diy led lighting

orizaba

orizaba

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28 Jun 2007
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PORT YASMINE HAMMAMET TUNISIA
www.mtmarineservices.com
i'm thinking of making my own led lights as i'm using low watt halogens at the momment so the conventional bulb types not much use,any advice on what size leds are best eg do 2 3mm give out more light than one 5mm ,how many to use,these are all mainly reading lights,where is the best source to get them,apart from ebay,re price,quality,
looked on the varios sites but it seems hard to work out what light you actually get without experimenting.
 
A single LED will not give you enough light to be practically usable. Apart from this there is also the matter of the colour of the light. In reality you will need at least 5 or 10 LEDs per lightpoint. You will also need a voltage regulator.

There are many, many LED solutions you can buy now for this, but most of them will require a voltage regulator to work on a boat, more precise, to keep working on a boat.

Last year I ordered some lights from www.sailorsolutions.com (sensibulb) and I'm very pleased with them. They produce an incredible amount of light as they are not the standard type of LEDs. The tone of the light is very pleasing, very much like normal lightbulbs.
I've use two of them in my ceiling light and they produce clear and pleasant light in the whole cabin of my 31-footer at maybe 20% of the current/power of classic light bulbs.
They outclass any other LED system I've seen up to now.
They have an integrated voltage regulator so quite easy to hook up.
I have no other connection to the company as being a patient customer.

Arno
 
These are actually quite complicated questions to answer. I would think your best bet is to get the special LED assemblys designed to directly replace halogen bulbs. Giving longer lifetime and lower current for similar light output.

Check electronic component suppliers (RS, CPC, Rapid, etc.) or have a look at B&Q, etc. or, I have seen suggested in these forums "ultraleds" (google for them).

I think you will have to put up with some experimenting - good luck!

Edit: beaten to it again. By the way, the requirement is not so much voltage regulation as current regulation. Most (actually all, but some have other parts integrated) LEDs exhibit a constant "forward" voltage drop of about 1.6V (or 3-4V for white/blue types) and will go into melt-down if you apply 12V. They have a rated maximum current (generally a few 10s of milliamps) and need something external to limit the current - often a simple resistor will do. It is common to wire several LEDs in series, say 6 x 1.6V = 9.6V, leaving about 3V to drop accross the resistor. There is more, but I guess you don't want the full teach-in!
 
Your remark about current regulation is absolutely correct. Nevertheless current and voltage are closely related (obviously).
The biggest point about this is only that the high output LEDs are extremely sensitive to over-current/voltage, much more than 'normal' LEDs.
Given the knowledge that the voltage on a boat can vary between 12 an 14,4 volts (in normal situations) you need a bit more than a simple resistor to regulate the current or accept the fact that you will only get maybe 60% light-performance at 12 volt battery voltage (in other words, calculate the resistor value at 14.4 volt supply voltage instead of 12 volt.

Arno
 
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