# Hacking Yard lights for stand alone use (With LED Wedge Bulbs)



## KevinS (Sep 30, 2007)

Just a quick idea on how to add wireless accent lighting to your haunt. (I hate tripping over wiring, and I feel it detracts from the visual appeal).

If you can source some older style low voltage yard spots (wedge type bulbs - not the newer two pole Halogen ones), you can do this.

Parts:

Low Voltage Spot light
Plastic electronics "project" box.
8 x AA battery holder
AA batteries
Battery clip adaptor
Single pole toggle switch
LED wedge bulb (your choice of color)
Low voltage cable.
Hot Glue

Basically, you create a 12 volt power supply by using a 8 x 1.5v AA battery pack wired through a toggle switch to feed the light.
Drill 2 holes in the project box for the switch and power cable.

Here are front and back pictures of the light:




























As you can see, the "power supply" is hot glued to the Light housing. The Normal low voltage wire is feed through the fixure, with one end terminating on the battery pack (hot side through the toggle switch). The other end of the wire is sealed with glue and taped off (we don't want any shorting out in the Vancouver rain :smoking All penetrations of the project box are sealed up with hot glue.

The colored LED wedge bulbs can be tricky to find - but they're very hardy.
I've never had one fail, and the Batteries will last for weeks if you turn them off during the day. 
I've been able to get them in White, Red, Green and Blue from a local electronics shop.

These really work well to hi-light smaller proper and tombstones.

Happy Haunting!


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## pennywise (Aug 5, 2008)

This is going to come in real handy. Thanks for the tutorial


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## pennywise (Aug 5, 2008)

Quick question. How many amps do the 8 AA batteries supply? I bought a bunch of 12v prewired LEDs from LEDLighthouse and I was wondering if I could use those (they draw 20 ma I believe) and how many I could cluster into a single battery pack. Thanks


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