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12V lighting

Brewman

Solar Enthusiast
Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
511
I'm building my mom a tiny house for my mom but it doesn't have 120V ran to it yet. I have a small solar system I put together with a 12V 280ah battery. I'm looking for BRIGHT 12V lighting as she is losing her eyesight. Everything Ive found so far is not very bright. I'm hoping you guys have some suggestions.

Dan
 
I'm building my mom a tiny house for my mom but it doesn't have 120V ran to it yet. I have a small solar system I put together with a 12V 280ah battery. I'm looking for BRIGHT 12V lighting as she is losing her eyesight. Everything Ive found so far is not very bright. I'm hoping you guys have some suggestions.

Dan
I have cataracts and all the other aged related eye problems.
For me placement is probably as important as lumens.
I have the lights tweaked in the kitchen to put the light on the place where I use a sharp knife.
My work area is the same.
I think its called task lighting.
The idea is to light up the thing I need to see without getting too much halo effect.
Contrast is important too.
So black for the things I don't need to see and a contrasting color for the things I do need to see.
 
What about a small pure sine wave inverter like the 250VA ~$125 Victron Phoenix. You'd have your pick of AC lighting and I bet you could run all the lighting in the house off it.

edit: if I knew of a good 12v LED light I'd mention it.
 
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I highly recommend using an inverter to drive standard led-bulbs and fixtures like in a normal house. Perhaps use the lowest wattage ac led bulbs you can actually live with. If the *only* thing you are using the inverter for is standard interior led lighting, you might be able to save money here with less expensive msw inverters, rather than using the psw types. Save the psw inverters for the normal electronics around the place. My msw inverters are dedicated solely to lighting.

It's a psychological thing. The color-temps and so forth of 12v dc bulbs, is a constant reminder you are living in an emergency / battery situation, and not a normal one.

In an emergency, I've found that camping-style color temps from dc lighting just added to the stress psychologically, so when I lose power, I just run from an inverter to the existing ac led-bulb lighting as usual. Well, I might swap the bulb out for a lower wattage one during the event.
 
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The only issue with the inverter is the constant draw from it when not in use. My mom won't be able to turn on and off the inverter I have, so Pure DC is best as I can wire it to a wall switch that she can use. It won't be long until the house has AC power. She is not in it full time as well, right now, it's just when we visit the property that we are building our and her house.

Dan
 
In my house I ran several 12 volt LED lighting strips. You can get them in all sorts of white colors as well as RGB ones. I personally like the "4000k Cool Light." I put some of my strips on moulding located on a wall about 12" below the ceiling facing up. The reflection off the ceiling provides a very nice lighting. Some of them are located on the ceiling facing straight down if I need maximum lighting and it is not an area where I could be looking at the bulbs. I two of the strips I put on dimmers as well.

I bought these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/363061001821
 
t's a psychological thing. The color-temps and so forth of 12v dc bulbs, is a constant reminder you are living in an emergency / battery situation, and not a normal one.
I got some inexpensive CTO gel sheets (color temperature orange). Now the 12v lamps I have are marketed as “warm white” but they’re nothing close to the warm glow of halogen or incandescent. The CTO film fixes that.

I just cut and taped a bit of film onto the bulb with a small circle piece at the end. I don’t have any before and after photos, but perhaps you can see the color come through in these photos. The actual color isn’t nearly as orange as the photos appear. My guess is about 2100-2400K. I believe I used the lightest colored gel in the set for this effect. Music for my eyes! No more harsh lighting!

21804F7E-556D-40BA-8FAD-B79999774DFF.jpegF18D8F64-8AB8-4E6B-8E49-ABB44AEA9A97.jpeg
 
Careful Tom - if one isn't careful, during an outage with weird lighting, one can make mistakes.

Witness this solar enthusiast fumbling in the dark, and making decisions while under stress. Normal lighting like what you are used to relieves that stress:

Trying to shut down a failing inverter apparently. Not a good time to read the manual.


... running and ducking ...
 
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Found this via budgetlightsforums
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32996343988.html?pdp_npi=2%40dis%21EUR%21€%2016%2C63%21€%2016%2C63%21%21%21%21%21%40210318c916662083923446549e9231%2110000015794134773%21sh

same seller has also other interesting offerings, like ultra high efficiency led strips.
 
The only issue with the inverter is the constant draw from it when not in use. My mom won't be able to turn on and off the inverter I have, so Pure DC is best as I can wire it to a wall switch that she can use. It won't be long until the house has AC power. She is not in it full time as well, right now, it's just when we visit the property that we are building our and her house.

Dan

You can use 12V stuff like this. Just type 12V lighting into Amazon for endless choices.

 
12vdc has more options than any other voltage.

If you want bright, just choose a higher wattage. For example, a 10w 12vdc light (or string of lights) is REALLY bright.
 
These pavilion lights are (from memory) 20 or 30 watts and 12vdc.

More watts, more light.
 

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The price is a bit high, but also not bad. A19 base is a bit surprising.

I’ve bought bulk lensatic LEDs for countertop lighting, and just use multiples to cover bigger areas but not everyone would like that. image.jpg
I placed one under each cabinet stile with a dc switch- didn’t use the led marker on the switch but you could. The lens is a flood lens. More than adequate for convenience lighting, or turn them all on for work lighting.
Placing them at the rear/wall side of the cabinets may be better as it would eliminate the shadow effect. Kitchen designers will know what I mean.
One of these floodlights over the stove is sufficient for me. I made an aluminum plate for the range hood light fixture but discovered I’m occasionally annoyed by the shadow effect- just a bit less so than the original (1076 bayonet) incandescent 12V light.

RV lights like:image.jpg these are iirc 9W/18W switchable and were $20 for two units. The slider switch models have ponderous switches and I avoid those as the rocker switches don’t seem to fall apart. This model apparently has become an orphan unfortunately- I bought a number of them over the years but other than a camper place that wanted $55 for one the slider switch stuff is mostly what you’ll find. There’s a few rocker-switch models but I can’t speak to quality or longevity. Wish I’d bought a ten-pak as I want one in my boat and I want five for an office trailer I bought for my tool boxes.

These are nice lights, I don’t remember the watts but around 3W each
image.jpg
(yes my ceiling is carpeted) and can be controlling with a touch-sensitive button dimmer switch for a bit of luxury/coolness.
I also have some that tilt, and either one is just about enough to read by- though 2 or 3 might be more comfortable. I have some in ~2500Kelvin for evening before bed, but all the rest and the other styles here are at least 5000Kelvin; daylight colors within a few hours of bed can create poorer sleep, and I have sleep issues anyways. I hate yellowish light but not having daylight does make a difference closer to bedtime.

Then there’s these: image.jpg individually they’re fairly bright but not quite enough for task lighting at a distance. However, I bought a bulk dozen for $30, and they have ten 6000*Kelvin twin-LEDs per string. The strings can be cut, or I think you can run up to two strings continuous. The whole string together can provide A LOT of light at about 70mW per twin module.

If you can’t make due with these to make a very well lit, flexible, and cool lighting design then maybe solar is not for you LOL
 
The price is a bit high, but also not bad. A19 base is a bit surprising.

I’ve bought bulk lensatic LEDs for countertop lighting, and just use multiples to cover bigger areas but not everyone would like that. View attachment 117479
I placed one under each cabinet stile with a dc switch- didn’t use the led marker on the switch but you could. The lens is a flood lens. More than adequate for convenience lighting, or turn them all on for work lighting.
Placing them at the rear/wall side of the cabinets may be better as it would eliminate the shadow effect. Kitchen designers will know what I mean.
One of these floodlights over the stove is sufficient for me. I made an aluminum plate for the range hood light fixture but discovered I’m occasionally annoyed by the shadow effect- just a bit less so than the original (1076 bayonet) incandescent 12V light.

RV lights like:View attachment 117477 these are iirc 9W/18W switchable and were $20 for two units. The slider switch models have ponderous switches and I avoid those as the rocker switches don’t seem to fall apart. This model apparently has become an orphan unfortunately- I bought a number of them over the years but other than a camper place that wanted $55 for one the slider switch stuff is mostly what you’ll find. There’s a few rocker-switch models but I can’t speak to quality or longevity. Wish I’d bought a ten-pak as I want one in my boat and I want five for an office trailer I bought for my tool boxes.

These are nice lights, I don’t remember the watts but around 3W each
View attachment 117478
(yes my ceiling is carpeted) and can be controlling with a touch-sensitive button dimmer switch for a bit of luxury/coolness.
I also have some that tilt, and either one is just about enough to read by- though 2 or 3 might be more comfortable. I have some in ~2500Kelvin for evening before bed, but all the rest and the other styles here are at least 5000Kelvin; daylight colors within a few hours of bed can create poorer sleep, and I have sleep issues anyways. I hate yellowish light but not having daylight does make a difference closer to bedtime.

Then there’s these: View attachment 117481 individually they’re fairly bright but not quite enough for task lighting at a distance. However, I bought a bulk dozen for $30, and they have ten 6000*Kelvin twin-LEDs per string. The strings can be cut, or I think you can run up to two strings continuous. The whole string together can provide A LOT of light at about 70mW per twin module.

If you can’t make due with these to make a very well lit, flexible, and cool lighting design then maybe solar is not for you LOL
I use those switches as well. Here’s one on a battery box that controls a cooling system I put together.
 

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