# L.E.D.s



## Al. Countryboy (Oct 2, 2004)

Last year I post about going to the small island of Samoa and spending 3 or 4 months to build a small home. Many of you were so good in answering many of my questions which I posted about. At that time I also ask about L.E.D.s and their use and remember 12v man as well as others being very helpful, but found them expensive and not sure if this was something that I might not be happy with so I purchased a number of 12v florescent bulbs to use for lighting in our house that we plan to build. For the last few months I have been hearing more about L.E.D.s and seeing them pop up in many of the stores in our area so I bought 3 of the small wind up lanterns. Two of the lanters have back up rechargable backup batteries with plugs that cell phones can be used off also. I have been impressed with how much light these little lamps produce for the amount of cranking that it takes to charge them up. I looked back at the different sites that 12v man was so nice in posting, but not sure if the L.E.D.s sold in bulk amounts are used as AC or DC. I know that many of the light bulbs for sale have regular screw type heads that look to be made for using 110v, but wondering about the L.E.D.s sold in bulk amouts. Everything I see here uses batterys or wind up. Still have a few months and would like to play with these little lights some. I did look at a Target store for some of the Christmas lights that someone had posted about with no luck so may oder some of the little lights sold in bulk. Any help and ideas on L.E.D.s will be appreciated.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

I dont have any answers but I would like to wish you good luck on your plans as they sure sound good.


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

Those led lights are now available in the so called "warm white". . . . haven't seen one of those....yet.
My conventional blue\white lamp is a bit funky for reading.
(It has been on constantly for ?? 3 ?? years now)

Its the color rendition---blue white-- that bothers people used to the traditional "warm white"


The energy use is so drasticly much lower then anything else that you might want to reconsider.....................


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## Al. Countryboy (Oct 2, 2004)

I already have 2-24watt, 3-15watt and 2-5watt D.C. florescent bulbs for the trip and also plan to take some A.C. bulbs also. We have a 1,000 Honda generator and hope to buy at least one battery. Not sure how long it will take to get electricity which is near the property, but It seems to me that everything moves at a slow pace there and feel that we need to have some kind of power source. We have a chest type Norcold frig./freezer that uses a little less than 80watts when running and would really like to take a microwave to do most of our cooking. I noticed that a store near us has a 650 watt microwave, but have heard and read about how microwaves have a power surge when they first start up, and not sure if the generator could handle this surge with anything else on. Do not think that anyone has answered my guestion about wheather or not if the L.E.D.s sold in bulk amounts are A.C. or D.C. Or if they may run on either. Thanks for your help and comments.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

I can answer about the microwave.

650 watts is the power output for cooking food.

It is NOT the amount of power required to run the micro.And the difference can be quite a bit between the 2.
I dont have the numbers handy,sorry.

And a 1000 watt genny will be actually putting out about 800 watts constant.

Soooo,be sure to test your genny actually will run that micro.


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Small microwaves typically take twice the power to operate them as there rated cooking power. 650 watts cooking power - 1300watts to operate. Larger microwaves are actually more effient as they use a higher percentage of there power to cook and need to cook for shorter periods of time. But the still wouldn't work with that little genny.


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## Al. Countryboy (Oct 2, 2004)

Thanks for your info. on microwave power usage. I had been on a web-site telling how much power was needed for different household items and power tools. They did not mention this about microwaves though. We were looking at one of those microwave/toaster oven combos rated at 1,000w usage while microwave in use and 1,000 for the oven in use, but was sure our little generator would not handle this one. For this reason we had decided to settle for one that would use as little power as possible. We will now probably go ahead and get this combo microwave in hopes that we will get power soon after we get settled in there. Thanks again.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

Al,a thought might be to take a couple deep cycle batteries and a cheap 1500 watt inverter,modified sine wave along these lines...89 bucks!
http://alltoolssupplyinc.com/home_files/pob1500w.html

Has a 3000 watt surge,1500 watt continuous.My Heart (now Xantrex) model 458 mod sine wave NOT cheap inverter runs everything in the house but the digital microwave and the Sony stereo.

If your appliances dont have digital electronics,but a conventional type mechanical switch this should work fine.Hair dryer,toaster oven,coffee pot all work fine if not digital but put a hard load on batteries.1 12 volt marine battery,forget it.Doesnt work,been there done that.Will destroy it after only a few uses with an electric percolator.

Then your small genny could be used either direct on some things or as a battery charging source.Also use a separate charger,NOT the 12 volt output on genny.That power is for running 12 volt appliances,not to charge batteries.

Is your genny by any chance a pure sine wave EU1000?


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

Now,you have to charge your battery.Do you know much about that?

If not,read this
http://www.boatandrvaccessories.com/batteryChargerinfo.htm

A multi stage,or 'smart' charger will charge your batteries much faster than a regular charger because it remains in BULK mode (constant max charge) until 80% or better charged,not a continuously falling rate like a traditional charger does.

Vector makes inexpensive ones,but I dont have any experience with them to tell you if its good or not.
http://www.boatandrvaccessories.com/BATTERY-CHARGERS.htm


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

Jim-Mi,I sent him this route because it sounds like a tight budget and something like Truecharge products would be out of reach.


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## no1cowboy (May 2, 2004)

I also use D.C. florescent bulbs, i have tried several LEDs but i dont find them bright enough for any other use the night lights.


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## Al. Countryboy (Oct 2, 2004)

Thanks mightybooboo and others for your posts. After posting I found a number of microwaves that were sold with inverters which are used by many truckers for around $150 so I thought that I would do a little more checking into possibly using a microwave this way also. Batteries will need to bought there so if we are able to get marine batteries this would be a nice option. My generator is a EU 1000. Is is very light weight and runs very quiet. We will be living in a tent while the house is being built and after putting in long days on construction we would like to have quick and easy ways of cooking our meals. We have camped some in a tent over the years without many modern conveniences, but this was never over a week at a time and were also taking it easy and not working. Microwave cooking would be fast with not alot of clean up either.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

Good move Al,I have the EU2000,arent they nice!

The EU will run any appliance there is the power is so clean.You will still need a multi stage charger though.AFAIK the EU charger is not multi stage.Even though an EU will charge a 12 volt battery a multi stage charger will be about twice as fast.1/2 the gas usage but even more important 1/2 the hours.EU's arent cheap,chargers are.

Nice find on the trucker micro,I will add that to my memory,good catch!

You want 2- 6 volt deep cycle batteries,not the marines.Marines are only slightly thicker plates than a car battery and cant take heavy power draws,they are designed for slow and constant discharges,a fast hard discharge is death to them.Deep cycles are much heavier/thicker plates and that microwave shouldnt faze it at all.If you dont put hard discharges on it the marines will work,but still wont cycle as many times as a deep cycle.

Is it 12 volt man that makes his LED lights? Why dont you PM him for that answer?


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## no1cowboy (May 2, 2004)

Al. Countryboy said:


> Batteries will need to bought there so if we are able to get marine batteries this would be a nice option.


As mightybooboo said marine and regular car batteries are no good for this type of thing you will be tossing your money away, get yourself some proper deep cycle batteries.


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## Al. Countryboy (Oct 2, 2004)

Thanks BooBoo and Cowboy. Not sure what I will be up against in finding batteries, but will look for 6 volt batteries. I will for sure look for a multi stage charger to take along with us. I looks as though things to take are definitly getting larger. I did go to Wal-mart and bought a cheep $33 something 600 watt micro and used it some last night and this morning using the Honda generator. I did notice that as the microwave went from high to low back and forth that the generator would also would go up and down, but it did seem to handle these surges without blowing a fuse. I would think this is normal. What are your thoughts? Never owned a generator before. I am sure gas is over $4 a gallon over there now and this up and down of the motor will prpbably use a good bit more, but if will not harm the generator it would make my wife very happy. BooBoo I want to thank you for the site you posted on the 1500 watt inverter. Our son went on line after looking at the site you posted found the same inverter on auction at Sam's Wholesale Club and was able to get for $64.50 with I believe $8.50 for shipping. The price was already good that you had found, but this was even better. He did have to borrow a Sam's membership card from a friend though. I am sure that I will still have many questions for the next couple of months and do appreciate help from everyone.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

Yup,you have the eco throttle on and your genny is going faster as the power draw increases,just as it should.When you flip off eco throttle the genny will speed up also.

Congrats on the micro working,thats super.A genny with pure sine wave power,how can you beat that?

As you say,as long as the fuse doesnt pop you are good to go.

Great deal on the inverter too. I have an 1100 or 1200 watt Xantrex from Costco,paid like 69 dollars or something.Works great,was so impressed I bought a spare.Nephew went out and bought a pair also. Prices have come down nicely on smaller mod sine waves.Another nephew, the long haul trucker, uses Vectors and says they work just fine too.

We got the EU genny for when we were traveling in a motorhome.Not only do your park neighbors really appreciate them,some state parks even enforce noise regulations now.The day of taking construction generators into parks is coming to a close in many areas already.Good thing too IMO.I know I dont want to listen to em.

Rant off,LOL! 

You will so love that genny,RVer's swear by them for good reason.


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## 12vman (Feb 17, 2004)

BooBoo said..
"Is it 12 volt man that makes his LED lights? Why dont you PM him for that answer?"

I attempted to post but was caught up in the middle of a glitch on the site and lost it all.. (Grrrr..! 'bout an hours worth..! I hate typing..)

Al. Countryboy.. If you have some soldering skills, I can guide you through some simple l.e.d. fixtures that will operate on either 12/24 volt d.c. systems..
~Don


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## Al. Countryboy (Oct 2, 2004)

Thanks 12vman. I had done some soldering and may order a few of these lights to take with us. I knew that they sold Christmas lights that looked to run on A.C.. We will be running off of D.C. and generator for awhile and was not sure if those deals of 25 and 100 bulbs on the net for sale were A.C. or D.C. Figure that those Christmas lights probably have a built in converter over to D.C. Since these L.E.D.s use so little power I figured that these would be good for use at night if our batteries had a low charge.


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## Grandmotherbear (May 15, 2002)

www.ccrane,com has announced that it plans to have a non directional LED bulb by the end of 2008. Till then it markets 18 LED bilbs (I have this- best used in a reading or other directed lamp) and 36 LED bulbs.


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## Al. Countryboy (Oct 2, 2004)

Thanks Grandmotherbear. Would you check the website that you gave. I would like to check them out, but can not get through.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

www.ccrane.com

This link works.


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## Al. Countryboy (Oct 2, 2004)

Thanks mightybooboo. For some reason I was not able to access the site last night, but was able to this afternoon. This is a very good site and will definitely put it in my favorites.


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