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Very cheap and low power anchor lights

Well, Ta-Da!

I was in the hardware store yesterday and what do I see? Led
Christmas tree lights! 50 leds for 9 bucks. Any bets on what they
gonna cost in January?

red, green, amber, yellow, blue and white leds all on one string.

Buy sone. Cut them up. Make your own low power lamps. You will
need to figure out a current limiter resistor. It's easy. Been
explained here many times.

Sell your tungsten stock.

Damn! I have been collecting tungsten from old light bulbs for
years. Any takers?

--
Terry K - My email address is MY PROPERTY, and is protected by
copyright legislation. Permission to reproduce it is
specifically denied for mass mailing and unrequested
solicitations. Reproduction or conveyance for any unauthorised
purpose is THEFT and PLAGIARISM. Abuse is Invasion of privacy
and harassment. Abusers may be prosecuted. -This notice footer
released to public domain. Spamspoof salad by spamchock -
SofDevCo

Very cheap and low power anchor lights

Are they really LEDs? Or tungstens that look like LEDs?

Reasons for skepticism:
If you put 50 LEDs in series, you'd have all the problems of a series string
with long life bulbs but 100 connections. If you put them in parallel, you
have to have 50 resistors, each of which has to dissipate a watt (20ma times
115 volts but only on the half cycle) which is costly.

If they're really LEDs, that's much less than the Radio Shack singles price,
but more than their assortments. What does the package say? (I know that
finding brands on cheap Christmas lights is futile, but there might be a
clue). What store was it? What is the UPC?

--
Jim Woodward
www.mvFintry.com

"Terry Spragg" wrote in message
...

Well, Ta-Da!

I was in the hardware store yesterday and what do I see? Led
Christmas tree lights! 50 leds for 9 bucks. Any bets on what they
gonna cost in January?

red, green, amber, yellow, blue and white leds all on one string.

Buy sone. Cut them up. Make your own low power lamps. You will
need to figure out a current limiter resistor. It's easy. Been
explained here many times.

Sell your tungsten stock.

Damn! I have been collecting tungsten from old light bulbs for
years. Any takers?

--
Terry K - My email address is MY PROPERTY, and is protected by
copyright legislation. Permission to reproduce it is
specifically denied for mass mailing and unrequested
solicitations. Reproduction or conveyance for any unauthorised
purpose is THEFT and PLAGIARISM. Abuse is Invasion of privacy
and harassment. Abusers may be prosecuted. -This notice footer
released to public domain. Spamspoof salad by spamchock -
SofDevCo

Very cheap and low power anchor lights

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Erickson (Post 71104)

I was in Costco and saw white LED flashlight nights at 6 for $10. I bought them,
took a few apart. With slight modifications they will work on 12VDC instead
of 120VAC. They automatically turn on at dark, and use a whopping 30mA when
on, 150uA when off. They can be used as inside night lights, utility lights
and even as anchor lights albeit not very bright, probably in violation of a
handful of admiralty laws. The light output is pretty good thanks to the
lens, a diffuser, and a reflector. They can be used without the optics or
even without the base cover.

Compared to the Davis lights they're lower power, cost 5% as much, so when
you step on one, the expensive and hard to find Davis lamp burns out, or
lightning causes it to explode, you will have a couple of spares.

If you happen to find the same type of night lights I did, here's the mods:

Take out the one screw and pry apart the two lens halves carefully. After
you take the first one apart you'll get the hang of it.
Unsolder the AC plug pins and pull them out with pliers while unsoldering.
Remove the little circuit board.
Short out the big film cap C1 with a small wire.
Change Rxx from 560K to 68K.
Apply +12 to the AC pin that has R1 on it.
Apply GND to the other AC pin with the two diodes.
Put it back together. Test it first, then apply lots of epoxy to seal it up.
Since it's LED you should never have to take it apart again.

I ran a red and black wire out the holes formerly used for the AC pins. 18GA
zip cord would work fine.

Remember to fuse it externally. If you want to fuse it internally, replace
C1 with a 1A picofuse instead of a wire.

Have fun with your new $2.00 anchor light.

Dave Erickson
Apache 37 "Second Sojourn"
www.djerickson.com for lots of Bahamas and ICW pictures

Disclaimer:
If you hurt yourself, blow up your boat, or get rammed at night, it's not my
fault.

I have been searching for anchor lights for my old jeep. $2 is pretty cheap price so if they are still available I would love the have them ASAP:)