LEDs Etc

Shipping LEDs to Canada

Ron asked, "Is it possible to use the coupon code FSQS100 for shipment to Canada, or get an equivalent discount?  I enter the code and it subtracts it, but then adds $24.95 back on again at the checkout." The coupon is question allows for free shipping on large purchases at www.prudentrver.com.

My response was, "No, the free shipping applies only to shipments within the US. Canada is a special case and it is expensive to ship into your country. Sorry about that. Come visit us and order while you are here. BTW, next fall we will be returning to the Arizona Market Place in Yuma, AZ, so maybe you can check us out while we are there."

Regards,

Sam Penny, the Prudent RVer

Question about LEDs on Boats

Today I got this request from R, a boater:

Greetings, Sam

I have been looking at your website a good deal lately.  I am in the process of a total refit of an old sailboat I have in Southern California.  One of the things I will be doing soon is adding LED lighting as the main interior source of light.  I am bouncing between the strip LEDs and converting a typical RV fixture to LED.  The real issue boils down to locating a good fixture to convert at a reasonable price or simply using a strip.  Based on what I see on your website, the angle of illumination is 150 degrees in both cases.  Do I have that right?  Your recommendation or advice would be very much appreciated.  In most cases, the lighting will be overhead (in the galley, over the dinette area, in the head/shower compartment, etc.) with a low headroom of around 6' 2-4".  Wide angle lighting is needed.  I would also like to have some red night lighting for night sailing in order not to impact night vision for the crew coming below for a snack or a look at the chart before returning to the cockpit.

If you know of a good source for RV/boat fixtures that would take the appropriate LEDs you sell, please advise and I will take a look at the units online or in some RV supply houses.

Your website is a good source of information.  Thanks for being there.

Regards, R

 

[Smile] It is always nice to have someone compliment your website. Glad it is helpful.

My response to R:

Congrats on your going to LEDs. Let's see how well I cover your questions.

First I will discuss the angle of illumination. We use SMD chips in which the LED emitter is embedded a small distance behind a phosphor coating that covers the surface of the chip. The LED light comes out smoothly in a cone that is about 150 degrees wide, sort of like a flood lamp. It is not a de-focused beam but rather a spread of light. The reason light does not come out the side is that the side-edge of the SMD chip gets in the way. Overhead lighting in your boat would not shine into the upper corners of the ceiling, but put most of the light within eye level across the room. It does work well for us in an RV since most of what we want to see is on the surface of the table or the book we are reading.

That said, we are experimenting with a new fixture called a DL100 (DownLight - 1000 lumens/ft). It is a linear light using our TL2R strips inside a special diffuser (Take a look at the MyT.fLED-C product for some comparisons). It looks sort of like half a fluorescent tube, with a metal plate that attaches to the ceiling (I used velcro). The diffuser spreads the light some more, and therefore the side light is brighter than if you were viewing the LED chips directly. Of course, this is at the expense of some of the light that would have gone down if it had not been redirected. I expect to have the product up on the website in the next couple of weeks, and its cost will be $4.25/inch. So a 10" DL100 offering 800 lumens would retail at $42.50. This is less than some 12-inch ThinLites fixtures. Of course, the ThinLite has a switch - the DL100 does also, but it is a special ON/OFF/dimmer switch at a $35 premium.

You can also attach a plain old lightstrip to the ceiling, either bare or in a plastic, waterproof tube. You still have the need for a switch somewhere. Without a diffuser, you will have points of light that bothers some people.

For the head/shower compartment, you might want to consider putting tubed lightstrips running vertically on the walls, like next to the mirror. This will get the light both up and down where you need it. I would not put a fluorescent type fixture there -- it is a waste of space.

For red light, I propose you determine how much light you want then purchase segments of the ThinLUX.TL0 in the native red color. For comparison, a single 1141 type bulb will provide an effective 140 lumens in a ceiling fixture. The TL0 is 10 lumens/inch, but you can run two or three strips side by side to get a concentration of light. The length would depend on the cockpit configuration. TL0 can be encased in waterproof tubing which is probably a requirement in the cockpit area.

As far as suggesting fixtures, I really don't have a good suggestion. Most of the ceiling down lights for RVs and boats are cans that you embed in the ceiling, and these all produce points of light. I like linear lighting, either with a diffuser like in the DL100 or as LightStrips like our SL1 or TL2R.

Thanks for the good words on the use of the website. Always feels good to be of use to someone. If you have more questions, please send email to sam@prudentrver.com or call me at 512-632-4626.

Regards,
Sam Penny
the Prudent RVer

Question about LEDs in Signs

Earlier this week I received an email question from M about using LEDs in signs. Paraphrasing what M said:

My sign company is in the process of testing some LED systems in our signs.  The signs are  14"  length  x 3.5" tall x 3" deep, and the actual light up area is 10 inches x 3 inches.  We currently use two 7 watt bulbs for a total of 14 watts. The brightness is ok but I would like them to be a tad bit brighter than the 14 watt bulbs. What do you suggest as far as backlighting? and how many? I am considering your ZLS LightStick and the ThinLUX.SL1.

For the ZLS you mention that the LightStick must be thermally attached to 12 sq-in of metal for proper operation. What does that mean?

Would these work for my needs, or are these LEDs only for use in vehicles?

Thanks, M

I responded: Let me begin by telling you about our latest addition on the www.prudentrver.com website. It is best described by the MyT.fLED-C product you can find on the website. The basic component is our flexible, half-inch wide TL2R tapelight which has 6 LED chips per inch. The light output is 40 lumens per inch, using 1/2 watt/inch of power. It can be provided in custom lengths from 1 inch up to 5 meters. The light from each segment is spread out over a 1/2 by 1 inch surface, and this gives a smoother appearance behind a lens cover, or in your case, a sign.

The TL2R product contains two proprietary voltage regulators per inch that provide an operating range of 11 to 18-volts (most efficiently at 12.5 volts). It does not require a special heat-sink, though it is good to have some way for the small amount of heat generated to escape. The tape is flexible with double stick glue on back. There is a TL2 version without regulation that is a bit cheaper but it requires a regulated 12-volt source of power.

The Starion chips were designed to produce a very bright LED light, but they do so by generating an excess of heat -- thus the requirement of a good heat-sink to back them up. Also, they are very bright points of light, which I would think could be a problem in your sign. The SL1 is a lightstrip using our more proven HyBright.3 LED chips, each producing about 20 lumens. Both of these products have operating voltage ranges of 11 to 13.8 volts and so should be driven by regulated 12-volt power.

I personally am recommending use of the new TL2R in many of our current applications. It offers a brighter light over a wider area without the overheating problems of the older generation LEDs. It also comes in Pure White, Natural White, and Warm White.

You ask about working only in vehicles. We originally designed our LEDs as the replacement of incandescent bulbs in RVs and boats that have a native 12-volt DC power source. However, our LED products are quite usable in industrial or domestic house environments by using one of the many 120VAC/12VDC converters that are available. For your sign application, a group of several signs could be handled quite easily with a single wall-plug mounted supply. It is a matter of running something like 22 gauge speaker wire from the power source to the various signs. I can help you find a good power source if you wish.

I hope this has answered your questions. If you have more, please call me at 512-632-4626 and we can discuss your requirements in more detail. You can also email me directly at sam@prudentrver.com

Regards,
Sam Penny
the Prudent RVer

MyT.fLEDescents - a New Kind of Light

We at prudentrver.com have been talking about using fLEDescents to replace the tubes and ballasts in fluorescent fixtures for some time now. Basically, the idea is to strip the insides out of a fixture and use a metal plate in the cavity to hold different forms of 12-volt lightsticks. We offered the trusty LS3, the SLS3, and the ZLS lightsticks for varying levels of light.

This has always been a good solution, better than trying to stick a lightstrip to the top of the tube enclosure, but everyone noticed the light was coming from some very noticeable dots (the LED chips), visible even through the lens cover.

Recently Neutek-USA in Mesa provided us with their proprietary TL2R light strip, a flexible tape offering 480 lumens of Natural White LED light per foot with the regulation that allows it to run in an RV 12-volt environment. The light is provided by a 2 by 3 array of LED chips on 1/3-inch spacing. Each LED chip is a single emitter - 7 lumens in a spot rather than 21 lumens. The arrays are arranged on a flexible tape about 1/2 inch wide. Each array is an independent one inch segment of the tape, and the tape can be cut into lengths from one inch to five meters.

The tape is a highly efficient heat sink, and with the LEDs spread over the surface, there is no need for even more heat sink. Each inch of TL2R has a pair of proprietary independent voltage regulators that protect the LEDs over a 11 to 18 volts operating range, with spike protection to 30-volts. Each inch of TL2R provides 40 lumens of Natural White light using only 1/2-watt of power, or 0.04 amps at a nominal 12.5 volts.

We have dubbed the new product line to be made of MyT.Bright LEDs; the smaller LED chips are like Mighty Mouse and create a great new aura of light. We put one or two TL2R strips on the metal panel and call the product the MyT.fLEDescent.

Our standard offering is the MyT.fLED6 which is a six-inch long panel. The single strip option provides 240 lumens of light for $24 in an existing fluorescent fixture. Or you can use two panels with the double strip option for 960 lumens for $96 in a 12- or 18-inch fluorescent fixture.

With the variability of the length, we can build MyT.fLED-Custom panels any length you want (up to sixteen feet). Our most recent installations were two 36-inch panels of 2,880 lumens each in a ForeTravel motorcoach and a 68-inch strip of 2,720 lumens in a Dynasty.

Take a look at the MyT.fLEDescents at prudentrver.com today for the next alternative to fluorescents in your RV.