but went into it bigger this year. We've added LED eyes to all of our home made props and most of the static store bought props too. I needed to project a couple of UV lights about 10-15 feet, so I bought some 16 bulb screw-in UVs and made crude fixtures from a 4" PVC pipe. They worked well.

LED is the future and will shave $ from the electric bill!

Longtimer

11-11-2009, 07:12 PM

... BTW all of the single LEDs used for eyes are powered by a Malibu transformer.

BackYardHaunter

11-16-2009, 03:56 PM

this is a crazy idea! ive been bumping ideas around in my head. this might take it!

-BYH

Darkmaster

12-05-2009, 09:54 PM

I have a how-to on some inexpensive and easy to build LED spot lights here (http://haunttheyard.blogspot.com/2009/08/led-spots.html), should anyone be interested.

Nice How to on your site. I think this will solve my lighting issue in the caves next year.

Thanks

libertymom

12-17-2009, 12:58 PM

Love ur how-to. Found a web site http://www.bigclive.com on how to "Make An LED Ornament" which I though might be incorporated into ur spot. What do you think, will it work? Click the included link then go to "Things to make & do" then "Make An LED Ornament". Plus it has some other good how-tos.

hedg12

12-18-2009, 11:28 PM

That's a neat site - some really cool stuff there. If by incorporating the LED Ornament how-to into mine you mean wiring them in parallel to a battery pack like they did, then yes you can. How you would do it, though, depends on how many LEDs you use and what battery you want to use.

libertymom

12-23-2009, 09:46 PM

Exactly. Plus using the molex interconncction sockets would allow one to interchange lenses, or individual spots altogether, especially when connected to a power supply as in your how-to.

dionicia

12-23-2009, 11:51 PM

Molex interconnecting sockets eh? I'm listening. :)

hedg12

12-24-2009, 10:03 AM

MBrennan

01-06-2010, 01:15 PM

I got these LEDs for X-Mas. I got 50 white and 50 blue and they come with the resistor for running at 12v.

I have'nt tried them in the dark yet, but the white seem pretty bright.

Here's the link for the white.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370279921071&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

37 cents each.

Hope the link works.

MBrennan

01-13-2010, 04:10 PM

Is there any advantage/disadvantage to running 12vdc vs 3.5vdc other than having (or not) to use a resistor? Specifically, would you notice a drop in brightness over a distance of 30-50 feet or so if you only used 3.5vdc as opposed to 12vdc w/ resistors on each LED. I'm planning on running up to 10 LEDs in parallel around the graveyard, and don't know which voltage would be better.

hedg12

01-13-2010, 11:47 PM

No real advantage to the higher voltage, I just designed mine that way because I have a 12V supply. However even with a 3.5V supply, you really should use a resistor (1 ohm 1/4 watt should do). The LED itself doesn't present much resistance to the flow of current, and running the circuit without the added resistor would be awfully close to a short circuit. There's not much to slow down the flow of current & all that energy has to go somewhere, so it gets turned into heat. It'd probably work without the resistor at 3.5V, but it wouldn't be good for the LEDs.

dionicia

01-26-2010, 12:54 AM

Mouser's got 'em. (http://www.mouser.com/molex/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=connectors&gclid=CL-fhoau754CFQMNDQodcwM2kg) They make all sorts of cool connectors - you can find just about any configuration you need.

Any ideas on the right connect to use for this project. I finally have some bucks together and I need to get the parts to start the build.

Thank you.

hedg12

01-26-2010, 11:13 PM

I really don't know which molex connectors would work well for this. (The only ones I've used in the past have been salvaged.) I ended up just using bullet connectors (http://www.parts-express.com/wizards/searchResults.cfm?srchExt=CAT&srchCat=397&CFID=19352605&CFTOKEN=64104419) on mine.

I put 2 wires on each lead on each spot, then put the female connectors on the positive leads, and the male connectors on the negative. This way I can daisy chain the lights together with jumper leads.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__SUMNl1sjSc/S1_Awc264WI/AAAAAAAAAPo/EsQyWTnf6jg/s1600/connectors.jpg

I used the female connector on the positive lead because the last spotlight on the chain will have 2 leads just hanging loose (one positive and one negative) & I wanted the positive connector insulated to help safeguard against a short circuit. (Not too likely, but better safe than sorry.)

Traymilburn

06-18-2011, 09:00 AM

I really want to do this... can someone tell me how I attach to a power supply and how it all works? I'm electronically challenged!

hpropman

06-20-2011, 01:38 PM

Read the first part of this web site - ignore the stuff about the transistors we do not use them in these spot lights (only leds and a resistor connected to a power supply)

http://www.electronicsteacher.com/tutorial/learning-to-use-leds-and-transistors.php

these links below show how to make the ones that the NJ make and take group have made and they work very well.

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=25530&highlight=led+spots

http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=20809

http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=20601&highlight=led+spot+lights