LED tutorial!

[Allen H]

Hey guys here is a tutorial on how I make LED spotlights for my haunts.LED tutorial final - YouTube

[mattjfishman]

LOL, "lead then in like an octopus"

[pennywise]

Awesome tutorial! I'll be ordering LEDs soon as I have wanted to try LED spots for a while now. At $0.78 each, that's a great deal! Thanks.

[Frighteners Entertainment]

Very well done Allen.

[HallowEve]

Great tutorial thanks for sharing!!!!!

[Spiderclimber]

So I took the plunge and ordered a bunch of LEDs pre wired. I think I will start here and maybe move more toward the other tutorial on spot lights As I go. I notice you use 16 gauge speaker wire. It seems like it is about half of the price as the landscape wire but you can't use the vampire style clips on it as it is too thin. Is there another way to splice in the wires from the spots without cutting the speaker wire and twisting them into caps?

If that is the best way to work with the speaker wire, I may go with the landscape wire so I can vampire in the clips where I need.

[psyko99]

Nice. I've made several of these using brass tubing but I did not realize the tomato stakes were tubing. Great idea and much cheaper.

[Allen H]

Spider climber- I actually hate vampire clips, for several reasons. but they do sell vamp clips as well as simple terminal blocks that you can use to secure them. The wire nuts I can keep in a pocket and do super easy repairs and add lights during the show, I have just found the vamp clips to be a pain and more expensive and time consuming than wire nuts.
The fornt end is cleaner as there is no stripping, but if a light dies or I need one shot in another direction then adding with nuts is easier than with vamp clips in my mind, and I dont need to wait on clips as the nuts are easier to come by.
But that is my preference, and I know sometimes I decide not to like something before I hammer the bugs out, but the nuts work well for me. So vamp clips might be better for you. I was just trying to get across the power supply and fixture style and cost.

[Spiderclimber]

Thanks for the response. I understand the concern with the vamp clips. I have some concern myself. I am just trying to find a good connection medium that I can modify the haunt lay out and change the lighting without issues. all of my lighting will be outdoors in the yard and exposed to the elements so the connection points are important. Because of the design and how I know i will move lights over and over throughout the month, I want a quick connect design without alot of issues. I am still thinking about how to do that. I kind of like the idea of telephone jacks but they are not water proof so the thought process continues.

[Allen H]

I use the LEDs on my trail, and they are out doors and fairly exposed to the elements, never had an issue.

[Sawtooth Jack]

How simple is that...pure gold! I've been going back and forth over how to light my yard this year and you just cured my woes. I shall call mine ALLEDs in your honor! Thnx. :jol:

[niblique71]

Great Tutorial Allen. A much simpler solution for the average haunter than my take on LED spotlights. Both designs have advantages and disadvantages, but I really liked your solution. Simple, clean and easy, and not as intimidating.

As for connections, I still LOVE My home made Vampy clips. My haunt is also outdoors, and my setup endures about 40 days of weather each year. To date, not one failure with the 90+ lights. Switching locations is SOOOOO Simple. No need for any wire nuts or tools OR Extra wire when you need to move a light 10' over.

Either way, I liked your Tut. Many will build these just due to the simplicity. GREAT JOB!

[Sawtooth Jack]

Got up this morning and went straight to the hardware store to purchase materials to make these. Just waiting on delivery of the LEDs!

Niblique71, looked at your tut as well—very nice end product—just a bit too time consuming for me this year given the time left and all I want to accomplish.

I was afraid all my hard work was going to be hidden away in darkness this year, so thanks again!

[Hallomarine]

Absolutely Awesome Allen! Finally! A simple tutorial that doesn't involve grafts and charts and other mind numbing crap, not to mention where-tos as well as how-tos. By the way, just for another source of tubing, I use spent rounds from the local gun range, and mount them to 1" corner braces. What I save in tubing, I spend in braces and screws. However, your wire idea opens up whole new mounting scenarios for me. All in all Allen, I can't thank you enough. HM

[Allen H]

Niblique- Your tutorial and fixtures are awesome- no doubt. We have different approaches to a similar problem. Im pretty quick and dirty in most of my projects. I honestly think a ton of people will make my style fixtures and power them with a computer power supply and use your vamp clips.
My style came about partially because I need to find activities on my "Craft nights" for the 20 actors to make for the haunt. The activities cant demand to high of a knowledge/ skill level and need to be able to be completed in about three hours- we made over 200 fixtures in two hours with four people on that project.
Im glad people like the tutorial and Im sure everyone will put their own spin on it, thats one of the cool thing about haunts!

[niblique71]

Allen, Hopefully I didn't rub you the wrong way. Before I say ANYTHING else, I feel you are one of the most resourseful and imaginative haunters I've ever seen in here or anywhere else. You're willingness to invest time and money into teaching haunters ultra cheap and highly effective techniques is BAR NONE!! In fact I'm going to use your new Corpsing technique for one of my buckies this year. I Love your Humor too. Please keep up your fantastic work.

My concern is that todays haunters that are venturing into LED's are trying to replace incandescent floodlights and CFL lights. While my setup won't replace old tech lights 100% (with todays technology and pricepoints), it does offer something closer to incandescents and CFL's than a single LED in a single fixture, even if it's a "Super bright" LED. Most haunters aren't yet that experianced with LED's and might build some expecting to get much brighter results.

On another side note: True superbright LED's are an entirely different technology and cost a LOT more. They need special regulator chips and actually emit quite a bit of heat unlike our familiar 5mm "so called" super bright LED's. I bought some last year and have yet to test them.

THe downside to my current setup is that it took me over 2 weeks this past winter to build another 100 new spotlights. They are much more labor intensive than yours. BUT, the final result is much closer to what haunters expect from a "Spotlight" especially if your using Reds, ambers, or pinks which have a much shorter wavelength. The technology just hasn't caught up with the brightness of Blues, Greens, and whites.

So there is Middle ground here. Your design is super cheap, ultra compact and a brilliant solution for a close up spot. But if you want to illuminate something further away (Say 20') it's unlikely to be effective, and many of your loyal subscribers will be left wanting a little more. I can see people building some of each for thier different applications.

FYI I will be building some of yours for specific applications, I love that they are so small.

Dude, In short, I LOVE Your lights and your giving spirit, and I will be a fan forever. I just want people to know that led's are progressing rapidly, and perhaps one day a single LED can actually replace an incandescent spotlight at a reasonable price. But for now, you have to add multiple LED's in a fixture to get a reasonalbe facsimile of incandescent or CFL lights.

[Allen H]

No worries, I didnt feel rubbed. the design I posted gives the same effect as a mini spot light from minispotlight.com. I tried to show their results at the end of the video accurately. you get a circle of light, about four feet from 10 to 12 ft away.
And thanks for the kind words, I make a ton of mistakes- I try to share my succeses so others dont have to make the same mistakes I did.
Allen H

[Spiderclimber]

Well I plan on combining the two designs, 3 prewired LEDs in a pop cap, going to the main line with either vamp clips or hard wired. I don't want to solder everything together so this is going to work out best for me. I will do some singles and I will combines some red and ambers for brighter spots. I like both techniques. Thank you for both your designs. Now stop bickering and make some more cool prop how to's.

[Otaku]

Not trying to hijack this great thead, but since Greg mentioned that LED newcomers may be concerned about the brightness of single LED spots I thought I'd add my 2 cents. I spotted these 1" circular boards at Sparkfun:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8809
They should hold up to three or four 5mm LEDs and the resistor, and they fit very nicely on the end of a 1" OD plastic pipe; just a bit of hot glue will hold them in place. I'll be using the black ABS pipe from HD/Lowes to make some spots with these boards. The boards are backordered at this time, but should be in soon.

[Sawtooth Jack]

I completely understand N71's concerns about the amount of light a single 5mm LED will provide, but for me, my yard has been so minimal in years past, that it has pretty much sat in darkness until now (do skull lanterns count?), so any amount of light is an improvement.

That said, I've found a couple pre-wired Piranhas for this project as well, which should give off a little more light. They should fit nicely into some larger tubes I have already. And given that the 5mm lights can be bunched together and mounted on the same screw, I also plan on building enough that multiple lights can be grouped for greater illumination on a single object. I'll also try sanding some of the 5mm tips down flat and re-polishing for greater dispersion of light (you can buy them, but nobody had any when I ordered), then moving them even further toward the front of the tubes.

My biggest like of this method besides no soldering is just the ultra-simplicity of that mounting bracket—a wire—genius!

[hpropman]

Great Job Allen! I made a few similar to these but using film canisters for the tubes. I placed 10MM leds in them. I also would like to correct something that you said in your video about the current that the leds use. This might save people some money by not having to purchase so many power supplies. The amount of current supplied by the power supply to the leds does not need to be matched to the number of leds that you connect to it. The leds (or load) that are connected to the power supply are only going to use the amount of current that they need. so with that said you can hook a computer power supply with 12 volts at 15 amps or more to a single led with the correct resistor (which are same as the ones you are using) will still only use 20ma. The power supply does not force 15 amps down the line only what the load needs which is this case of one led is 20ma. Also, it will not shorten the life of the led by using a higher current power supply. Now I realize that this example may sound extreme but I am am just trying to show that having a larger current power supply will not hurt the leds in any way and you can connect more lights to them so you will not need to purchase so many smaller supplies. One computer power supply that you can prob find at curbies or can be purchased cheaply can power you entire haunt of leds spots (unless you have like 3000 of them). Or a few of the ones in the 2 to 5 amp range. We at the NJ haunters group have had many members solder there own leds at our make and take meetings and many of them have no electronics experience at all and they all came out just fine. I am sorry to be a little long winded but I just wanted to clarify that point about the current.

[Allen H]

Awesome, thanks for the info! i will post on my channel and add it to the info on the video. Good to know.
Allen H

[QDance]

Do you think this would be easy for a beginner like me? I have absolutely no experience with LEDs, or any type of wiring.
I'm young, but will have my father to help me with it.

Thanks for the awesome tutorial! :)

[Allen H]

I couldnt think of a better first project.

[Sawtooth Jack]

Allen, Do you have the name/model # of the power source you are using. Went to the site you mentioned and I didn't see it there (way cool surplus shop BTW). I do have a spare 5.1 volt 700a I could use, works on my test light, but I don't know how that would perform with 15 LEDs, and I don't want to experiment with my new lights when they get here! I tried the electronics store around here, but ® didn't have what I need.

[hpropman]

Any 12 volt power supply will work as long as it has at least 300ma of current you should be fine. Regulated would be better but the unregulated ones will work also. A computer power supply would work also. Look around the house and the office for wall warts that are 12 volts.

these will work:

http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=18295+PD

http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=17563+PD

http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=18598+PS

http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=18034+PS

[Allen H]

the 12V 2A here is good
http://www.sciplus.com/search.cfm?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=search&utm_content=cf&utm_campaign=celsearchtest&formfield1234567891=128&formfield1234567892=12&formfield1234567894=&term=transformer&btnHand.x=0&btnHand.y=0

[Sawtooth Jack]

Thanks guys.

[blacklightmike]

Great video, Allen! Thank you.