Dale's LED lighting photos and experiments

Nothing very revolutionary to report today. Just some observations and photos of my limited experience with these lights.

First a little blurb about the power usage at my tenant's 5th wheel trailer that is firmly attached to my farm.

I've seen some pretty expensive and complex off grid power systems. My tenant Randy has a simple system that meets all of his needs. His wind generator powers a bank of 6 batteries. Electricity is used for three things.

Light --- the photo shows his place when 2 LEDs of .8 watts are used. Not super bright, but we could see and we didn't trip over the dog. When 10 watts are used, the place is quite bright. He payed 50 cents per bulb.


Water pump ---His water pump is a 12 volt model about the size of a sausage. It powers a shower.

TV --- He has a big TV that uses about 50 watts depending on brightness and sound volume. Conservation is the important thing. We had light, water and TV. This is all that many homes need.

The next post will show my lights.

I paid $22 for this string of 200 Christmas lights. The transformer puts out 24 volts at .541 amps. They consume 12 watts. The light is rather blue. Others look more natural. The 200 sq ft room is lit, but not bright. Randy's lights give more light per watt.

Many cordless tools have 24 volt batteries. My cordless chainsaw battery stores enough energy to power the Christmas lights for 30 hours. Unfortunately, it's 56 volts. Some 24 volt lithium ion tool batteries could run the lights for 10 hours.

I paid $4 for this mechanic's light. It has 24 led lights. It takes 3 - 1.5v batteries. When the batteries die, I'll replace them with lithium ion rechargeable batteries.

I mounted it above the stove and sink.

Not the best light, but much better than no light.

This is what it looks like when the light is held 6 ft from the stove.

My 18 volt cordless drill casts pretty good light. If my math is correct, the battery should be able to run the light for over 100 hours.
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cell phone flashlight.--- I tested my android phone and found that the light works for two hours on a charge. When laid flat on the table, it illuminates the white ceiling. It's bright enough for short periods. The world is full of dead cell phones. They make a handy auxiliary light.