http://www.amazon.com/Flexible-LED-Ribbon-LEDwholesalers-2026ww-31k/dp/B002QQ48TK
this is the strip I want to light up and make efficient with a joule thief..... but I never made a thief and dont know what to do or how to approach this strip. THe strip will be used in a fish house and I would love some help....
ty
Tdog
ok ok , its not for a fish house, its for living in a Van....
is what I talk about even possible
whats the most efficient way to light my van? 10 feet long... ?
if you use a jt style circuit to light leds/fluoros in a fish house be aware that it might affect the operation of your vexlar/markum.
A small car battery is around 45 amp hours. Thats over 40 hours running 1 amp. Depending on the audio system you can run a car radio from 2 to 8 hours before the battery runs down. I guess you could have a seperate 12 volt battery and use a solar charger for it.
but can a JT help me be even more efficient?
Quotebut can a JT help me be even more efficient?
Maybe multiple Jts, Havent seen anyone do 300 leds on 1 jt without adding an external grounding system like Pirates.
http://www.overunity.com/joule-thief/
Quote from: temledog69 on May 13, 2012, 03:18:21 AM
http://www.amazon.com/Flexible-LED-Ribbon-LEDwholesalers-2026ww-31k/dp/B002QQ48TK (http://www.amazon.com/Flexible-LED-Ribbon-LEDwholesalers-2026ww-31k/dp/B002QQ48TK)
this is the strip I want to light up and make efficient with a joule thief..... but I never made a thief and dont know what to do or how to approach this strip. THe strip will be used in a fish house and I would love some help....
ty
Tdog
The advert says it uses an AC adapter that's 12V at 4 amps, which is 48 watts. Typically this adapter has a rating that's higher than the actual current, but in any case, the strip is going to need 12 volts at probably a few amps. A safe guesstimate would be 2.5 amps or 30 watts, or about a tenth of a watt for each of the 300 LEDs.
There is no Joule Thief that can supply that kind of current. You could put 8 D cells in series for 12V, and they would put out an amp or more and last for a few hours, but I don't think that replacing the D cells every week or two is going to be affordable.
Joule Thiefs are only about 40 tp 70 percent efficient, in other words they waste about half the power. A few months ago I built a high power Joule Thief (http://rustybolt.info/wordpress/?p=1703) that runs from 1V and puts out enough current to run a 1 watt LED. To drive a strip at 30 watts would require at least two dozen of these. It would draw about a hundred amps from a 1.5 volt supply. You can immediately see why a Joule Thief is not the answer to powering this strip.
My case has LED lights on the front but I don't know how to light them up. My case has a cable called "PWR LED" which I figure powers the cases LED lights. This cable had a 4pin male molex at the end of it, I don't know what to do from here.
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