# 12V DC Power Supply Alternative



## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

In a prior thread here about LED lighting, it was suggested to use modified PC power supplies to power multiple LED lights in a haunt. That's a great and cheap idea, but lots of people are not comfortable with modifying the power supplies themselves and shy away from this option.

Well, take a look at this:



That's a 12V DC 29Amp 350Watt power supply with ready made screw terminals for connecting your wires. It sells for about $25 to $30 dollars and can be used to run hundreds of LEDs with no modification.

That's just the first vendor I found on eBay selling these. Do a search on eBay for "12V DC Switching Power Supply".


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

29 Amp! That's brilliant - I can use one of these to power a Jacob's Ladder.

Thanks


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## madmomma (Jul 1, 2009)

Thanks for the info. What a great, reasonable alternative. Free is always better, but if you're electrically challenged (hmmm???) this fits the bill.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Good find! but I had to LOL @ 'hundreds of LED's' Even if they were fancy blue ones, typical power consumption is ~3.4V, 20 mA - or about 0.07 watts. 350W / 0.07 = 5,000 LED's or probably more if you have some red ones in the mix as they draw about half the power. That is a lot of soldering!

frits - you couldn't use one of these to directly power a jacobs ladder. You'd need several thousand volts for that. Though a 12-15,000 volt neon sign transformer is a good start. Old ones can sometimes be had very cheaply or free for asking at some of the sign shops.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Hi Corey, I'm aware of that. I've finished a Jacob's ladder kit based on a car ignition coil - it works off a 12V supply. Jaycar were selling off a pile of older stuff and I got the kit for $10

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=KC5445

If that one doesn't work too well then a Neon Transformer will be the next one.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

These are other options worth considering. I have ordered from them many times no worries. You will not have a wait a month to get these. The number of spots listed below assume that your leds are wired in series. Each spot consist of 3 leds with one resistor.

60 to 80 spots
http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=16001+PS

100 - 120 spots
http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=16006+PS

150 - 170 spots
http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=16013+PS

200 - 220 spots
http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=16020+PS

Here are the post that deal with making the led spot:lights

http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=20601&page=13

http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=20809&highlight=led+spots

A few tips that might not be clear in the threads:

bent the leads of the resistors into hooks and hook the leads together before soldering the resistor to the first led and the other end of the resistor to the wire. The same for the other wire and the last led in the set.

The leads of the leds that get connected together should be twisted before soldering (not too tight or you could damage the led).

The leds were soldered and tested. Once they tested good the leds were crazy glued into the cap from behind (on small drop is all that is needed)

Where the wire exits the pipe it should be taped to the pipe with black tape in case anyone trips on the wire it will not pull off or damage the leds.


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