Date:         Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:48:14 -0700
Reply-To:     David Kao <dtkao0205@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Kao <dtkao0205@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: LVC adding LED interior lighting
Comments: To: Mark Drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <46F04F28.7090205@cox.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

You are a different Mark, Aren't you?

You are right, if the LEDs are designed to operate way below their max.
(safe) power rating then All you see will be uneven brightness which
some people may not even notice. But LEDs for lighting applications are
usually designed to operate at max brightness. So it is necessary to set the
operating current/voltage to near max yet safe point. If they are connected
in serial and in hot summer nights you are likely to experience black out.

LED lighting for Westy is fun to install. I have wanted to put together
a solar powered LED system with only a handful of small rechargeable NiMh
batteries, totally independent of the Van's 12 volt battery. As long as
sun continues to come out once a day the light in the Westy will never go
out for the next 20,000 hours. It will need a small solar panel costs no
more than 3 to 5 refueling of the gas tank.

David

--- Mark Drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET> wrote:

> Keep in mind that the ideal design may have little meaning for the
> application intended. 100,000 hour life of leds for use in flashlights
> for example. How many sets of batteries would you need before you
> approached the 100,000 hours of the bulb?
>
> Likewise in a Westy. Even if you wired them up such that the lifespan
> was reduced to only 1/10th of device spec, down to 10,000 hours, it
> would be more than enough life. If you lived in a Westy full time and
> used the light 5 hours every night for 5 years you would still not reach
> 10,000 hours. Who cares if the Westy lighting could have been made to
> last for 50 years of living in the Westy with a costlier and more
> cumbersome implementation? Even the 5 year design would be overkill for
> 99% of owners.
>
> Keep it practical and affordable. It is a Westy, not a manned mission to
> Mars.
>
> Mark
>



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