Log In | Register
Skip to main content
Topic: Question: converting lamp to 12 volt (Read 7 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Question: converting lamp to 12 volt
Yahoo Message Number: 144736
Hi, y'all:
 If LED desk lamp shows input at transformer plug as AC 100-240 and output as DC 10. 5, there is no way to adapt it to 12 volt, right?
 If not, have any if you recently found any lamps that are still available on market that I could adapt? I know  some at IKEA are no longer sold.

Thanks!

Marcia and Leon Panoply 2006 LD MB Parenthetical 2002 Jeep Liberty Sport

Re: Question: converting lamp to 12 volt
Reply #1
Yahoo Message Number: 144748
I don't know to which lamps you are referring, but a few years I converted a regular little incandescent table lamp to 12V .  T'was quite simple - one can buy 12V LED bulbs that fit in a regular light-bulb socket . Then all that remains is to cut off the plug and add a 12V plug that goes into a 12V outlet . Here's a picture:
 http://www.wxtoad.com/index.php/lazy-daze/odds-ends/12-volt-table-lamp

WxToad @  Fort Bliss , TX

Posted by: "Tapestry" tapestryshadow@yahoo . com tapestryshadow Date: Sun Jan 26, 2014 10:56 am ((PST))

Hi, y'all:
 If LED desk lamp shows input at transformer plug as AC 100-240 and output as DC 10 .  5, there is no way to adapt it to 12 volt, right?
 If not, have any if you recently found any lamps that are still available on market that I could adapt? I know  some at IKEA are no longer sold .

Thanks!

Marcia and Leon

Re: Question: converting lamp to 12 volt
Reply #2
Yahoo Message Number: 144756
Thank you. Guess we will have to start with new lamps and do it the way you did since our lamp only puts out 10.5 DC and not 12.

Marcia

Battery connection question
Reply #3
Yahoo Message Number: 144758
When connecting 4 6 v batteries for 12 v use, it seems to me there are 2 ways to connect them. 1) Connect each pair in parallel then put the pairs in series.  2) Connect each pair in series then put the pairs in parallel.
Does one of the ways have an advantage over the other?  For those of you who run 4 6v batteries, how are they connected?  Was it done by a pro? Is there any logic as to why one way would be better than the other?  #1 requires 5 connecting cables where #2 only needs 4 so I am tempted to go with #2 but wonder what the experts have to say.

Rich - 2000 MB - Birch Bay, WA
Former 2000 MB- Now Bullet Crossfire 1800RB trailer pulled by a Chevy 2500HD


Re: Battery connection question
Reply #5
Yahoo Message Number: 144761
"Is  there any logic as to why one way would be better than the other?  #1 requires 5 connecting cables where #2 only needs 4 so I am tempted to go with #2 but wonder what the experts have to say."

Rich

Years ago, I was taught by a marine electrician to use Method 2, where each pair of 6-volt batteries are wired in series (making a 12-volt battery) and then the two pairs wired in parallel..
If one battery shorts out, it's easy to remove one wire and eliminate the bad 12-volt side.

Here is a photo of how I wired our 4-battery pack, including a Flow-Rite battery watering system.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwade/1415589139/in/set-72157602104740457

Larry
Larry
2003 23.5' Front Lounge, since new.  Previously 1983 22' Front Lounge.
Tow vehicles  2020 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2001 Jeep Cherokee
Photo Collection: Lazy Daze

Re: Battery connection question
Reply #6
Yahoo Message Number: 144763
With 4, 6 volt batteries, in series you double the amperage. That's the advantage of 4 batteries. Interstate web site gives good explanation or wind and sun site, provides a lot of extremely good info. herb

Re: Battery connection question
Reply #7
Yahoo Message Number: 144764
Larry, Thanks for the info and photo.  I notice you take both the positive and negative outputs from the same pair.  I thought if I went with #2 it would be a good idea to take the positive from one of the pairs and the negative from the other. That would seem to balance all the losses in connectors and cables better for more even charging/discharging.
It looks like you could have easily gone either way, so wonder if you had a reason for your decision.
 Thanks again, and by the way this is the way the Trojan diagram shows doing it too; thanks to Joe for pointing me to that url.  Guess I'll go that way.

Rich
Former 2000 MB- Now Bullet Crossfire 1800RB trailer pulled by a Chevy 2500HD

Re: Question: converting lamp to 12 volt
Reply #8
Yahoo Message Number: 144765
Converting an LED lamp to run from 12V requires determining the current draw of the 'bulb'. For instance, I have a couple of LED desk lamps purchased from Walmart that I converted to 12V operation. I determined that the current required was 700 mA, after researching the LED device used, and purchased a small circuit that produces that current from a range of input voltages of about 5V to 30V. I wired the circuit into the shell of an old cigarette lighter adapter charger shell, and attached the wires from the lamp to that.

Steve
2004 FL
2013 Honda Fit


Re: Battery connection question
Reply #10
Yahoo Message Number: 144775
"With 4, 6 volt batteries, in series you double the amperage."

Not correct as stated. When batteries are connected in series, the voltage adds up--not the amperage. Thus two 6 V batteries yield 12 V; this is the standard configuration for Lazy Dazes as they come from the factory.

Connecting batteries in parallel increases the amperage. But of course you must have the required voltage before doing this.

Hence, a pair of 6 V batteries connected in series (= 12 V) may be connected in parallel with another pair of 6 V batteries that are also connected in series, yielding 12 V at twice the batteries' rated amperage. With the Trojan T105 6V batteries that are in common use in Lazy Dazes, this arrangement will deliver 450 amp-hours at 12 volts.

Andy Baird
http://www.andybaird.com/travels
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"


 
Re: Battery connection question
Reply #12
Yahoo Message Number: 144777
Quote
Hence, a pair of 6 V batteries connected in series (= 12 V) may be connected in parallel with another pair of 6 V batteries that are also connected in series, yielding 12 V at twice the batteries' rated amperage. With the Trojan T105 6V batteries that are in common use in Lazy Dazes, this arrangement will deliver 450 amp-hours at 12 volts.

Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels
Exactly.

Helpful to some is the water pressure and flow analogy:
 Voltage is like water pressure. Amperage is like water flow volume. Wire size is like pipe diameter - bigger allows more amps (current) or water flow.
 Once upon a long time ago, before a better understanding of electricy, "conventional" current flow taught that electricity flowed from positive (more) to negative (less). With a better understanding of the atom, "electron current flow theory" has it that electrons flow from negative to positive.

bumper
bumper
"Yonder" '05 MB
"WLDBLU" glider trailer