Lighting solutions for camper equipment

[SirPeale]

I've been contemplating building a camper for a few years now.  A lot of inspiration came from here: http://www.vonslatt.com/

So I've been contemplating lighting solutions.  So far what I've envisioned is this: solar charged LED lighting, complete with charging circuit for the batteries.

As this will be a homebrew project, a lot of this will be stuff salvaged from other things that has either been thrown away or is otherwise broken.  For example, using the plug and batteries from an old cordless phone.  That way, in the future when those batteries finally die, I can just buy new batteries that plug right into that receptacle.  LEDs salvaged from XMas light strands. 

[ChadTower]

Building a camper out of what?  You're not saying you got a bus, are you?

[shardian]

A solar array and batteries would work well with LED lighting. You could power alot of things from it. Or you could just use a generator like every other camper in the world.

Seriously though, that would be a neat project. You could also convert the bus to run on cooking oil. There was a link posted here I think of a group who did that and drove the bus all over the country promoting the thing. 1 tank for diesel, and 1 tank for oil.

[ChadTower]

A solar array and batteries would work well with LED lighting. You could power alot of things from it. Or you could just use a generator like every other camper in the world.

It would work really well with low current stuff like LED lighting, for sure.  I don't know how well he'd be able to pull off too many larger things than that reliably without a set of panels more substantial than you'd want on the roof of a vehicle.

[shardian]

It could run an AC inverter, it could run a small TV, a small fan.

[ChadTower]

It could run an AC inverter, it could run a small TV, a small fan.

Maybe, but he's going to have trouble sourcing the right stuff to do that if he's doing it from salvaged/thrown out things.  I would guess the array and power storage would be best bought new anyway.  It would suck to have your lights go out because your 9" TV drained your batteries.

[SirPeale]

Building a camper out of what?  You're not saying you got a bus, are you?

Oh, heck no.  I may not even ever do it.  But it's fun to think about.

Someone offered up a camper on FreeCycle a while back.  It's beat, but I could make it work.  Biggest problem would be getting it somewhere I could keep it while I worked on it.  I asked my dad, and he flat-out refused, saying he had no room.  He also said the same thing when I wanted to store a few cabinets in his three story garage.  It still remains 3/4 empty to this day. 

Then there's my sister's place, they've got like six acres.  Including a place out of the way for stuff like that.  I haven't approached her yet.

A solar array and batteries would work well with LED lighting. You could power alot of things from it. Or you could just use a generator like every other camper in the world.

Seriously though, that would be a neat project. You could also convert the bus to run on cooking oil. There was a link posted here I think of a group who did that and drove the bus all over the country promoting the thing. 1 tank for diesel, and 1 tank for oil.

No bus.  I'm thinking tow-behind camper.  Maybe a teardrop or something.  Yeah, I could use a generator, but I'm thinking outside the box here.  Creativity is the best part of the project.

[shardian]

A good solar system with a good controller and a few batteries would set you back about $500. Just to put things in perspective.

[SirPeale]

If I were going to do a TV it wouldn't be part of that kind of thing.  Either a battery powered model or running off an inverter.  Likely I wouldn't do a TV at all.

Maybe, but he's going to have trouble sourcing the right stuff to do that if he's doing it from salvaged/thrown out things.  I would guess the array and power storage would be best bought new anyway.  It would suck to have your lights go out because your 9" TV drained your batteries.

You'd be surprised at the stuff I find that's been thrown out.  Batteries I'd probably do new anyway.

A good solar system with a good controller and a few batteries would set you back about $500. Just to put things in perspective.

I'm not talking heavy-duty here.  Just lighting.  So far.

[AtomSmasher]

No bus.  I'm thinking tow-behind camper.  Maybe a teardrop or something.  Yeah, I could use a generator, but I'm thinking outside the box here.  Creativity is the best part of the project.

Theres actually a lot of free plans and a decently sized online community geared toward building camping trailers from scratch.  I used to have a link to their forums, but unfortunately I seemed to of lost it and my google-foo appears to be weak 

[NiN^_^NiN]

Just in luck Peale I've been doing this at home as a test for my bedroom and the bathroom

What i did was i got one of them solar powered fairy lights 60 lights powered by a solar panel and 2 AA inside.

I cut it in half to 30 LEDs and used 5mm high powered white LED's

im gonna use downlight bulbs and build the leds inside them and just use the fittings to mount them easily

Now you can do what i've done and boost the light time by using 2 x solar panels and 4 x AA wired in series

This gives it a more professional look and the solar panels are pretty small

There are instructions on instructables.com on making downlight leds and solar lights try there

[SirPeale]

Neat.  I'll definitely check it out.

[SirPeale]

I couldn't find any Make articles about it.  What's the link?

I did find this rather nice source of wholesale LED lighting items via a Google search.

[ChadTower]

Note that pricing is given by the unit but you have to order by the case, if that matters.

[SirPeale]

Note that pricing is given by the unit but you have to order by the case, if that matters.

Yes, I saw that.  I just wonder what the shipping is like.  I'm sure it's coming from China.

[ChadTower]

Pretty damn high.

[NiN^_^NiN]

Hmm i can't find it either im sure i have it bookmarked at home so i'll check tonight for you

But what you did was basically get a thin piece of metal cut it to the size of the downlight lens side then use a hole punch for the leds to sit in then just solder them all wiggle the pins out the back and push the lens out pop the led boat back in and run the wires out then glue the lens back in and wire the wires to the 2 pins.

It be easier when i find the link for your to explain better.

But this way is so you can use 3v for the leds and not need to get bigger and strong solar panels to charge up a 6 or 12v battery only to use a resistor to bring it back down to 3v

You could just get alot of them 6 or 12 led flashlights and just use them as they run on 1.5v

[SirPeale]

The ones I've seen run on 4.5V.  3AAA x 1.5v = 4.5V.  But yeah, that would be a way to do it.

Not nearly as fun, though.

I'm envisioning a pull-up circuit.  Much like the Joule Thief.  I don't know if that would work or not.  The constant on/off action may not allow the batteries to charge. 

I have a friend that's an EE, I'll have to ask him.

[SirPeale]

I'll have to check more of this out.

http://www.discovercircuits.com/B/batt-chrg.htm

[SirPeale]

My first attempt at building a simple Joule Thief didn't work.  I suspect the wire that I used.  I used CAT5 instead of enameled wire.  I thought I'd seen someone do it that way, but it didn't work for me.  I'll have to find an old motor and steal the windings.

[ChadTower]

Have any spare pinball coils around?

[SirPeale]

Have any spare pinball coils around?

I wouldn't sacrifice a working one, and I don't have any anyway.

[SirPeale]

I can't believe I can't find a broken motor in my house anywhere.  I've got to be able to find a coil on some broken piece of equipment around here or something.

A new joule thief was posted on Make earlier.

This one uses two transistors instead of the one in other diagrams I've seen, as well as a couple caps.

[SirPeale]

I got my joule thief working.  I found a small transformer on a TV chassis and unwound the magnet wire from that.  Wrapped it around a toroid from a scrapped motherboard.  Then proceeded to assemble the circuit.

Total cost: .79 for the SN4401 from Radio Shack.  I might get that to zero if I could scavenge a compatible part from something.  I'll have to start looking in power supplies, I think that's the best place to find them.

I'm going to put this one in my computer case.  Always wanted a blue HD LED indicator in this case.

I'm wondering if I can use this circuit, and instead of a battery lighting an LED if you could put a solar cell in place of the battery, and a rechargeable battery in place of the LED (with a blocking diode, of course).

[patrickl]

That's going to take a lot of work if you want to light a camper with that 

[SirPeale]

That's going to take a lot of work if you want to light a camper with that 

It's a start.  I've been doing this for...oh, about two minutes.  I need to get my feet wet.

I put the joule thief into my PC after mounting it to a PC board.  I now have a blue HD indicator.  Neat.

Of course, it would have been easier to get a 2V blue LED - if they make them.  But I learned a lot from this.

[NiN^_^NiN]

Well a cheaper and easier way is to get one of them 12v 12w car solar chargers for $20 and a $10 car battery jumper (the case that has a internal battery to allow u to jumpstart ur car also has a cigg lighter socket)

It would take 4 hours in direct sunlight to fully power up the battery and would run led lighting all night

I have done this as home and the battery last for 1hr running a ps2 playing GTA VC using a 12v to 240v inverter so this is a cheap and inexpensive way to do lighting and u can also run other things from the portable car battery.

This is the portable battery im talking about


I've got the smallest one that does 300amp jumpstart so that might be an option as the solar car charger panels are usually cheaper as they aren't expected to be used outside of the car enviroment

[patrickl]

That's going to take a lot of work if you want to light a camper with that 

It's a start.  I've been doing this for...oh, about two minutes.  I need to get my feet wet.

I put the joule thief into my PC after mounting it to a PC board.  I now have a blue HD indicator.  Neat.

Of course, it would have been easier to get a 2V blue LED - if they make them.  But I learned a lot from this.

Lol, yeah. I was thinking about lighting the ceiling or floor of my (coming) game room with colored leds. So I'm watching your thread hoping to pick up some pointers 

[DrewKaree]

Peale, this won't necessarily help you with your lighting issue, but it'll give you a buttload of reading and fun dreaming about what you can do:

http://www.mikenchell.com/forums/index.php?sid=1cde6de0fb46608113628681fba7e011

IIRC, somebody there has/had a solar setup where they pull the panel out of the trailer when they set up camp, and they could darn near run everything AND charge the battery for some nightime reading or television watching.

I got a trailer last year that I was planning on using - an old pop-up.  The pictures looked stellar, but when I went to pick it up, it turned out that the pictures were about eleventy brazillion years old, and it was now a beat-up steaming pile of crap.  The wife wants to attempt to strip it down to the frame and build a teardrop, and I've got a friend who actively wants to help me do it in HIS garage as "practice" (and an IOU from me to help HIM) in case he thinks he can do this as well, in which case we do the same for him. 

My interest is in 4-season camping, so I'm more concerned with stuff that solar won't handle, such as the heating unit, but those folks at that link above are WAAAAAY helpful and would enjoy some of your stories about your attempts.

For a look at just how cool some of these can be, hunt around for Rob's 6x9 with a tub in it!

[SirPeale]

Thanks, Drew.  I'll check it out in a bit.

I went to Wal-Mart earlier, and found a battery powered florescent light.  I'm curious how it works, so I'm going to pull it apart later and see how it pulls up the current enough to light a florescent bulb.

[SirPeale]

I've disassembled the florescent fixture.  Here's the circuit board.  Quite simple.  The transistor is a D882 (and I'm not sure what it does, NTE quickcross says it's an audio something or another).  And the transformer doesn't have any markings.

Edit: not sure why it didn't show up. 

[ChadTower]

Looks like a regular transistor.  Base/collector/emitter.

[SirPeale]

There are lots of NPN transistors; I would like to know specifically what this one does.

[ChadTower]

I don't understand the question - it acts as a transistor.  It doesn't do anything other than act as an electronic switch.  It's not an IC. 

[SirPeale]

I don't know myself; when I first built my Joule Thief I used an NPN transistor in the same package type as what was called for, and it didn't work.  Swapped it out for the proper NPN (which crosses to an NTE123) and it works.

Like I said, I don't know about this stuff.  There are differences between all these parts, but what makes this NPN different from another one?  That I've got no clue.

[ChadTower]

Tolerances, how much capacity it can handle as throughput when "on", how much voltage it considers a valid trigger to change state, physical size.  It does the same thing as other standard transistors but the variables are all about the materials that make it up and what type of performance you can expect out of it.

It's like wire gauges... all wire does the same thing but you can't use thin wire on a power supply and you can't use thick wire in a small box.

[SirPeale]

Updated my post with the front and back of that circuit board.

[NiN^_^NiN]

You do know peale that they sell 12v florescent lamps at hardware stores i've seen kits that lets you interconnect each light to a maxium of 8 daisy chained running of a 12v source so this could be the alternative if you don't wanna spend the time making led's work

[SirPeale]

You do know peale that they sell 12v florescent lamps at hardware stores i've seen kits that lets you interconnect each light to a maxium of 8 daisy chained running of a 12v source so this could be the alternative if you don't wanna spend the time making led's work

After this message I don't want to hear about any more drop-in solutions.  No offense man, but half the fun in this is figuring out how to DIY.  Especially since I won't be working on an actual camper anytime soon, I can cobble together things and experiment.

[AtomSmasher]

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but the latest issue of Make magazine has instructions on how to build a 20 watt solar panel.  Apparently it's the first article in a series and in the next issue they're going to show how to integrate it into your electrical system.