LED gadget projects

[schmalts]

I am kind of a technical guy of sorts. One of my latest things to play with is LED's. Man they have come a long way with price and brightness. I have a mountain bike light brighter than most motorcycles, I built a kick ass light for the kids 40 gal fish tank, and I am working on a night carp shooting rig for the boat that will rival those dudes that have 4000 watts of halogen floods but I will have about 200 watts of LEDs and a super quite Honda 1000 watt generator.
I am also in a little remodeling project of the house so I am going to do some above and under cabinet lighting. I just laid these up on top to see how they would look, the wife likey! for the record, what you see is a $12 row of 5050 class leds. I am buying a larger transformer to run 3 strings (strips) and have them on a wireless remote. all said in done, above and under cabinet lights, transformer, and remote will be about $60 total.
If this country is really wanting to save fuel, LED is going to pave the way IMO.

 

[katqanna]

I replaced all my bulbs with the LED. I even have solar charged LED's for camping and flashlights. As an artist, I could never use fluorescents, they buggered up colors. But I love the true color aspect to LED's. So it is a win/win for me, but then I am very into sustainables. Glad to see others taking an interest.

 

[Paul in Idaho]

The title of your post caught my eye. Nice kitchen.

I have been tinkering with LEDs too. I have 5050 strips under our kitchen cabinets, and also on the ceiling of the camper shell on my truck. It's great to arrive back in hunting camp after dark, flick a switch and have daylight-bright conditions to sort and pack gear.

I recently bought a Cree XP-G 3-up and BuckPuck driver to experiment with. That little thing will light up license plates on cars parked over a hundred yards away. I hope to put several of those on the bow of my boat to run the river pre-dawn for duck hunting.

We are also getting ready to refinish a couple rooms in the house, and I'm thinking of using LED recessed fixtures there. I'm sold on white LEDs and am looking forward to replacing those silly twisty CFL bulbs with LEDs.

 

[Grady]

Schmalts,

Nice kitchen!

Paul,

I like that campershell light.

Give us some details. How did you attach it? What kind of powersource are you using?

It looks good.

Thanks!

 

[idnative1948]

Very cool guys! Some good ideas here. Have started looking for some type of solar LEDs for our little cabin that is off the grid to give us some light in the evening so we don't have to use our headlamps.

 

[schmalts]

Grady, they usually come with 2 sided tape on them. I like to use a hot glue gun and add a little glue on the ends. As far as powering them for a truck topper all you need to do is wire them up to 12v battery power. So what was done on things like a truck topper can be a $20fun project. Amazon has the best prices on Led strips i have found.

Schmalts,

Nice kitchen!

Paul,

I like that campershell light.

Give us some details. How did you attach it? What kind of powersource are you using?

It looks good.

Thanks!

 

[Paul in Idaho]

Paul,

I like that campershell light.

Give us some details. How did you attach it? What kind of powersource are you using?

It looks good.

Thanks!

schmalts is correct. They came with sticky backing, and connect directly to a 12 volt battery. I got mine from eBay, but agree that Amazon has good prices too. The texture of the shell ceiling is rough, so first I put on a layer of Bondo and sanded it smooth so the glue would have more surface area to stick to.

I have some strips that are encased in clear silicone, so they're waterproof. Those will be going in my boat to light the floor.

 

[schmalts]

I have some strips that are encased in clear silicone, so they're waterproof. Those will be going in my boat to light the floor.

Funny you mention it, I have 2 rolls of the same and may use them for the same thing!
I bought from one seller on Amazon 2 rolls advertised as Warm white LED color, but the guy sent me RGB with all three color legs soldered together to make it that yellowish color. I left a bad review on that one, those whould have been a nightmare to cut and splice compared to what he advertised. I was going to send them back but figured I would find a use for them, but I sure wish they weren't so yellow in color.

 

[WyOpitz]

I recently replaced all of my interior truck lights with LEDs along with the cargo light for the bed. It is amazing and I can finally see in my cab at night. I got all of my LEDs from vled.com, they have kits for most trucks. It's a pretty easy project and makes a huge difference over stock bulbs.

 

[Grady]

Thanks for all the tips guys....

I see a project or two in my future!

 

[noharleyyet]

Looks good schmalts. I have some cabinet tops that could use the same treatment...might have to steal your euro placement idea also...very cool.

 

[Don K]

Stupid question......

Are bugs attracted to LED's like regular lighting?