[Public-List] LED conversions

[Kris Coward]

It might not be specifically applicable to this conversion, but I've
occasionally used some 12v LED striplights to add light to the cabin (or
replace existing lights), and if you want to go that route at any point,
I'd strongly recommend putting a low drop-out linear regulator ahead of
them in the circuit (come to think of it, this can be worth it for a lot
of fixtures too) if it's going to see much use.

The life of an LED shortens significantly when its overdriven, and a lot
of 12V LED strips, bulbs, and fixtures, have had their circuits designed
by someone who just assumes a relatively constant/stable 12V supply. Of
course as soon as you start charging the batteries (whether from shore
power, the alternator, or something else) your DC system is presenting
its charging voltage of usually >13.5V, and that's plenty to overdrive
an LED that doesn't have power supply circuitry more sophisticated than
a resistor in series (i.e. a remarkably large fraction of LED lights).

When I was doing my second LED conversion (after noticing that the first
one had some diodes that had cooked enough to start dimming), I got me a
dozen or so KA278R12CTU chips (they were somewhere in the range of
$0.50-1.00 a piece, so I just got a bunch). I've generally had pretygood
luck with them since, and they're not that much trouble to wire in, for
anyone halfway handy with a soldering iron.

-K

On Fri, Mar 12, 2021 at 10:38:51AM -0500, Jeffrey Randall via Public-List wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I'm refinishing my spreaders and want to refit them with led bars.  Does
> anyone have suggestions or insights?  Due to constraints at the Portsmouth
> Naval yard in NH we need to launch on 10 April.  At least 45 days sooner
> than usual.  So, it happens now or my wife will be a "lofty electrician"..
> -- 
> Sincerely,
> 
> 
> Jeff Randall
> Yankee Star. 296
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-- 
Kris Coward					http://unripe.melon.org/
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