LED Spotlight tutorial - Page 7

niblique71 · #61 11-26-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by mroct31

Can you run more than one light off the 12v wire connector? I"m wondering if running say 3 lights off one connector would work? I can see where I'd place more than one light close by another and maybe having just one connector for all 3 lights to the landscape wire would be OK instead of 3 separate ones?

Yes you can most definately run 3 or more lights off of one connector. In fact My original build I made platforms with 3 fixtures built on them wired with one connector. I only made a few like that and that worked great, especially for clusters of white lights or single colors.

I found that I liked having individual fixtures better, with a few exceptions.

untillater · #62 01-05-2012

Did you ever get around to making black light spots with the 365nm leds? and how did they turn out?
Thanks

niblique71 · #63 01-05-2012

Unfortunately I haven't made them yet. The economy has been crappy and I've not had any extra "Funny Money" to play with. I plan on experimenting once things improve.

I did find the old bag of UV LED's that I got from an old order. I built a few of those this year and they seemed to work well with Highly flourescent paints. I think they come in around 400nm, maybe a little shorter wavelength. But just barely UV. I used them in my entrance tunnel and they did give an acceptable effect.

untillater · #64 01-06-2012

kk, I ordered some via good ol' ebay. They will take forever to show up but when they do, Ill try to remember to post pics

new to the forums....

Thanks for the reply

Sloatsburgh · #65 04-13-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by niblique71

If you look carefully you should find 1" sched 40 (Thickwall) Pvc tubing and 1" schedule 20 (thinwall) tubing. I used the schedule 20 thinwall for this project.

Edit: THe manufacturers dont want to make EXTRA fittings for 1" thinwall pipe. So 1" thinwall fits into 1" schedule 40 fittings. Therefore the inner diameter is larger on the thinwall... hey I didn't make the rules LOL they still call it 1"... I've not used my micrometer on it yet.. but I know it's a larger opening

CPVC is an entirely different animal. You might find bottle caps to fit into certain dimentions, and if you do please report back so we have an alternative solution.

Bottlers in our area are starting to change thier bottle cap designs. They are using a cap that uses less plastic. Also, it's a tapered cap and doesn't work well for this tutorial. THe old style cap is still available in some drinks like aquafina water (20oz or more) and some pepsi products. Coke (out here) has gone almost completely with the new bottle cap....... Dissapointing..... cause this will make it challenging to find a new medium to mount the leds that is this SUPER Cheap.

If I can remember to do it... I'll post a quickie tut on what ones work and what ones won't in the 1" thinwall pvc

Found the pipe I needed at a local Lowes.

I have found that Pepsi & Dr Pepper works perfectly... basically the cap with the fine groves.

My next challenge is to find the hardware and to see what alteratives for power source can be done with the resistors. I'm tempted to experiment with 6v lantern batteries of which I have many and would mean less wire.

Thanks a lot.

mroct31 · #66 08-29-2012

I got some of the UV LED's to try this year and they seem to be more power hungry than the other colors I've used. Does this seem correct? I tried to test them with a 9v battery and was barely able to get them to light, which might be the battery, I tried a 13v 300 mah wall wort and nothing, then 7.5v 1000 mah and they flickered. When I used a 12v 1000 mah wall wort they lite up just fine. Any suggestions on how many to use for a spot light? I'm thinking more might be better with these say 9-12?

Sloatsburgh · #67 08-29-2012

I have made one improvement to the process that I want to share. It might be obvious.

For the soldering and gluing steps (and maybe the painting step), I lopped the tops off of 8 plastic bottles and stapled them to a small 2x4. This way the caps are steady and I just move from one to the next.

I was also lucky that I had a 5mm drill bit and didn't need to glue the LEDs to the cap.

hpropman · #68 08-30-2012

The voltage depends on how many resistors that you will be using in a circuit and the value of the resistor. See these two threads for information on the resistor calculator and the new way that we are making the multiled spotlights. I recommend that you use the 1 1/2 pipe and go with 12 leds (4 circuits of 3 leds each)

How to use a led resitor calculator
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=30658

The new way that we make the lights now
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=30656

Quote:

Originally Posted by mroct31

I got some of the UV LED's to try this year and they seem to be more power hungry than the other colors I've used. Does this seem correct? I tried to test them with a 9v battery and was barely able to get them to light, which might be the battery, I tried a 13v 300 mah wall wort and nothing, then 7.5v 1000 mah and they flickered. When I used a 12v 1000 mah wall wort they lite up just fine. Any suggestions on how many to use for a spot light? I'm thinking more might be better with these say 9-12?

gpawood · #69 10-04-2012

This is a fantastic tutorial and just what I've been looking for to enhance my haunt here in Japan. My wife is making the fixtures and I'm making the led's. This will make our haunt so much more enjoyable this year. Thanks so much !!

daddywoofdawg · #70 10-24-2012

So has anyone came up with a better/diffrent Idea for the vampire connectors.Well as the copper nails in a board seem to work,It just seems like there may be a better/diffrent way.