fluro lights

Rohan

Are you able to provide detail as to how you made your light. Ie components, wiring etc?

The Versa light is an excellent unit. I have 2 units. They give the equivalent output of a 75 watt lamp and draw less than 1 amp. Cost around $80.

Keith

These look interesting but ....

12 LED Solution:
Equivalent to 6W incandescent bulb for $20. 100mA draw

Versalite Solution:
Equivalent to 75W incandescent bulb for $80. 1A draw

My conclusion. If you want lots of light, the Versalite is still ahead in terms of cost and current draw. Sure, if you don't need that much light, the LED solution may be better for you.

BTW, Camp Mart in BNE were advertising Versalite copies (marketed by Arlec) for $49 lately.

What do folks think ?

I agree Rod. The LEDs (and mine too) are great for small-ish pools of bright light and larger areas of general weak light, but I think they are fairly ineffectual as an outdoor area light if a wide area of bright light is required.

The pool of really bright working light from my 15 x LED setup is only about 4' x 2'. To read at the dining table 12' from the LED light source, required additional light from one of the Coleman fluros. You could read easily with just the LED array if it was directed straight at you (like a torch), but then light source was uncomfortable to look towards so it was simpler to use another light source.

Having said that, with one unit set up over the food prep area and another over the table (or where ever yopu happen to be), you'd have more than enough light, and with my setup, you'd still draw less than .1 amp. (ie. get 70 hrs from a 7.0 ah battery - or 14 days running for 5 hrs a day/night).

The Oatley LED seems to hooked up to draw 1.2 amps, unless their numbers ( 7 hrs running from 8.65 amps) are wrong. On that basis the Versalite (and others) are a much better option.Life just ain't that serious.
Rohan (Sydney)

Our Campomatic came with 3 clusters of 3 LED's built in (2 internal, 1 for the kitchen) and they are great to have, but we still use a 11W Bushlite when cooking and washing up. Once we've finished the domestic chores then we change to power saving mode and just use the LED's.

Chopper, have a look at the LED page here:

http://www.geocities.com/george_tlc/Life just ain't that serious.
Rohan (Sydney)

Thanks Avro. I thought they were including the 7 amps from the battery as well. Maybe not. In which case you could run thing forever, provided you got 5 hours of sun per day.Life just ain't that serious.
Rohan (Sydney)

Arvo, you were right ...

techo@oatleyelectronics.com
Web Site: http://www.oatleyelectronics.com
Email Address: sales@oatleyelectronics.com
Subject: Re: 12v LED lights

Rohan:

Yes correct except that the solar panel manufacturers cheat a little by quoting powers when the battery is warm (14V)...so tyhe current is a little less..

From:
To:
Subject: Re: 12v LED lights

Thanks xxx. So when you say the light can be run for 7 hours, you are only taking about using the charge from the solar panel (2 watt/12v = 0.167 amps; 0.167 amps x 5 hrs = 0.835 amps; 0.835 amps/.120 = 6.958 hrs), and none of the 7 amps already stored in the battery. On this basis, provided you get 5 hrs of sun each day, and don't need more that 7 hours of light (say 5:00 pm to midnight) you could run the light indefinitely without ever drawing on the battery's stored charge. A second light would obviously use the battery's charge (over 8 nights) unless you upgraded to the 4 watt
panel, in which case we're back to running indefinitely (given enough
sun).

I'm a fan of LED but not sure I want to build another from scratch and like the sound of these. How robust (or fragile) are the panels.

Regards
Rohan

techo@oatleyelectronics.com
To:
Subject: Re: 12v LED lights

Rohan:

The total current draw for the six strings (2 LED's/string) is 120mA.

From:
To:
Subject: 12v LED lights

From the information provided about the product, it appears the unit
_Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx 1.2 amps (or 100 mA for each of the 12 LEDs).

I can get a 12v 75 watt fluro that _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx only 1.0 amp.

Regards
Rohan
Life just ain't that serious.
Rohan (Sydney)

well thanxs everybody for there help with this light prob , i decided to go with the ARB fluro never happier
frank