Hi all,

I need a bit of help if possible.

I have 5 lights with each having 9 - 10 leds. Each light has its own battery pack to take 2 x aa batteries.

My aim is to wire these all together and run off my 12v leisure battery. Do I just run a cable joining them all and then put the wire into my 12v fuseboard. Or is the 12v too much.

I've attached pictures for reference.

Any help would be really appreciated.

 

Are you sure those are LEDs?

ak

 

I was told they are.

Here is a picture of one

 

Each light has its own battery pack to take 2 x aa batteries.

What type of AA battery? NiMh, alkaline, lithium, ...... ?

 

What type of AA battery? NiMh, alkaline, lithium, ...... ?

Just standard AA alkaline batteries like duracell

 

Or is the 12v too much.

What makes you think you can substitute a 12V source for a 3V source?

 

I have no experience with led lights so that's why I'm asking for help.

I want to mount these lights on a frame and then be able to turn them on/off from inside my trailer.

I was hoping it would be fairly easy to run off 12v rather then their battery packs. Each light has 2 batteries to power 9/10 leds. So if I connected them all together it would be powering around 50 leds from 12v. That's why I thought it might be OK. Although as I said I do not really have any idea of that would work.

 

Each light has 2 batteries to power 9/10 leds. So if I connected them all together it would be powering around 50 leds from 12v.

Since the LEDs operate from 2 AA batteries, likely in series, the LEDs must be paralleled. Ideally, each LED would have a series resistor to limit current, but cheap devices will skip them because they're not concerned with reliability.

That's why I thought it might be OK.

Depends on how you intend to attempt wiring, but not likely to be straightforward.

 

You need a DC/DC buck regulator module in between your 12-volt battery and the LED sets.

If the manufacturer was using the internal battery resistance to limit the current, you will have to consider that.

 

As you can see, hooking up unknown LEDs to a power source that is different from what they were designed for is not a simple thing. The main concern is the fact that the D in LED stands for diode, and diodes are stupid. Without something to limit the current going through them, they will try to suck down 1000 times the current they are rated for, and go poof. Can you connect what you have to a 12 V source? Sure, but probably not for long.

Current limiting can be as simple as a single resistor per LED or per group of LEDs, all the way up to switching power supplies designed specifically for LED use. Somewhere in what you have there is something limiting the current through the LEDs. A resistor could be inline in one of the wires, or hidden inside the base, or built into the LED itself. Can you tell if the LEDs are wired in series of in parallel?

ak

 

I think the question is "Can you series four of these to equal 12 volts?"

My thought on this is it will probably not work so well. Balancing which set uses how much voltage will vary, and you could run into problems.

An opinion is that it might be more advantageous to parallel them and use a 5 volt power supply as opposed to a 12 volt supply.

 

They are wired in series.

So 5 lights each with a set of series.

I can see no resistors by the leds or anywhere on the wire.

So I could replace all the leds with ones with resistors.

Or use a buck converter as previously suggested.

I have found one on trusty amazon. Please see pic.

So could wire the lights in parallel, so each letter (series of lights) is separate. If that's the case, where do I put the buck convertor. Before each series or just one buck convertor at the beginning of the 12v supply.

I do appreciate all your help. You have all been really helpful.

 

I have found one on trusty amazon. Please see pic.

5V ≠ 3V

 

Are all 9-10 LEDs in a lamp white light LEDs?
Does each battery pack include any electronic cmponents (other than a switch)?

 

Yes all white leds. Warm white.

 

IFF all of the lights are the same, and IFF you are able to keep the polarity correct, THEN probably a series connection can work. NOTE: "IFF" is math talk for IF and ONLY IF. The brightness may not be quite the same as with individual battery packs, though.