How do I run battery pack LEDs off of 12v system?

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How do I run battery pack LEDs off of 12v system?

Postby attomica » Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:45 pm

How do I connect LED strip and string lights that use a wall plug adapter or a battery pack to my trailer's 12v electrical system? I bought an LED light strip that ran off of a battery pack with 3AA batteries. I clipped the battery pack off, stripped the wires back, and tested them on the 12v. Some emitters on the strip glowed, some flickered, and some didn't glow at all. Clearly not a good result. The wiring was tiny so it has to be too much current or something? I don't know this stuff so I'd greatly appreciate advice from those who do.
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Re: How do I run battery pack LEDs off of 12v system?

Postby friz » Sun Jul 03, 2022 5:26 pm

12v is too much for something designed for 4.5v. You could probably learn a little ohms law and figure out what size resistor you need for the voltage drop required.

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Re: How do I run battery pack LEDs off of 12v system?

Postby tony.latham » Sun Jul 03, 2022 7:00 pm

You could use something like this...

https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Qutaway-Voltage-Transformer-Booster/dp/B073N17HMZ

But it may be cleaner to just find a 12-volt light that you like... :thinking: And you may have fried your light anywho. :frightened:

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Re: How do I run battery pack LEDs off of 12v system?

Postby Tom&Shelly » Sun Jul 03, 2022 8:48 pm

I suspect you burned that strip out. :cry:

Another idea is to get three of the strips and wire them in series. Then you would have 4 volts on each which is probably enough. DO NOT wire them in parallel, or you'll burn out all three. Series is one wire from the first one wired to a wire on the second one, then the second wire from the second one to a wire on the third. Minus to plus, minus to plus. Then the two free wires to the 12 volts. So the whole thing is a single loop. If you're not sure about this, I'd suggest doing a little more research.

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Re: How do I run battery pack LEDs off of 12v system?

Postby S. Heisley » Sun Jul 03, 2022 9:27 pm

Since you've already cut off the original battery pack housing, you may have a problem attaching anything plus, you may have already damaged the strip. But, light strips aren't too expensive. Why don't you look for some whose batteries are replenished through solar? Just Google solar powered strip led lights and you will see plenty of them.
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