My project is a very simple 12V emergency lighting system. The deep cycle battery is 12V 18Ah SLA, (charged by a Pulse Tech Battery Maintenance System 100X010.) Lights are LED strip (5m, 3528 - 300 lights). Wire is 18AWG lamp wire. Inline 1A fuses, and a SPST switch for each circuit, (one for kitchen and one for livingroom.) The schematic is attached. (I hope.) Neither circuit is longer than 20 ft. from the battery. Livingroom draws 583mA, kitchen 594mA. My first (only) test was 27 hours with both circuits on. (SWEET!) Not sure how close to battery depletion I was, but it did take almost half a day to recharge to full.
Battery is enclosed in a plastic Group Size 24 Battery Box (larger than necessary, but also encloses the fuses, stores my charger, and I drilled holes into the front for the switches), and the lights are stuck inside a length of vinyl "J" channel, providing a nice sort-of-indirect lighting effect along the top of my walls. (Tried unsuccessfully to take a good pic of it. Maybe I'll see if my son can GIMP them to looking better.)
Pretty cheap, pretty effective, though I may want more light in my livingroom eventually.
I have a question about a LED driver circuit. Though I don't seem to need one for it to work, would such a circuit benefit me as far as battery or LED life is concerned? If not, maybe i'll move this to 'Finished Projects'.
Thanks in advance.
Battery is enclosed in a plastic Group Size 24 Battery Box (larger than necessary, but also encloses the fuses, stores my charger, and I drilled holes into the front for the switches), and the lights are stuck inside a length of vinyl "J" channel, providing a nice sort-of-indirect lighting effect along the top of my walls. (Tried unsuccessfully to take a good pic of it. Maybe I'll see if my son can GIMP them to looking better.)
Pretty cheap, pretty effective, though I may want more light in my livingroom eventually.
I have a question about a LED driver circuit. Though I don't seem to need one for it to work, would such a circuit benefit me as far as battery or LED life is concerned? If not, maybe i'll move this to 'Finished Projects'.
Thanks in advance.
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