# LED Spotlight tutorial



## niblique71

There are many tutorials out there for LED spotlights. I've read a lot of them and came up with these lights that are very cheap, and for the most part, very effective.. Most tutorials aren't complete. They omit just enough information that newbies can be a little intimidated. Even though there are many ways to make an LED spotlight, I decided to post a complete tutorial so that you have a good place to start from.

Our MnT group did a test using spots with 3 of the cheapo 5mm Leds and compared them to the single 10mm Led spotlights. The 3 Cheapo LED design was far superior for overall color saturation and intersting patterns. In this Tutorial I will eventually show you banks of 3, 6, 9, and 12. Since some colors from Asia Engineer vary in intensity, you might want info on constructing a stronger multi-LED Light.

With that Said, New LED's are being introduced almost daily. I'm going to continue to experiment with some of the "uber bright" LED's that I'm beginning to see out there. I'm also still looking for an affordable UV LED that is in the 365nm- 385nm range. They are available, but kind of costly. My goal is to eventually replace 110 bulbs entirely for my haunt, as well as some all season outdoor lighting. Feel free to use whatever LED's suit you.

You can see the origins of this project, ask questions, and make comments about this tutorial here until I get the entire tutorial finished and edited.

This tutorial will come in segments since it will take a lot of time to gather all of the documentation necessary. USE THIS FIRST POST to start collecting bottle caps. You will need 2 per light fixture. It took me a long time to gather enough caps since I don't drink soda. I began looking for bottled water with the caps I needed, and even hit the recycycling yard, (till they told me I couldn't take any caps), and scavanged the neighborhood on recycling day.

The standard disclaimers apply. "I am not responsible etc". In other words, proceed at your own risk. This system is very SAFE but there's always someone that could touch thier tongue to a frozen flagpole when a "double dog dare" comes into play. Use common sense as you will be working with electricity and various tools. I also reserve the right to make mistakes or omissions and correct them at a later date. I'll do my best to be thorough.

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LED Spotlights part 1: PARTS AND TOOL LIST

To build these ultra cheap (Less than 75 cents apiece with mounts) LED spotlights you will need these materials:

MATERIALS:

-1" thin wall PVC pipe. Be careful to get thinwall and not the thicker sched 40 stuff (Home Depot or Lowes) 10' makes about 29 spotlights
-Old style 2 Litre bottle caps (manufacturers are beginning to change thier cap designs but these are still readily available)
-Super Glue (Cheap dollar store stuff actually works best)
-#8 X 2" bolts (Home Depot) 1 per fixture
-#8 Wing nuts (Home Depot) 1 per fixture
-# 8 washers (Home Depot) 1 per fixture
-Ceiling hangers (Home depot) 1 per fixture
-Wood for platforms (Can be scrap, but must be at least 3/4" thick and about 3" wide. NOT Plywood)
-Flat Black or Dark spray paint
-Hot Glue sticks
-LED's and free Resistors from Asia Engineer. You must special order your free resistors since the values are different than standard. 
UPDATE: The resitor values below are the Closest available values available from Asia engineer that I found on thier site. The calculator says that these values are at the lower limit of acceptabe but the did just fine for mine.
100 Ohm resistors for White, blue, green and pink. (Free) These are also at the low end of what's acceptable, but they didn't have a closer match. Mine work fine at this value.
360 Ohm for Reds, and Ambers. Also at the lower limit, but they work fine for mine.

To help insure you get the correct resistors, At the bottom of the order page there is a space for a note. Specify the resistors you want for EACH COLOR that you order. Once you complete your order, Back up the request by sending another note to "Giorgio" through E-bays "Contact this seller" with the same information. REQUEST CONFIRMATION of your resistor values. Eg- "Please send 100 Ohm resistors for Whites. Please send 360 Ohm resistors for Reds. PLEASE CONFIRM RESISTOR ORDER", Etc. Remember you are ordering a product from Asia and thier english is a little limited, so use simple language, Be concise, and use common words.
They will respond and ship usually within 12 hours.
-Copper weather strip nails (#17 X 3/4"- not show in picture below)from Home Depot for the vampire connectors. -
Alternate connection system. 
Joe (Hpropman) has an alternative method of connecting these lights together. See pics here. HP's RCA Connection system
-Finish Grade Plywood for Vampire connectors (Scraps if possible)
-Landscape wire (16-2 14-2 or 12-2) Home Depot
-Scavanged computer power supply with on-off button (heavy duty toggle switch if no on-off button exists)
-12V Wall wart for LED testing.
-Telephone wire (radio shack) or light guage speaker wire for pigtails.
-Solder
-Dollar store Hair ties (to secure vampire connectors)

TOOLS
Safety glasses
Mitre saw (preferably power)
Drill press (preferred), or hand drill.
Drill bits 3/16", 13/64' 1/4"
Soldering iron
***** (wire clippers)
Fine needle nose plyers
Fine 45 degree needle nose plyers (optional)
Regular plyers
Wire strippers
Multi Meter (not necessary but helpful)
Vice
Smooth face hammer
Helping hands soldering station (make one cheap here) Thanks to Hpropman
Sandpaper or a belt sander
Hot Glue gun
Patience and time

These are the type of bottle caps you need. If you have any doubt, buy the thin-wall 1" PVC first, and cut a small sample of it and keep it in your pocket. Wen you find a bottle cap at work or on recycling day, and it fits snugly into your sample piece than your good to go. These are specific sized and shaped caps and ONLY these and similar will work in this design. ALWAYS test fit untill you become familiar with these types of caps. Strangely, you will soon be able to Identify different caps from different distributors....









This is the hardware that you'll need. Ceiling hangers on the left and the others items are easy to read. All were bought at Home Depot.









This is the wire I used to wire the LEDS in the fixtures (to create the pigtails from the LED's to the main line). Any double stranded wire will do, Light guage speaker wire, Lamp chord wire, anything light guage. The wire in this picture isn't braided, but it has held up well to date. Solid wire won't hold up to constant adjustment as well as braided wire, but for most of us we only adjust sour lights a few times during the season so this wire should be fine. It works for me since it's SOO Cheap. Yes there are 4 wires inside. I'll show you how to effectively remove them from thier sheathing.









Here's two tubs of materials in the process of constructing the main bodies of the lights. I tend to "production-line" the things that I need to make a lot of. Here's a hint, make a lot more than you think. Once I realized how to blend the colors for different effects, I wanted a lot more lights. It wasn't to make everything brighter, but to bring more life to the scenes I had createed. You ALWAYS need more lights for that SPECIAL effect.









Here's a picture of the ceiling hangers and some base's that I precut and drilled/ Your base wood should be approximately 3"X 4" and 3/4" thick (Min). Some use 2X4' scrap and that works too, albiet not as inconspicuous.









This should be enough to get you started. It takes a week or two to get your LED's and probably longer to gather all the caps you will need (2 per fixture). If you have any question at this point than please feel free to ask. There are some other pics in my "LED Lighting post" which is in the atmosphere section here. Some of you can create them by just viewing that post alone, but a complete tutorial is yet to come. So be patient and enjoy.


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## niblique71

*B-LEDS Constructing the Housing and mounts*

You can start construction on your Light bodies while you wait for your LED order to arrive. READ EACH SECTION COMPLETELY before you start. It will familiarized you with the process and make construction easier.

Before I get started, the length of your tubing has a purpose and makes a big difference in how you can use your lights. The longer the tube, the deeper you can recess your bottle caps containing the LED's. This is important for one reason, "light pollution" within your own haunt. In most cases you don't want your TOTers to see the actual LED's inside the tube. Since I do a wide variety of lighting (Uplighting, Cross lighting, side lighting, and down lighting), it's easier to control "Source pollution" (lights in your eyes) when the lights are deeper in the tubing. Sometimes you WILL want to intentionally shine a light into someones eyes, but most of the time You don't. So I have created 2 standard sizes, 4" and 5". Longer than 5" doesn't really do too much more to control the light, and shorter tubes might cause interferance with the LED's and the back of the fixture and the adjuster bolt. With that said and you are skilled at soldering, you could go as short as 3" if you want.

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START CONSTRUCTION OF YOUR HOUSING

First, you'll want to set up a way to make MANY cuts on your miter saw at a specific length by creating a Jig or "Stop" on your Mitre saw at 4"

Note the block of wood clamped down on the saw. This is my "STOP", to make it easy to cut a LOT of pipes at exactly the same length. Clean the saw table periodically to insure consistant (Length) cuts. Cut as many tubes as you'll need and then cut more at 5" if you want the longer lights. 









NOTE: WEAR SAFTEY GLASSES!! ---A power miter saw is by far the best way to do this. You must cut gently or you can shatter your tubes especially in cold weather. With a decent blade, it leaves almost no burs, and your cuts will be perfectly square. If you are cutting them by hand, or a jigsaw, you MUST Clean up ALL of the burs with sandpaper to leave a very smooth inside edge so the caps can be inserted properly. They are a tight fit and this could cause you some serious headaches later, if not done.
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Once you have all your tubes cut to length, grab your bottle caps. Take One per tube and press it in (See pictures), and then press it all the way to the bottom using a nice flat surface and a wooden dowl. This creates the back of the light fixture. Remember you will eventually need a second bottle cap so plan on 2 per fixture.

















In a finished fixture, the back cap should look like this, and fit flush to the back before drilling the holes for the mounts.(See below). The Ceiling hanger allows the light to be adjusted left to right.









Do this to ALL of your tubes at once, It really speeds up the process to production-line them.

Now your ready to drill your mount holes and a 3rd hole for the wire to escape the tubing. Using a 3/16" drill bit, pick a spot about 1/4" from the back of the tube where your first bottle cap was installed. Drill one hole ALL THE WAY THROUGH your tube and cap (Creates 2 aligned holes for your bolt). Then turn the tube 90 degrees and drill ONE more hole for the wires exit hole (Don't drill all the way through to the far side of the tubing on this one). When complete you'll have 3 holes that look like this:


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## hpropman

Greg I use that 3rd hole as a water drain hole and I drill a forth hole in the cap from the rear above the bolt for the wire. Just another way of doing it. I course that is assuming that you keep your lights on the ground. you mount yours all over the place at all kinds of angles.


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## Haunted Spider

Being in the landscape business as you are, is there a certain type of wire you would suggest say the 12-2 over the 16-2 or a brand which you would steer clear of vs buying?


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## niblique71

*Mounting Methods*

In this section we will take a look at different ways of mounting your fixtures while maintaining adjustability.

Here are a few different methods of mounting your lights. The black one (finished) has a larger platform (approx 4" X 3") for mounting on the ground or screwing into trees or other wooden structures. The one with the smaller platform (unpainted) is primarily for zip-tying to structures like tents, inside props/coffins, or other areas. Both can still be fastened with screws to just about anything since the extra holes are predrilled in the bases. You can also use these holes for weed-mat staples to anchor your lights to the ground. The 3rd one can be clamped to poles or the top of scene panels or just about anywhere. I used Cheapo dollar store clothespin clamps (6 for $1). If you want to spend more money you can buy the small construction clamps which home depot recently had on sale for $1 each.









With these three setups you should be able to put your lights just about anywhere.

For this tutorial I will stick with the standard mounting plate (approx 4" X3")
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Grab some scrap wood. The only requirement is that it is at least 3/4" thick. You can use 1"x 4" pine or oak, and you can also use 2X4's but I prefer something closer to 1" thick. I'd stay away from plywood as delamination will become an issue over time unless very well painted. Set up your "Stop" on your Miter saw and cut a whole bunch of mounting plates approx 3" X 4". Wider if you want to add multiple lights on a single piece of wood like the ones shown here MULTIPLE SPOTLIGHTS.

You will have to experiment with a drill bit and the ceiling hangers to find a nice fit. You want the ceiling hanger to fit snugly into the hole but not so tight that you can't adjust it left and right (Using plyers). I used a 13/64" bit but depending on the type of wood you use you will have to experiment to achieve a nice snug, but adjustable fit. You'll end up with this. Note that the hanger is offset from the center so that the light tube will end up being more or less centered centered Left to right.









Once you figure out what drill bit works best for the hangers, You can then drill all of the Hanger holes without testing them. Once that is done, switch the drill bit to something a little larger. You want holes that are small enough to retain deck screws and large enough to fit a meduim zip tie through. I think I used a 1/4" bit for these holes. If they are too big for your screws you can always add a washer or drill smaller holes. When your done they should look like this.









Now you can use your #8 hardware (machine bolt, washer and wingnut) to assemble your light system. In the picture below, notice two things.
1) In this position the extra "Wire" hole in the tube should be facing downward to allow the wires to exit as well as shed any moisture that might get in the fixture.
2) The only washer I used was here (See pic) Simply add the #8 wingnut and you're ready for painting. If you feel the need to add a second washer between the tube and hanger feel free to do so. I didn't feel it was necessary. I liked the extra friction without it to hold the light in place when adjusting.









Here is my first batch of fixtures freshly painted, including the bolt, washer and wingnut.









Next part is the pigtail and connector assembly, comming soon.


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## hpropman

You can get all the wood you need for free by picking up a few pallets with 3/4 ot thicker boards. you can rip them apart with crow bars or just cut them out with a circular saw cutting parallel to the 2 x 4s that the boards are nailed to. This will normally get you two pieces 12-15 inches plus any overhang on the outside of the 2x4 if there is any. that should give you 5 to 6 bases per board times the number of boards salvaged from the pallet.


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## niblique71

*Vampire Clips and pigtails- part A*

In this section we will construct the wire and the vampire connectors to attach your lights to a power source in a convenient manner. There is a LOT of buzz and controversey about more convenient ways to connect your lights. This is just the method that I prefer. I will link to any and every source I can find in the future but for now, this method works exceptionally well. With that said I can envision using a combination of connection methods for various applications.

Although I fully endorse other connection methods, I like my vampire connection system for these reasons,

1) Not only is it fast and reliable, it is extremely flexible. Other systems rely on junction boxes, various plugs, prefabricated cables or tons of wire nuts. If you have maxed out your junctions in a particular area, and need 2 or more extra lights, you will need to add even more junction boxes and cables. With my landscape wire concept, you just grab the extra lights, Connect them and secure them, and your off and running. No extra cables, No extra junctions. 
2) You can also run extremely long distances with no noticable drop in lighting. Although the most expensive part of my system (including the lights) is the landscape wire, you will probably NEVER exceed the capacity of the main wire. I ran several 250' "main lines" this past year and they worked great.
3) Cost- For small yards with less than 50 lights, a junction system would probably work very well and might even be cheaper. But for a larger yard and LOTS of lights, I believe that the landscape wire connection system will win for affordability. Buy the landscape wire once and connect most if not all of your lights to it. I plan on having approx 175 lights this year (100 more than last year) and I don't need to buy any new main wire.

The weakest part of my concept is the finished grade plywood that I use to hold the vampire connectors. I have noticed after 1 season (6 weeks) of outdoor use, that the plywood showed some signs of delamination. BUT, I didn't properly paint them or otherwise protect them. In the future I will be experimenting with different polymers (plastics) instead of plywood. For now I have resorted to "Laminating" the tiny plywood "holders" with Hot Glue to protect the solder joint, plywood and wire. To protect the copper vampire tips, a small dab of di-electric grease works VERY well. Feel free to experiment with materials to make this concept better, but the flexibility and reliability of this system is undeniable. Time will tell how durable it is.
UPDATE:I pulled my old lights out of storage to check and update them. I realized that the connectors that had signs of delamination were the first batch I ever did. I set them up in early march last year, and left them outdoors until after halloween (8 months). The ones that were only out for 6 weeks seemed to be fine since they were painted properly. Every Light from last year still worked perfectly. If you don't want to entirely coat them with hot glue, just add an extra coat or two of paint to the connector blocks that you'll be building next in this tutorial. I'd still cover the top of the nails and some of the pigtail wire with Hot glue though for corrosion protection. 

On to the construction:

Get some scrap 1/2" finish grade plywood. Finish grade plywood is usually a little more dense and sometimes has extra layers inside. It holds the copper tacks nicely. You are aiming for pieces that are approx 1-1/4" long and about 5/8" wide. Like this:









If you can find a piece that is about 1' X 1' (approx) you can easily mass produce these using a power miter saw. First make sure you have at least one square corner (Make a waste cut if Necessary to square it up), Then make many cuts approx 5/8" apart but you will want to want to leave a section uncut to hold everything together for your second set of cuts. Like This:









Now set your "Stop" to 1-1/4" (1.25"). Turn the plywood 90 degrees and cut your tiny blocks off. Make sure to leave the section that is still connected attached like this:







. 
WEAR SAFTEY GLASSES!!! as the parts are likely to fly around if you don't cut them carefully.

Now paint them all. I just set all of them on a large piece of cardboard and painted them all at once which still leaves one side unpainted. I'd do at least two coats before letting them dry and turning them over to paint the remaining side.

While your waiting for your paint to dry, Grab your pigtail wire. Any light guage wire will work for this part including speaker wire, or anything smaller than 20 guage, If you choose to use the telephone wire I used, you will need to extract the 4 wires inside the Sheath. I first cut my telephone wire into 30" sections (or longer if you wish), leaving the insulating sheath intact for now. Grab a cut piece and stretch it firmly and let go. You will see the interior wires begin to come out one end as the sheath begins to relax. Using needle nose plyers, remove them from the sheath all at once by holding the wire and sheath as straight as possible. If you are careful you will notice that the bundle of wires is slightly twisted in pairs of two wires. You can carefully separate them leaving the pairs still slightly twisted together.


















Now strip approx 3/8" of sheathing off of ONE END of your small wires in preparation for soldering them to your copper weather strip nails. Try to leave them them twisted together in thier original pairs. I leave the other end alone for now as it makes it easier to snake the wires into the light fixtures later on. WARM up that soldering Iron for the next step.


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## niblique71

*Vampire Clips and pigtails- part B*

Now that your wires and blocks are prepared, You will need your copper coated weatherstrip Nails and Soldering iron. I chose the copper coated nails because they are SUPER CHEAP, and easy to solder to. Since they are soo cheap and easy to solder to. 
I've only seen these at Home depot.









First, grab a section (one pair) of your "Prepped" wires and carefully wrap the exposed wires around the nails 1.5- 2 times. Use your plyers to force the wire up to the head of the nail being careful to keep the wire as high and tight, and neat as possible. Using a set of "helping hands", solder the wire to the nail as HIGH as possible (Tucked just under the head of the nail). Since the Nail has a LOT more mass than your wire, you will need to hold your soldering iron on the assembly for a little longer than you might think. If you have a strong soldering iron or Gun than you will need less time to properly heat the assembly and avoid a cold solder joint. If necessary, trim any excess wire off of your assembly. When your done it should look like this (Note the home made "helping hands").









Again, I tend to do things in an assembly line process. I did all of my soldering in once session, but you can do a few than install them in the blocks as I'm about to describe.

Use a Vise if you have one, open the jaws slightly to allow the nail tips to pass through the blocks, Place a block on the open jaws of the vise and VERY CAREFULLY and slowly, hammer the nails into the blocks using a smooth face hammer. For your first few, I would make some marks in pencil on the blocks. After you do 10 or so you can just "Eyeball" the spacing. The spacing you are seeking is about 1/4". Angle the wire slightly away from the center of your block as they sometimes twist as you hammer them down. They could touch in some extreme cases causing a short. Start 1 nail first but don't hammer it all the way down. Then start the second nail at your 1/4" spacing. If you don't drive them in too deep, you can adjust them Now before you hammer them all the way down. CHECK from two angles that you are Plumb (Straight up and down), adjust if necessary, then slowly hammer the two nails down (you could do them separately if you want). Be sure to seat them nicely (I usually hit them once or twice extra to get them all the way down and flush).









From experiance, you WILL mess this up a few times until you get the hang of it. If the nails "Drift" as you hammer them in, they might still be fine. You can adjust the tips a little bit with a pair of Plyers afterwards. If they drift "Wide" of each other, that's better than if they drift to close. You DO not want to cause a "short" with nails that are too close to effectively puncture your main landscape wire. Carefully inspect your nail head too. They can be VERY close. As long as they CLEARLY do not touch each other you will be fine. INSPECT each piece carefully before returning them to your "Completed pile". Once you get the hang of it you will only mess up a few. I did about 90 of them and only discarded 2-3.

Notice the spacing as it relates to the landscape wire. These last two pics are from last year. All of my new blocks are properly painted before this process.









If you mess a few up, just cut the wire off and start over using the remainder of your wire and a new block and nails. This process takes some patience and practice, but you WILL get the hang of it as you move through the process. It actually goes pretty quick once you get the hang of it.

If you LED's haven't come in yet you can do this next part first, I prefer to do it after the lights are fully assembled.

Warm up your hot glue gun. If you are confident that you have a nice heavy paint job on your blocks, you can now hot glue the entire top of these blocks including some of the pigtail wire. I'm now covering the entire block EXCEPT the nails tips in Hot glue, but it's mess and a PIA. In the picture you can see that I added some extra twists in the wire, and bent the wires like this before hot gluing. This is due to how you will be securing the vampire clips to your main wire in the future.
I'm not really sure that encasing the clip in hot glue is entirely necessary, but here's what it looks like when it's done.

UPDATE! I spent two hours at Lowes looking at different sealing techniques and different materials. I ended up buying some "Tool handle dip" but it's expensive ($10) compared to other parts of this build. As I was driving home feeling guilty about this purchase, I came up with some other Ideas. I tried a few different things with HOT Glue including melting some in an old tin cup and dipping them in and then Dunking them in ICE water. It worked OK but wasted WAY too much Hot glue and REALLY Stunk up the house (airing out now). Which brought me back to just using the hot glue gun.  I'll be returning the "tool dip" unused.

VOILA!!!! The Key to coating the clips in hot glue is applying the glue in consistant small swirls while keeping the tip of the gun "in" the glue as you swirl it around. Then quickly dip it in some cool water. This gave me VERY Nice coverage and a fairly nice finished appearance. It took about 3-4 tries before I got the hang of it.

I started between the two nail tips and just covered each side being careful not to let the glue sag. I used the side of the glue gun tip to smooth out each side. This would thin out and even up the coverage. I finished by coating the wires to about 1" from the block. Once I was confidant that I had the entire block covered, I just dipped it in a small bucket of cool water to stop the glue from sagging. Since it was still a little warm I could use my fingers to "press" out any overt bumps with my fingers without the glue sticking to, or burning my fingers. Once I got the hang of it I didn't even need to do that.

Also, I discovered that getting a little glue on the nails isn't a big deal. I just used my fingernails to pluck off any excess glue from the very tip of the nails. As long as the nail tips extend at least 1/8" and are clean, they'll work fine. Mine did. Although you can just paint them, I think this "full coating" process will prolong the life of the clips dramatically.

As I said, this may be overkill but it works REALLY Well and should add several useful years to this part. Here's the new pic.









Feel free to experiment with other materials instead of plywood. The whole Idea is to make them effective, reliable and CHEAP. If anyone improves on the idea or has other suggestions to make them better or cheaper than feel free to post alternative solutions HERE. I will incorporate any improvements that look promising in this main tutorial. Mine did work flawlessly in thier first year of operation without one single failure (before they were painted or sealed). We'll see how they perform in the following years. There is always room for improvements.

Now on to the LED assembly.


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## hpropman

Greg what if you pre drill the nail hole with a hole about half to 3/4 the diameter of the nails using the drill press. that should eliminate drifting and wire alignment issues. you can make a jig for the drill press to line up the holes for the correct spacing. Also what about those plastic boards that they use for decks these days. that would eliminate the painting and the sealing of the blocks.


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## niblique71

Joe, your reply is Here


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## niblique71

*Cap preparation and LED installation*

Your LED Order just came in. Use a Multi-meter to check the value of your resistors to insure they are correct.

For testing you LED's as you build them (You will want to do this) you can use a 12V wall wart. Cut the fitting off, separate the wires a little, then strip them. Then, make make a tester like this.








Be careful to keep the area clean of extra wires or tools while using this thing. Metallic objects can short the wall wart out if they bridge the contacts, not to mention spark a bit. I prefer to hack an ATX computer power supply for the power source especially during halloween.. If you cause a short using a computer Power supply, it is "fault protected" and will just click off. More on that later. The wall wart was quick, cheap and easy. You can also use this to test other 12V Items (motors) as long as they don't exceed the amps of your wall wart or computer power supply.

Hpropman made an even simpler LED testor Here using a 9V batery and a resistor.

When creating groupings of 3 LED on a 12V pwer supply, your resistors should have close to these values:
Reds and Ambers should be in the 390 ohm range
Blues, Greens, Pinks, and Whites should be in the 120 ohm range.

Note: At the time this tutorial was being written, Asia Engineer was closed for vacation and thier site wasn't available. I was unable to provide exact available resistors values. Order the next highest value resistor to the ones listed above, if the exact values aren't listed. I used this LED CACULATOR to get my values. I will update this later.

It's Later:

The general rule is to find the next highest value for what an LED calculator would reccomend.

Reds and ambers 360ohm resistors from Asia Engineer (Closest I could find to 390ohm but still within the acceptable range, barely. Mine work fine with these)

Whites, greens, blues, and pinks- 100 ohm resistors from Asia Engineer. (still within the acceptable range, but barely)


Here is a picture of the LED patterns and schematics I used in my latest build. The patterns are all considered "in series". The purest example of series is the grouping of only 3. Once you add multiple groupings of 3 you are still hooking the LED's in series but in a modified pattern considered a "Series/paralell array. The LED's themselves are still wired in series, but connecting multiple groupings of them makes the groupings Paralell. If this confuses you, don't worry, it won't affect your ability to make your lights.









First, a little bit about the LED's from Asia Engineer. The brightness varies greatlly between different colors. That is why I started building more than 3 LED's into some of my fixtures. Although there are brighter LED's available elsewhere, these are more than adequate and SUPER CHEAP (approx 8 cents per LED)

Blue and whites are by far the brightest and would probably be OK with just 3 LED's

Green is the next brightest. about 2/3rds the light of the Blues and Whites. Still OK with just 3 LED's

Red and Ambers are about 1/2 the light output of the Blues and Whites.

Pinks are by far the weakest color. Probably 1/3rd the light of the whites and blues.

So far, Asia Engineer doesn't supply yellows which is a dissapointment. I found Yellow's Here

Groupings of 3 will be just fine for most applications. I built the stronger lights to throw more light a longer distance. If you are unsure, than make stronger reds, ambers, and pinks and even some whites. Experiment and make your own decisions.

Back to the Build. 
There are several different methods of securing and soldering your LED's and resistors. After making 175 lights, I believe this method to be the fastest, but not necessarily the most compact.

Grab your 1" caps and Drill out holes in a 3, hole pattern (shown below) using a 3/16 drill bit. I would start with just 3 LED's untill you get the hang of building and testing your lights. Test the Fit your LED's (Should be perfect or just a little bit snug) before you drill a lot of them. Once you have a batch drilled, Clean up any burs and then lightly sand the top of the bottle caps. It will GREATLY help the super glue adhere when you get to that step.

Pick ONE COLOR ONLY for each segment of your build since they all look the same (Clear). You don't want to get them mixed up and install the wrong resistors or have multiple colors within one fixture. I would start with 5-10 fixtures of one color. Now, one cap at a time at a time, place the LED's in the cap Like this, 








Pay close attention to the orientation. Each LED has a LONG leg (+) and a short leg (-). 









For patterns of only 3, I place 1 LED on the far side of the cap, with the long lead to the left, twist the cap 120 degrees and then install your second LED EXACTLY the same way. Then twist another 120 degrees, and add the 3rd LED the SAME WAY. After all 3 are installed with proper orientation, I then Glue the LED's to the cap using your cheapo superglue and set aside to let the glue set up. You only need a SMALL amount of glue to do this. More glue won't hold better but will take a lot longer to dry. It will also make more glue vapor which can "Cloud" the lens of your LED's. You'll want good glue coverage, just don't over do it.

Start another cap. By the time you do 5-10 of them your first one will be dry enough to start working with it.









On to onnecting your resistors and soldering your LED's.


----------



## niblique71

*Wiring your LED's*

Now that Glue is dry, it's time to wire you LED's together. There are a TON of different ways to do this. Some methods are more compact and some are neater, but this is the fastest method that I have found.

First bend one long(+) lead and one short (-) from two adjacent LED's slightly together like this.









Then twist them together Like this.








Don't twist them down tight or you could damage the LED's. Do this to ONE more pair so you have two pair connected. You should have 1 long and one short lead left on SEPARATE LED's Solder the twisted leads to the botom of the twists. then clip them so they look like This:









I usually wire my resistor to the short (-) lead that is leftover. make sure you have the correct resistor for the color lights you are currently building. To connect the resistor, I bend the short lead down over the side of the cap and hold the resistor with my thumb like this:









Twist the short (-) LED lead and the resistor Lead together leaving the other (+) lead alone for now. After twisting about 4-5 times to make a secure mechanical connection then solder them together. I usually leave a little but of space between the resistor so I can bend it straight afterwards without damaging it. Clip the excess off leaving about 1/8th" before straightening everything out. It should look like this.









Continued in the next post.


----------



## niblique71

*Wiring your LED's part 2*

Now straighten up your resistor assembly, I usually take the 1/8th" soldered part and bend it down to bring the resistor virtical. This keeps that joint away from the resistor for easier Hot Gluing later on. It should Look like this:









Now take your pigtail wire, and your finished light fixtures and snake the unstripped ends through the remaining hole of your light tubes untill they appear at the top. Pull enough through to strip the wire ends. Be carefull to not damage the insulation on the phone wire. Now strip the wire ends to about 3/8ths". Solder your negative wire (Black or green) if you are using the phone wire) to the remaining resistor lead using a similar technique as before. I use my thumb to old the wire against the cap while twisting.


















Now Twist and solder your positive wire and lead together and it'll look like this.









Since humidity is ever present in outdoor environments, I suggest hot gluing all of the exposed wiring inside the tube. Cover everything EXCEPT the resistor. The Resistor dissapates heat and covering the resistor could cause it to fail. Also, make sure you don't get any glue on the sides of the cap otherwise you could prohibit insertion. If you do get some glue in a bad place, let it cool and snip it off with *****.









Let the Hot glue set up for a few minutes and your ready to insert your lights.


----------



## niblique71

*Inserting the cap.*

I always test my lights now before I insert them. They are difficult to remove (but it can be done). It's easier to fix anything that you might have done wrong at this point. Once your LED's test "Good" you can insert the caps in your fixtures.

First press the cap in to get started. the turn the whole thing upside down and press it untill the cap is flush with the the top of your tube. I do this because the caps have a slight ridge in them just before they get flush. This helps reduce the friction of pressing the caps in and possibly damaging the lights you works so hard on. Make sure your Pigtails don't bunch up in the tube behind the lights.


















Now I use something small enough to fit between the LED's yet blunt enough that it won't puncture the cap to press the lights to the desired depth. For my purposes, the back of a pair of plyers worked well when using banks of 3 and 6. The Butt end of these plyers just happen to fit between the LED's. When doing banks of 9, a slightly different technique must be used to press them all the way in. NEVER Push direcly on the LED's since it takes considerable pressure to press the caps down. 
I usually press them halfway, or a little more for a good starting point. 









Now do a final test to make sure they work









Your ALMOST Done.


----------



## niblique71

*Finishing Up*

Now the final few steps.

I grab the Vampire connector and hold it up high letting the fixture hang by the wires (this will be the ONLY time there will be stress on your solder joints). I then give the fixture a few spins to give the wires a nice neat twisted appearance.

Then I place the mount on a table and angle the fixture to it's most extreme backward position. Notice that the wire hole is now at the top.









I then wrap the wire around the Ceiling hanger one time as a "pullout restraint". 









Reset your light to a more normal position, Test one last time, and YOUR DONE with the actual fixtures.









For the connection process I will address how to hack a computer power supply Later. There are a TON of tutorials on you tube of how to do this.

Take your landscape wire and connect it to your power source using wire-nuts. On most computer power supplies the yellow wires are the 12V positive, and the black wires are the ground (negative). Take one of the clips that have at least 1 yellow and one black wire and cut it off. Strip One yellow and one black wire. Using wire nuts connect your landscape wire to the two stripped leads. Tape up any other leftover wires to prevent accidental grounding. 
On Landscape wire, pay attention to which wire is attached to the Yellow and which is attached to the Black. Landscape wire always has a ridge on once side that you can feel with your fingers. Sometimes it also has writing on once side. Just take note as to which one you connected to your yellow wire as that will always be your positve wire throughout your entire system. Even if you make "Branches" on your main wires KEEP the polarity consistant and it will save a lot of time and headaches later on.

I use Dollar store "Hair Ties" to secure my lights to to the main wire. If you can find Black ones, they are a little more discreet. I also leave multiple loops of main wire in sections where I think I might want to pull the wire to add some other lights. My main wires meander in and out and around my whole haunt with a few extra branches going to more remote areas. I will do a sample drawing of a typical application soon.

To attach your lights you will need a small piece of wood for something to press down on, and your hair ties. Once you are satisfied that your main lines are close to where you want them, Turn on your power supply. Start Close to your power supply and match the positive part of the vampire clip with the positive part of your landscape wire. make sure the nails are centered on the individual wires. and Press down untill the light comes on. If it doesn't come on then turn the vampire clip the the other way in case you had your ploarity reversed, Once it lights, Press it in a little harder using your scrap of wood. You don't want to press it all the way through. In fact once it lights just give it a little extra squeeze to make good contact, then using the hair tie secure it like this.








Note that I started by hooking the hair tie it to one side of the block, wrapped it around the wires and then continued around a second time and attached it to the other side of the vampire clip. This connection is Surprisingly good. I usually give it one extra "squeeze" for good measure just to insure contact.









Once your first light is on, Aim it at you as you attach more lights. You always want to see at least ONE light on as you attach a new light. If they go Out??? you created a temporary short. Just remove the connector you were working on, restart your power supply, and reattach that vampire clip that caused the short. THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME while installing professional landscape lights. It's normal and safe as long as your using a computer power supply as your source of power.

In future posts I will be addressing computer power supply hacking, effective use of your landscape wire, 6, and 9 LED lights, and any other questions that come up. There are already a lot of threads out there on effective use of lighting.


----------



## thrilltainment

awesome howto, very detailed and very useful, keep up the good work =)


----------



## Spooky Dave

Hi all, 

I have a quick question on this thread. I'm just barely gathering parts for the project, and noticed that these all run off the 12V line on the PC supply. I had thought ahead of time that they'd be running off the 5V line, as that's a closer voltage to the LED's I've always used in the past. 

Forgive me if this was already answered in the tutorial (I could've missed it), but I'm curious why we go with the higher voltage line? Do these LED's want more juice? On my PC power supply, I have more 5V to play with than 12V. (Though I'm certain my 12V supply won't even come close to maxing out via the LED's.)

Thanks for the great tutorial, btw. Excellent info!

Dave


----------



## Jaybo

Spooky Dave said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I have a quick question on this thread. I'm just barely gathering parts for the project, and noticed that these all run off the 12V line on the PC supply. I had thought ahead of time that they'd be running off the 5V line, as that's a closer voltage to the LED's I've always used in the past.
> 
> Forgive me if this was already answered in the tutorial (I could've missed it), but I'm curious why we go with the higher voltage line? Do these LED's want more juice? On my PC power supply, I have more 5V to play with than 12V. (Though I'm certain my 12V supply won't even come close to maxing out via the LED's.)
> 
> Thanks for the great tutorial, btw. Excellent info!
> 
> Dave


Mainly because a lot of us have animated props that run off of 12v DC. This allows us to get by with just one power source running throughout the haunt. Plus, there are a lot of automotive LED lighting solutions hitting the market that are already setup for 12v.


----------



## Spooky Dave

Thanks Jaybo, that makes sense, as I have a bunch of 12V stuff myself I was planning to run off the 12V line anyway. Just seems a shame to waste all that 5V amperage. But, having not used the PC power supplies before this year, I can see where running only one power line would be a whole lot easier.

Dave


----------



## hedg12

There is some advantage to using the 5V output in that there is less difference in the supply voltage and the forward voltage of the LEDs. Much less energy is dissipated as heat, and smaller, lower wattage resistors can be used. Not really a big deal in most cases, but if you're running 100's of LEDs (or high brightness 1 or 3 watt LEDs) it can add up.


----------



## niblique71

Spooky Dave said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I have a quick question on this thread. I'm just barely gathering parts for the project, and noticed that these all run off the 12V line on the PC supply. I had thought ahead of time that they'd be running off the 5V line, as that's a closer voltage to the LED's I've always used in the past.
> 
> Forgive me if this was already answered in the tutorial (I could've missed it), but I'm curious why we go with the higher voltage line? Do these LED's want more juice? On my PC power supply, I have more 5V to play with than 12V. (Though I'm certain my 12V supply won't even come close to maxing out via the LED's.)
> 
> Thanks for the great tutorial, btw. Excellent info!
> 
> Dave


Hedge and Jaybo both gave good answers but I believe there's another reason to use 12V instead of 5. In an emergency, You could use a car battery to RUN your lights if necessary, as long as you install a fuse.

Another reason (I think) to use 12V. If you are using LONG run's (Long wire) there is Inevitable voltage drop, especially if you're using a lot of fixtures. A 10% drop on 12 volts isn't as drastic as a 10% drop on 5 volts. I may be wrong so anyone feel free to corect me.

Glad you enjoyed the Tutorial.

Also, Please note that Bottle manufacturers are quickly switching thier caps to a style that won't work with this setup. Although the tutorial will still have value, The fixture tutorial may need some updating in a few years (2013??). I'm sure that you'll still be able to find the correct caps on some beverages for quite a while yet.


----------



## Spooky Dave

Thanks for all the great info, everybody, and a big thanks again for the tutorial in the first place niblique71! Excellent idea to have a car battery as back-up. I've already begun saving bottle caps, as has the friend of mine who runs the haunt with me.


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## dionicia

I really like this how-to for lights. Thanks for posting this.


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## dionicia

Quick question. Instead of using wood for the vampire clips, could you use those little plastic barrettes or would those run the risk of melting?


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## niblique71

dionicia said:


> Quick question. Instead of using wood for the vampire clips, could you use those little plastic barrettes or would those run the risk of melting?


Unless there was a short there is very little heat generated from these. I don't see any reason that plastic couldn't be used for vampire clips.


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## jaege

Excellent tutorial. As of now my lighting is just ground spots, this adds a whole new realm. 

Do you just use the one computer power supply to run all those lights? Anything on that same line, like props?


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## niblique71

jaege said:


> Excellent tutorial. As of now my lighting is just ground spots, this adds a whole new realm.
> 
> Do you just use the one computer power supply to run all those lights? Anything on that same line, like props?


Thanks for the accolades.

So far I run all the lights off of one power supply. We calculated that we could have about 150 (or more) of these fixtures powered by one 30 amp computer power supply. I use separate computer power supplies for motorized props. That way I can use a timer to have the lights go on and off every night and choose when I want to have the motorized stuff running.


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## Spooky Dave

Hey Greg, Just thought I'd let you know I have now successfully made my first few spotlights. Shazam! They work great.

Couple tips I picked up for anybody else building these. One, it doesn't seem like Asia Engineer sells 360 ohm resistors. So, I went with the next level up, 390's. They seem to work fine, plus, Greg said that the 360's were on the low end anyway. So I think 390's may be even better. Maybe they switched what they stocked?

Another quick tip, I ran into a snag for about a minute or two while trying to find a wooden dowel to shove the cap to the end of the tube. Then I happened to notice the back end of my kitchen wooden spoon. Works like a charm!

I'm going to build a whole bunch of these this year. Thanks again, Greg! And to anybody else thinking of taking the plunge, these are SO worth a little effort. Some serious bang for your buck. I hope not to use hardly any of my 110's this year.

Dave


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## niblique71

Congrats Dave. What did you end up using for a connection system??

Please feel free to post a pic or two of your lights.


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## jaege

I have about 20 of these made already. Great tutorial!!!


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## Spooky Dave

niblique71 said:


> Congrats Dave. What did you end up using for a connection system??
> 
> Please feel free to post a pic or two of your lights.


Hi Greg,

Haven't quite gotten that far yet. I'm working on a prop that uses the PICAXE to control things, one element of which will be these LED spots. I've only gotten as far as to where the thing is assembled and the wires are coming out of the PVC. No mounting screw or wood block yet, and definitely no tapping in to the main line. But I've been able to interface them with the PICAXE in wonderful ways (one light strobes quickly, while the other flashes slowly, etc.). I'll definitely post a video of the finished prop in a couple weeks.

By Halloween, I'll have a whole bunch of these lights placed around for general lighting, but I will also use a decent number with props, to be fired when the prop is triggered. Having a blast so far. Thanks again!

Dave


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## dionicia

I tried using plastic hair clips as vampire clips with this project and they seem to be doing the trick. Thanks again.


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## SoCal Scare

Great tutorial, I just ordered my red and orange LEDs this week so I can now make spots in those colors too. I made single bulb spots last year with blue and green for my grave stones that had a copper wire that i can just push into the ground for the proper hight, but I want to wash the house with red this year and I think 3 bulb spots will work great for it. Thanks again for a fantastic tutorial


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## niblique71

SoCal Scare said:


> Great tutorial, I just ordered my red and orange LEDs this week so I can now make spots in those colors too. I made single bulb spots last year with blue and green for my grave stones that had a copper wire that i can just push into the ground for the proper hight, but I want to wash the house with red this year and I think 3 bulb spots will work great for it. Thanks again for a fantastic tutorial


Thanks for the kind words.

Just a note of caution about the Red LED's from Asia engineer, For some reason, they are amongst the weakest (dimmest) colors available from them. You might want to make the 9 or 12 LED pattern shown in the thread. Even then they might not give you a nice strong "Wash" effect on a house. You could always buy stronger LED's from another supplier, or get thos colored compact flourescent bulbs. Another solution would be to use the white LED's and use a colored gel to get your wash.

The reds LED's seem to be best for a close up type spotlight for grave markers, ground breakers etc. Since you ordered them already, give them a try and let me know. My house happens to red already, so I can't really test that color for a wash tyoe effect.


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## The Halloween Lady

I have wanted so badly to start doing some electrical type projects but sadly they always seemed to elude me. Thank you sooo much for this thread!! I might actually muster up the courage to try. GREAT TUTORIAL!


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## Jaybo

Unless you have a ton of the red superbright leds, you will never get an effective red wash on the house. The problem is the color. Red is the shortest visible light wave, and falls off the quickest. 

Just use some of the red CFL bulbs for a wash light and leave the red leds for small spot color.


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## SoCal Scare

Thanks for the tip Jaybo, I have 100 coming but not sure I want to use them all for this purpose.


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## niblique71

I'm all about forwarding knowlege and simple solutioins for our fellow haunters. In the spirit of cooperation and sharing, check out Allen H's LED TUTORIAL . His lights are simple and MUCH easier to build. THere are some disadvantages to his system which many haunters won't care about. If you want a fast fix, You'll really like his solution. But if you need brighter lighting and greater flexibility, I still feel my setup has a slight edge.

With my system you can have up to 150 Multi LED fixtures on one computer power supply which can be turned on and off with one simple timer.

My lights have the potential for MUCH Briighter lighting, mostly to throw light a longer distance. You can have 3 or 6 or 9 or even more LED's in one fixture.

Connectivity: I know there is a LOT of controversy about this topic. but MAN.... IF you haven't used the Vampire clips for a season or two, you have NO Idea how much time it saves. I don't know ONE haunter that just sets thier lights and leaves them there. I, Like others, want that special effect from any lighting and I'm always moving them to get that "Sweet spot" that will fulfill my vision. If there was One thing I could convince people of, it's the Vampy system".

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Allens lights. I love the simplicity. But with simplicity comes some restrictions. They will work VERY WELL for about 50% of the haunters that want to make thier own lights. For others they might fall a bit short.

If you wnat to make lights for this year, I'd make some of Allen's. They are SUPER QUICK. and Guess what??? they can be used with a computer power supply as well. So they are adapatable for future uses with my setup.


----------



## BobC

*LED Question??*

Are these LED spots really bright? I have never seen them against a prop or lighting a whole display. This would be a last min project for me and I am concerned about replacing my good ol' colored flood lights..lol If they are pin spots I have no use for them I need some bright washing coverage for my yard haunt. Can someone post some pics or vids or give advice so I can make up my mind? Thanks. :jol:


----------



## niblique71

BobC said:


> Are these LED spots really bright? I have never seen them against a prop or lighting a whole display. This would be a last min project for me and I am concerned about replacing my good ol' colored flood lights..lol If they are pin spots I have no use for them I need some bright washing coverage for my yard haunt. Can someone post some pics or vids or give advice so I can make up my mind? Thanks. :jol:


Hi Bob,

The simple answer is No they aren't as bright as incandescent spotlights, especially if you build the "3" in one LED configuration. I built some 6's and some 9's and even some 12's which came much closer to the effect you are seeking.

What I do is use a Lot of lights at many different angles and distances to acheive "Wash" effects. At under $1 for each LED fixture (Complete), and with incandescent spotlights costing substantially more, you could get the effect you desire for the same price. The major factors for using LED's are, Energy savings, Longevity, Less bulky fixtures, Easier to control lighting effects (The lights are already inside a tube), and a lot less extension chords with 120 volts running around your haunt. I expect most of my lights to last 10 years or more, now there's some savings.

I still use CFL's for certain areas of my haunt to get a much fuller wash, and to get some colors that I can't easily get in LED's. For me, I really dislike Traditional floodlights because I run ALL of my lighting for much less overall cost. Once I went LED, My electric bill for the halloween season was cut in half, and I had 80+ fixtures. THis year there will almost 175 fixtures, and I suspect my entire bill will go up by less than $5. Did I mention that my lights are on Every night for the entire month of October.

These May work for you, and May not. It's personal preference. You're welcome to visit my haunt anytime in October, as I will have enough lighting set up to give you an Idea of weather this is for you or not. If I know your comming, I can set up a "Wash" demo for you. I will also help you build some if you like the effect.

These pictures are 100% LED, and are pretty accurate to what your eye would see.


----------



## Casketrepair

I really liked the flexibility of the vampire clips. However I didn't feel like making 13 sets of clips.

I kept an eye out at yard sales and found a set of Malibu brand landscaping lights, I have some in the yard already and knew they had these kind of connectors.

You can also get them in a pack of two from home depot
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

If you are in a hurry building lights this year, this could help speed you up.

Thanks for the ideas Niblique


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## BobC

I also question vampire clips in weather do you ever have a problem? I imagine they cant be water proof right? Also has anyone used bright white LED's with a lightning simulator or color organ? I want to give it a shot.


----------



## niblique71

BobC said:


> I also question vampire clips in weather do you ever have a problem? I imagine they cant be water proof right?


The vampire clips are home made versions of commercial Outdoor landscape lighting clips.

Last year my setup was outdoors for 40+ days with 0% failures. I did notice that the clips on the lights that I had outside for 8 months (As a test), the plywood stated to delaminate slightly, but I believe I solved that issue as well.

As for the copper nails, if the clips are hooked up correctly to the main line, 90% of the nail(s) will be embedded in the main wire and fairly well protected. A tiney Dab of Di-electric grease and you will have a more durable and longer lasting clip than the commercial grade vampire clips.

The only expense that can freak people out is the main wire. Last time I bought wire, a 250 roll of 14-2, I believe it was on sale for like $80. With Copper prices skyrocketing I have No Idea what it will be this year. I estimate that the main line could easily last 10 years or more, even longer if it's stored indoors during the off season.

Bob, Come by ANYTIME for a demo. I can have one set up for you in 5 minutes. For that matter I could bring my setup to your place and have it set up just as fast. If you come here, Bring some of your spotlights and we can do a side by side comparison.


----------



## BobC

Greg, Thanks for the offer. I might take you up on that. I was thinking about other options for the housing of the LEDs like dollar store flash lights etc. I'm sure the reflective cone in a flashlight would help big time. I'm also playing with the idea of building them right into the patio type spots sold at home depot and Lowes...more weather proof and more room for LEDS. I know the cost will go up but lighting is key with yard haunts so I shell out the cash...lol :jol:


----------



## niblique71

BobC said:


> I'm sure the reflective cone in a flashlight would help big time. I'm also playing with the idea of building them right into the patio type spots sold at home depot and Lowes...more weather proof and more room for LEDS. I know the cost will go up but lighting is key with yard haunts so I shell out the cash...lol :jol:


Just FYI, Most LED's already have directionality built into them through the plastic lens they are housed in. You will get a slight benifit from the reflective flashlight cone, but probably not nearly as much as you'd expect. Given the angle of emitted light from most LED's, my tube setup actually concentrates as much or more light than a reflective cone, especially if you use a slightly longer tube and set the lights a little deeper.

The Other FYI is that (and I learned this through great embarrasment), almost Landscape light power supplies are 12V AC. The LED's WILL work, but will Flicker at 60 hz, meaning they'll go on and off 60 time a second. Most people won't notice this flickering, but it could greatly reduce the life of your LED's.

Lastly you could modify landscape light fixtures quite nicely. You could even use the 12AC power supply as I mentioned. The only factor as you mentioned is Cost.

On the other hand, if you were to make 50 fixtures or more from this tutorial, you could probably make up to 100 of 'em in a weekend (Once all the materials are onsite). I can help you either way.


----------



## BobC

Yeah I wouldn't rely on the 12V AC on the spots I would the right thing and run a power supply.


----------



## Jaybo

BobC said:


> Also has anyone used bright white LED's with a lightning simulator or color organ? I want to give it a shot.


I have two of those cheap LED worklights from Harbor Freight I use with a lightning box. The lights look like the small 250 Watt Halogen worklights, but have LEDs inside.










I have these lights hooked in line with a 500 Watt Halogen light. The Halogen will dim and brighten, but the LEDs will flash. It works out quite well. The LEDS give you that blueish white color of lighting, and the halogen will give you the pop.


----------



## niblique71

Jaybo said:


> I have two of those cheap LED worklights from Harbor Freight I use with a lightning box. The lights look like the small 250 Watt Halogen worklights, but have LEDs inside.
> 
> I have these lights hooked in line with a 500 Watt Halogen light. The Halogen will dim and brighten, but the LEDs will flash. It works out quite well. The LEDS give you that blueish white color of lighting, and the halogen will give you the pop.


That looks like a great solution Jaybo.

Have you ever used them as Floodlights instead of a lightning effect?? Do they run Cool enough to put Colored Gels on?? I was impressed by the price as well.


----------



## Jaybo

niblique71 said:


> That looks like a great solution Jaybo.
> 
> Have you ever used them as Floodlights instead of a lightning effect?? Do they run Cool enough to put Colored Gels on?? I was impressed by the price as well.


They do not put out a very wide beam of light, so they do not make a very good floodlight. The LEDs in the worklight are the typical narrow angle (20 to 25 degree) lights, so it works more like a big spot light rather than a flood. They have other ones with more LEDs in a larger case, but I imagine you will be getting another spot light with just a bit larger circle of light.

I originally had the same idea I think you have. To use gels and flood the yard. They did not live up to the image in my head, so I mounted one on top of each of my entry columns at a 45 degree angle firing across my yard. Worked great as lightning.

I have since dismantled one of the lights and installed five 120 degree 12v RGB modules inside with a 3-channel DMX controller. I now have a kick'n floodlight that can be any color I choose when hooked up to Vixen or VSA. This is the direction I am going with all of my lights. I wanted to switch over this year, but running out of time. So, this will be my number one project for next year. I need a couple of clones so I can get my projects finished!


----------



## Sloatsburgh

Hopefully this doesn't sound stupid.

I have been collecting bottle caps and I have noticed that the diameter is closer to 1.25". A 1.25" disk can't fit into a 1" pipe, right? Additionally, where does one find thin wall rigid PVC pipe? Do I have to go to a plumbing store, or are they decorative tubes?


*edit: I think the hint I needed was "Class 200 PVC"


----------



## goneferal

Yeah, I think CPVC is what you want. I got mine at HD and Lowes. If you buy in large enough quanitity, you'll get the contractor's rate. Woot! I just got 500ft of speaker cable delivered to my doorstep. Time to get the soldering iron and heat shrink out.


----------



## niblique71

Sloatsburgh said:


> Hopefully this doesn't sound stupid.
> 
> I have been collecting bottle caps and I have noticed that the diameter is closer to 1.25". A 1.25" disk can't fit into a 1" pipe, right? Additionally, where does one find thin wall rigid PVC pipe? Do I have to go to a plumbing store, or are they decorative tubes?
> 
> *edit: I think the hint I needed was "Class 200 PVC"


If you look carefully you should find 1" sched 40 (Thickwall) Pvc tubing and 1" schedule 20 (thinwall) tubing. I used the schedule 20 thinwall for this project.

Edit: THe manufacturers dont want to make EXTRA fittings for 1" thinwall pipe. So 1" thinwall fits into 1" schedule 40 fittings. Therefore the inner diameter is larger on the thinwall... hey I didn't make the rules LOL they still call it 1"... I've not used my micrometer on it yet.. but I know it's a larger opening

CPVC is an entirely different animal. You might find bottle caps to fit into certain dimentions, and if you do please report back so we have an alternative solution.

Bottlers in our area are starting to change thier bottle cap designs. They are using a cap that uses less plastic. Also, it's a tapered cap and doesn't work well for this tutorial. THe old style cap is still available in some drinks like aquafina water (20oz or more) and some pepsi products. Coke (out here) has gone almost completely with the new bottle cap....... Dissapointing..... cause this will make it challenging to find a new medium to mount the leds that is this SUPER Cheap.

If I can remember to do it... I'll post a quickie tut on what ones work and what ones won't in the 1" thinwall pvc


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## BobC

Here is a couple of pic's of my LED spot lights I used the same company for my LEDS. I built mine a little different. I used a toy tank display cases from a dollar store for my housing along with 12 LEDS per light.

http://www.hauntforum.com/attachmen...ment.php?attachmentid=2315&stc=1&d=1317488382


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## Dead Things

Jaybo said:


> I have since dismantled one of the lights and installed five 120 degree 12v RGB modules inside with a 3-channel DMX controller. I now have a kick'n floodlight that can be any color I choose when hooked up to Vixen or VSA. This is the direction I am going with all of my lights. I wanted to switch over this year, but running out of time. So, this will be my number one project for next year. I need a couple of clones so I can get my projects finished!


I've just ordered some RGB's to play with over the winter, so would be interested in any info you have. I saw a link on here somewhere for a hack like yours but couldn't find it. The link was to one of those other holiday forums.


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## Jaybo

Dead Things said:


> I've just ordered some RGB's to play with over the winter, so would be interested in any info you have. I saw a link on here somewhere for a hack like yours but couldn't find it. The link was to one of those other holiday forums.


Check out this PDF describing how to build an RGB Megaball controlled by DMX. They are basically giant Christmas Ornaments you hang outside. Just mount the LEDS in a cheap halogen worklight enclosure instead of the acrylic globe they use and you have a new RGB spotlight. I use 5 of the RGB modules to create a spot.


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## Dead Things

Jaybo said:


> Check out this PDF describing how to build an RGB Megaball controlled by DMX. They are basically giant Christmas Ornaments you hang outside. Just mount the LEDS in a cheap halogen worklight enclosure instead of the acrylic globe they use and you have a new RGB spotlight. I use 5 of the RGB modules to create a spot.


Thanks Jaybo, I think that is what i am after. So that is 5 square modules and one dmx controller for each spot, correct? Can you post a pic or a vid?


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## Jaybo

Dead Things said:


> Thanks Jaybo, I think that is what i am after. So that is 5 square modules and one dmx controller for each spot, correct? Can you post a pic or a vid?


Correct. 5 modules and 1 controller per flood light. I don't have my Vixen/VSA laptop available at the moment, but I will record a video of the light running the DMX controller test pattern tonight. I picked up another Halogen work light at Home Depot for $5 last night, so I will be adding to my collection. I will not have enough for this year, but I plan on building several over the winter. Holidaycoro also has square modules that would fit nicely into larger PVC pipes for RGB spot lights. Also check out CheapDMX, who has basically the same inventory. They cater to the Christmas crowd, so they may be running low on stock at the moment.


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## Sytnathotep

This is wicked. Totally building these for next year!


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## Jaybo

Dead Things said:


> Thanks Jaybo, I think that is what i am after. So that is 5 square modules and one dmx controller for each spot, correct? Can you post a pic or a vid?





Jaybo said:


> Correct. 5 modules and 1 controller per flood light. I don't have my Vixen/VSA laptop available at the moment, but I will record a video of the light running the DMX controller test pattern tonight. I picked up another Halogen work light at Home Depot for $5 last night, so I will be adding to my collection. I will not have enough for this year, but I plan on building several over the winter. Holidaycoro also has square modules that would fit nicely into larger PVC pipes for RGB spot lights. Also check out CheapDMX, who has basically the same inventory. They cater to the Christmas crowd, so they may be running low on stock at the moment.


I didn't want to hijack this thread any further, so I posted the video in a new thread here.


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## mroct31

Can you run more than one light off the 12v wire connector? I"m wondering if running say 3 lights off one connector would work? I can see where I'd place more than one light close by another and maybe having just one connector for all 3 lights to the landscape wire would be OK instead of 3 separate ones?


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## niblique71

mroct31 said:


> Can you run more than one light off the 12v wire connector? I"m wondering if running say 3 lights off one connector would work? I can see where I'd place more than one light close by another and maybe having just one connector for all 3 lights to the landscape wire would be OK instead of 3 separate ones?


Yes you can most definately run 3 or more lights off of one connector. In fact My original build I made platforms with 3 fixtures built on them wired with one connector. I only made a few like that and that worked great, especially for clusters of white lights or single colors.

I found that I liked having individual fixtures better, with a few exceptions.


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## untillater

Did you ever get around to making black light spots with the 365nm leds? and how did they turn out?
Thanks


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## niblique71

Unfortunately I haven't made them yet. The economy has been crappy and I've not had any extra "Funny Money" to play with. I plan on experimenting once things improve.

I did find the old bag of UV LED's that I got from an old order. I built a few of those this year and they seemed to work well with Highly flourescent paints. I think they come in around 400nm, maybe a little shorter wavelength. But just barely UV. I used them in my entrance tunnel and they did give an acceptable effect.


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## untillater

kk, I ordered some via good ol' ebay. They will take forever to show up but when they do, Ill try to remember to post pics  new to the forums.... 
Thanks for the reply


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## Sloatsburgh

niblique71 said:


> If you look carefully you should find 1" sched 40 (Thickwall) Pvc tubing and 1" schedule 20 (thinwall) tubing. I used the schedule 20 thinwall for this project.
> 
> Edit: THe manufacturers dont want to make EXTRA fittings for 1" thinwall pipe. So 1" thinwall fits into 1" schedule 40 fittings. Therefore the inner diameter is larger on the thinwall... hey I didn't make the rules LOL they still call it 1"... I've not used my micrometer on it yet.. but I know it's a larger opening
> 
> CPVC is an entirely different animal. You might find bottle caps to fit into certain dimentions, and if you do please report back so we have an alternative solution.
> 
> Bottlers in our area are starting to change thier bottle cap designs. They are using a cap that uses less plastic. Also, it's a tapered cap and doesn't work well for this tutorial. THe old style cap is still available in some drinks like aquafina water (20oz or more) and some pepsi products. Coke (out here) has gone almost completely with the new bottle cap....... Dissapointing..... cause this will make it challenging to find a new medium to mount the leds that is this SUPER Cheap.
> 
> If I can remember to do it... I'll post a quickie tut on what ones work and what ones won't in the 1" thinwall pvc


Found the pipe I needed at a local Lowes.

I have found that Pepsi & Dr Pepper works perfectly... basically the cap with the fine groves.

My next challenge is to find the hardware and to see what alteratives for power source can be done with the resistors. I'm tempted to experiment with 6v lantern batteries of which I have many and would mean less wire.

Thanks a lot.


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## mroct31

I got some of the UV LED's to try this year and they seem to be more power hungry than the other colors I've used. Does this seem correct? I tried to test them with a 9v battery and was barely able to get them to light, which might be the battery, I tried a 13v 300 mah wall wort and nothing, then 7.5v 1000 mah and they flickered. When I used a 12v 1000 mah wall wort they lite up just fine. Any suggestions on how many to use for a spot light? I'm thinking more might be better with these say 9-12?


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## Sloatsburgh

I have made one improvement to the process that I want to share. It might be obvious.

For the soldering and gluing steps (and maybe the painting step), I lopped the tops off of 8 plastic bottles and stapled them to a small 2x4. This way the caps are steady and I just move from one to the next.

I was also lucky that I had a 5mm drill bit and didn't need to glue the LEDs to the cap.


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## hpropman

The voltage depends on how many resistors that you will be using in a circuit and the value of the resistor. See these two threads for information on the resistor calculator and the new way that we are making the multiled spotlights. I recommend that you use the 1 1/2 pipe and go with 12 leds (4 circuits of 3 leds each)

How to use a led resitor calculator
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=30658

The new way that we make the lights now
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=30656



mroct31 said:


> I got some of the UV LED's to try this year and they seem to be more power hungry than the other colors I've used. Does this seem correct? I tried to test them with a 9v battery and was barely able to get them to light, which might be the battery, I tried a 13v 300 mah wall wort and nothing, then 7.5v 1000 mah and they flickered. When I used a 12v 1000 mah wall wort they lite up just fine. Any suggestions on how many to use for a spot light? I'm thinking more might be better with these say 9-12?


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## gpawood

This is a fantastic tutorial and just what I've been looking for to enhance my haunt here in Japan. My wife is making the fixtures and I'm making the led's. This will make our haunt so much more enjoyable this year. Thanks so much !!


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## daddywoofdawg

*vampire connectors*

So has anyone came up with a better/diffrent Idea for the vampire connectors.Well as the copper nails in a board seem to work,It just seems like there may be a better/diffrent way.


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## Jaybo

daddywoofdawg said:


> So has anyone came up with a better/diffrent Idea for the vampire connectors.Well as the copper nails in a board seem to work,It just seems like there may be a better/diffrent way.


I use automotive quick splices. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Grip-43116-Quick-Wire-Splices-50-Pack/15128266


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## niblique71

Ghoulishcop Did a Video on a Plug in System. The advantage is that you can plug in without the clips. The disadvantage is that if you need more lights or need to move your lights, you have to add more junctions. IUt's much less flexible if you have a large haunt. Hoever, With a Smaller haunt (Average) it could be the way to go.

HPropmans Plug and Play system ... tutorial by GhoulishCop
I personally like it a lot, but It just won't work with my haunt already having 900' of wire. and 200 Led Fixtures


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## hpropman

Or you can use a combination of the two systems. You can have a few of the power distribution boxes with vampire clips on them for those quick moves or additions. Another option is to install a pigtail with a female RCA plug using the clips that Jaybo mentions above. both systems have there place it really all depends on your set up. I run my main power lines off a computer power supply with 2 pigtails every 6 feet and my power distribution boxes have 6 foot cables on them so you can get power to wherever you need it. you can also daisy chain the power distribution boxes by plugging one into another. I have at least 2 hanging off each pigtail and in some cases 3 or 4 boxes. it is a pretty flexible system. and it you trip on a wire it just pulls out of the box without damaging the led spots.


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## Jooky

Maybe I missed it, but what do you need to do to run your lights with a computer power supply?


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## niblique71

Any 12V source including a 12V Wal wart. But most do use the 12V leads off of a PC Power supply.


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## bkr1969

Jaybo said:


> Unless you have a ton of the red superbright leds, you will never get an effective red wash on the house. The problem is the color. Red is the shortest visible light wave, and falls off the quickest.
> 
> Just use some of the red CFL bulbs for a wash light and leave the red leds for small spot color.


Actually, red has the longest wavelength of visible light.


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## Nathan2485

Great stuff Nib...quick question...where do you place your PC power supply and if outside...can you recommend a way to protect it from the elements?


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## niblique71

I keep mine in my carport all year round tucked up in a high spot that is very dry. But I do have a PC Power supply outside during my haunt for another application. I plaved it on a small piece of wood just to jkeep it off the ground and used a 6" PVC Pipe cut in half for a rain cover. it survived the hurrucane fine and still worked every night for 60 days (And was still running tonight).


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## Nathan2485

Thanks Nib...I will be trying your spotlights for next year! Great tutorial!


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## hpropman

You can also use a small plastic storage container ( a little bigger than a shoebox). Turn it over so that the lid is down and the bottom is up. Take the lid add some wood / plastic blocks as feet (5 or 6) you will need some support under or next to the power supply. These are to hold the container up off the ground these blocks are mounted to the lid top side which is touching the table with the box siting upside down. attach the power supply to the lid (double sided tape works) to the opposite side of the lid that you mounted the feet (the power supply will be inside the box). You can have the power supply fan vent out the bottom if you want (you will need to cut a circle for the fan and the power cord if you do that). Cut holes for your wires both power cord and out going wires. Add a few ventilation holes in the lid as well. Silicone the lid to the bottom of the container (make sure all power and wire connections are complete first)


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## Nathan2485

hpropman said:


> You can also use a small plastic storage container ( a little bigger than a shoebox). Turn it over so that the lid is down and the bottom is up. Take the lid add some wood / plastic blocks as feet (5 or 6) you will need some support under or next to the power supply. These are to hold the container up off the ground these blocks are mounted to the lid top side which is touching the table with the box siting upside down. attach the power supply to the lid (double sided tape works) to the opposite side of the lid that you mounted the feet (the power supply will be inside the box). You can have the power supply fan vent out the bottom if you want (you will need to cut a circle for the fan and the power cord if you do that). Cut holes for your wires both power cord and out going wires. Add a few ventilation holes in the lid as well. Silicone the lid to the bottom of the container (make sure all power and wire connections are complete first)


Do you happen to have a picture of this by chance?


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## GhoulishCop

I don't have a picture, but I used Hillshire Farms cold cuts containers. They're about 6" long and 3" high and come with a plastic snap-on lid. 

I actually didn't get as fancy as hpropman suggested by using silicone caulk to seal the container, but I probably will next year. I drilled holes in either end of the container so that the power source line for the plug-n-play box comes in one side while all the lines going out to the LED spots come in the other side.

Because of the size of the container, though, I had to lay the PnP box on its side so that it and all the RCA jacks would fit (a deeper style container would negate having to do that). It obviously didn't affect performance at all.

Until Hurricane Sandy blew everything away, the system worked flawlessly and it really was so simple to hook up all the lights this year. Next year I'll be expanding the system and making things more uniform: I'm going to have the wires from each spotlight and box a uniform length (about 6-ft. I'm thinking) that way there should always be a connection within reach of a light and/or prop. This year I made the wires from the LEDs as long as I needed them (one was about 20-ft. long!).

Rich


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## Nathan2485

niblique71 said:


> UPDATE: The resitor values below are the Closest available values available from Asia engineer that I found on thier site. The calculator says that these values are at the lower limit of acceptabe but the did just fine for mine.
> 100 Ohm resistors for White, blue, green and pink. (Free) These are also at the low end of what's acceptable, but they didn't have a closer match. Mine work fine at this value.
> 360 Ohm for Reds, and Ambers. Also at the lower limit, but they work fine for mine.
> 
> To help insure you get the correct resistors, At the bottom of the order page there is a space for a note. Specify the resistors you want for EACH COLOR that you order. Once you complete your order, Back up the request by sending another note to "Giorgio" through E-bays "Contact this seller" with the same information. REQUEST CONFIRMATION of your resistor values. Eg- "Please send 100 Ohm resistors for Whites. Please send 360 Ohm resistors for Reds. PLEASE CONFIRM RESISTOR ORDER", Etc. Remember you are ordering a product from Asia and thier english is a little limited, so use simple language, Be concise, and use common words.


I just ordered from Asia today - they only carry (right now) 390 Ohm resistors just as an FYI. I am assuming they will be fine because they are rated higher correct?

Other than that - so far great to deal with! Can't wait for the shipment and of course collecting bottle caps and other supplies!


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## [email protected]

I've been saving bottle caps since I found this thread. Time to start using them! My lighting needs all the help it can get, so I need to muster the courage to face my LED virginity fears.


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## Nathan2485

Ok so here north of the boardEr...thin wall PVC is a non existent...I am going to try and use 
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/schedule-40-pvc-45186-bell-end-elbow-150-3-4-inch/954549

I am trying to find something to mount the light fixture as PVC caps are hard to find as well....

The 1" types fit bottle caps but are around 2.19 each

Any thoughts?


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## niblique71

Nathan2485 said:


> I just ordered from Asia today - they only carry (right now) 390 Ohm resistors just as an FYI. I am assuming they will be fine because they are rated higher correct?
> 
> Other than that - so far great to deal with! Can't wait for the shipment and of course collecting bottle caps and other supplies!


 Yes 390 Ohm resistors are fine. I have had some trouble with the pinks burning out so if you plan on using some from Asia Engineer, "Up" the value on your resistors a little .



Nathan2485 said:


> Ok so here north of the board...thin wall PVC is a non existent...I am going to try and use
> http://www.homedepot.ca/product/schedule-40-pvc-45186-bell-end-elbow-150-3-4-inch/954549
> 
> I am trying to find something to mount the light fixture as PVC caps are hard to find as well....
> 
> The 1" types fit bottle caps but are around 2.19 each
> 
> Any thoughts?


 I would bet you can order those pipe caps Online by the case through Lowes or HD. Otherwise You still mighgt be able to order the pipe into your local store. Many times the Thinwall is accidentally placed in the "Thick" wall rack, so double check before you try to special order thinwall pipe. And check both "Big" stores



[email protected] said:


> I've been saving bottle caps since I found this thread. Time to start using them! My lighting needs all the help it can get, so I need to muster the courage to face my LED virginity fears.


 Oh yoiu'll be fine... The first few will be tentative.... and TEST TEST TEST till you feel confidant. Don't build a ton and find you you wired them backwards.

Now, with that said I am experimenting with a new supplier. MUCH Stronger LED's. If the Values work out I'll post my results and ordering info.


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## niblique71

I am very encouraged by the new generation of inexpensive LED's. I have been experimenting with the new disc type (1W 3W and I want to try some 10 Watts). With those you need to buy LED Drivers, but the light output might justify the extra expense and power savings. 

I'm also doing a fresh comparison of the new generation 5mm VS the new generation 10mm's. It seems that the new stuff is exponentially brighter and something to continue experimenting with. I am VERY Encouraged by the results I am finding. I have to wait for some orders to arrive to experiment further, but I believe that LED's might finally be able to compete (A little) with incandescents. They are still lacking if you want to compare brightness to 150w floodlights... but Man they are quickly advancing in thier brightness. I'm PSYCHED!!

The downside is that I am now fighting heating issues with some configurations in our hacking universe... Seems that LED's are't exactly the Cool Gems they used to be... They still BLOW all other light forms away for brightness vs Power consumption though. So the Beat goes on.. I'll figure it all out and report as my winter hours allow me to tinker.


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## niblique71

Nathan2485 said:


> Ok so here north of the boardEr...thin wall PVC is a non existent...I am going to try and use
> http://www.homedepot.ca/product/schedule-40-pvc-45186-bell-end-elbow-150-3-4-inch/954549
> 
> I am trying to find something to mount the light fixture as PVC caps are hard to find as well....
> 
> The 1" types fit bottle caps but are around 2.19 each
> 
> Any thoughts?


Hi Again Nathan, I really didn't give your post enough thought when I first read it. The "Sport of Haunting" is a down and Dirty sport (hobby, Past-time, Passion, Whatever it is), You need to Do what you need to do to get 'er done. I no sooner completed this tutorial and I was creating new techniques to make these lights because the bottle caps that really worked well were becomming non-existant (Extinct). I'm still searching for something inexpensive.... but damn,.... those particular bottle caps were the bomb. Hopefully they are sill available. They were discontinued because they used a tinsey bit more plastic than the newer versions. and since Billions of caps are used, a 1 cent savings per 100 made a difference. Macro Econimics on a massive scale...Hopefully we can find a new version that is still inexpensive..


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## Nathan2485

Well I finally finished up my first few lights following this tutorial and thanks to niblique they have turned out amazingly well - I also incorporated the "plug and play" system. 

For anyone having trouble finding thin wall pvc - I ended up using 45 degree 1" and 3/4" electrical conduit. When I first started I was able to find PVC caps that fit the 1"....and than I thought about grinding out the 3/4" with a dremel and being able to use all my bottle caps (Pepsi products). My cost is definitely a little higher (1.60$) per light but overall still what I was looking for and with some flexibility.


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## BioHazardCustoms

I've been building my first set of these for the past week and a half, and found a way to make the newer bottle caps work better. I put a small dab of latex caulk on the inside of the thin wall PVC before I put the bottle caps in. This seals the fixture against rain, and also serves to glue the bottle cap into place. I use 3mm pre-wired LEDs from Lighthouse LED. I can get 9 LEDs into a bottle cap, and I seal them all in place with hot glue. 

I am working on a slightly different Vampire clip design. If I decide to implement it, I will share here.


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## ManufacturedFear

good post


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## BioHazardCustoms

Okay, I have encountered an interesting question with this. I currently have a landscaping lighting transformer that I was going to use with floodlights like these. My only thing slowing me up is that it's output is 12VAC, and I know you are supposed to use 12VDC. Is there any way to use this thing, or is the money wasted?


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## mroct31

Not sure what brand you have but I used my old Malibu transformers for power on my home made LED lights. Just have to connect the wires correctly and I had no issues with it.


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## BioHazardCustoms

That's what I needed to know. I have a 200 watt Malibu. Thanks!


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## morrisdirector

What an incredible thread! Thank you for this enlightening tutorial. I have always been about creating awesome effects for nearly free and this is about the best tutorial I've found so far! Can't wait to start making these!


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## Lord Homicide

hpropman said:


> You can get all the wood you need for free by picking up a few pallets with 3/4 ot thicker boards. you can rip them apart with crow bars or just cut them out with a circular saw cutting parallel to the 2 x 4s that the boards are nailed to. This will normally get you two pieces 12-15 inches plus any overhang on the outside of the 2x4 if there is any. that should give you 5 to 6 bases per board times the number of boards salvaged from the pallet.


A note about dismantling pallets... Most are nailed together with screw shank nails and are impossible to pry apart (hence the reason they use them for durability). The best type of saw to use is a sawzall (or reciprocating saw) with a metal cutting blade. Trust me. You can break down a pallet in about a minute or two.


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## RichR

*Excellent tutorial*

Excellent tutorial, thank you for the time you putt into this.


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## ReneFelker

Great post.


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## Fright Boy

This is an unreal how-to. Major props for taking the time to write such a detailed thread. 

I have a few old wall warts lying around. One is a 24VDC 400mA, could I use this to run a system? Would I have to use different resistors?


----------

