This is an update to the project I did a while ago, where I pottred a light sensor circuit into the end of a cheap torch / flashlight to make a waterproof dusk sensing power supply for garden lights. You can see that project in this video:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiZmXa_LrOg
So far there is no sign of water ingress, and the LEDs I used (which I now realise I'd already had outdoors for a while beforehand) are still going strong, with the only sign of corrosion being the very end of the string where it has been cropped at the factory and exposed the bare copper ends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiZmXa_LrOg
So far there is no sign of water ingress, and the LEDs I used (which I now realise I'd already had outdoors for a while beforehand) are still going strong, with the only sign of corrosion being the very end of the string where it has been cropped at the factory and exposed the bare copper ends.
hi bigclive can i ask where you purchased the leds please 🙂
Strangely enough I was just sat here wondering what to do with these very lights and YT suggested this video. I have a set of these lights that have a AAx3 battery pack and I'm thinking of converting it to run from USB. How hard is it to remove the laqueur? Or would it be easier to cut the wires at the transparent cord that connects directly to the battery compartment?
Will the circuit oscillate when it senses the light from it's own led's?
What does the outside of your house look like in the dark…?
Thanks for the update, definitely going to try this out, perhaps as an external battery source for my sun-shy solar lights at the bottom of the garden. Oh and the sound quality on this video is muuuuch better than the one from ten months back. Love your channel!
'LED micro wire' seems to be a useful search string for these on ebay.
Would a little dob of hot glue work on the end of the last LED? I'm not really sure how weatherproof hot glue is, although I do have some stuff that's very tacky and flexible, sticks great to fabric and wood, pretty much anything you put it on.
I always thought putting LEDs in parallel was not a good idea because I thought what you get would be like if you tried connecting regular rectifier diodes in parallel. I know that when diodes are connected in parallel, the diode has the least voltage drop across it would be the only one that conducts, so I though it would be the same with LEDs.
Have you seen these?
Christmas Part LED Mesh String Net Colorful Light xmas Deco 1.5M X 1.5M Ebay item # 361419231405
I can not tell what sort of wiring configuration, they adopted, but the description says that it is powered by 220v, mains I would assume.
Perhaps it should be described as "Christmas LED Mesh Net, of Death"
I definitely need to find my nearest poundland (one in Consett and one in Chester-Le-Street it seems) and stock up on cheap stuff for modifying then… 😀
Dunno why they don't have one in Stanley though (very near here), perfect place for a pound shop with plenty of empty units that tesco were going to buy up and demolish, but are now safe from that fate…
The lights I bought (homebase) are cut so that the last LED has an inch or so of the wire left on. I haven't looked at the ends, but they all still light up. Though it's getting darker, so they don't get much daylight at the moment. I plan to use some of the Poundland ones in a clock case at some point.
3hrs… no luck, anyone recommend an easy to use circuit simulator? like a drag n drop and press play…. can't be doing with all this cad shite, not got time for it lol. I like fritzing but it has no simulator… that i can find lol
these light strings are great. we just got some here ,made by Sylvania , in 100 light strings so will be fun to play with them
I voulenteer for the salvation army and they have xmas tree lights on a tree just outside the front door, the damp has crept down the clear tubing and attacked every led, a black mess indeed.
There fault for buying ordinary lights i suppose.
+bigclivedotcom
I'm not convinced that the ends of the copper wire are being affected by an electrolytic process as copper will naturally form a verdi gris finish when exposed to the elements but, as you say, coating the ends of the wires to protect them would prevent this degradation. However, cutting them to different lengths would likely not be as successful. Yet another Clive with Poundland product hack success! Will this pleasure never end?