ELECTRICIANS, How Do I Wire LED Flood Lamps?

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aclockworkorange

Dovii
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Jun 24, 2010
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Rose City
Electricians or those that are better with the subject than myself... I'm looking to buy some of those LED flood lamps that come in 10 to 50 watts for my tank. I'm not really sure what I'm getting in to.

I see two lamp types, 12-24V DC and 110V AC... which do I want? How do I wire them? Do I need some sort of power regulator to run them efficiently?

Thanks.
 
First I'd make sure that either will meet your lumens requirements and colour requirements.

As for the electrical side of things... you either go high voltage or "low" voltage.
High being your 110 (or 240V for me) and "low" being the 12-24V.

For the high, you can junction them together with a junction box if you are qualified (or not if you know what you're doing) and then you would have the junction box plugging into your wall socket/powerboard.
Of course specific country/state laws apply to electrical cabling etc. etc. you know the drill.

For the low, they will require a transformer and unless specified don't require any type of regulator/driver. You would use a 12-24V power pack(depending what you have, want to use, or the varying results of dropping the voltage as it may not be regulated to 12 internally [but probably is]).
This could be the "wall wart" type like on your router etc. or a laptop supply style. It doesn't matter as long as it matches the amps and voltage requirements for the lamp.
You can junction these up if you have a supply that suits, or keep them seperate. Easier to keep them seperate like above unless you're familiar with the work you're doing. 24V and 12V for that matter still tingle and pose fire risks.

Got a link for them?
I can provide more specific info.

[Audio Visual Design Engineer + Electronics Hobbyist]
 
Go with the ac lights other wise you will need an inverter. And you will need to make sure it will be sufficient for your va draw on the amount of lamps your going to use.
 
crisper said:
Go with the ac lights other wise you will need an inverter. And you will need to make sure it will be sufficient for your va draw on the amount of lamps your going to use.
Click to expand...
Agreed. AC is just easier and they are capable of better light output.
Plus if you require an inverter/driver for them, thats another cost and pain in the butt.
 
I'm sorry guys, you are literally speaking gibberish as far as I'm concerned. :(

The lights are the flood lamps that have been popular here on MFK.

2010060717294254296.jpg


Pretend you're explaining this to a child. ;) So step by step, once I receive the LED lamp, how do I go from taking it out of the box to it lighting my tank?
 
Sorry! :nilly:

If you go for the AC ones, you can simply plug them into the wall socket/powerboard if you are not comfortable joining them all into one power junction (= box where they are all wired together and one cable comes out the other end, plugging into your wall socket/powerboard).

The AC ones generally require no drivers, inverters, regulators, etc. You'd just mount them, plug them in, turn them on and then admire them :). The junction is just to cut down on how many plugs are going into your powerboard.
 
I keep reading about constant power supplies are best for LEDs... This is this magical box you speak of? And what about the ability to dim them? Do they just sell these online? I don't think these lamps even have plugs that go into a wall socket...
 
aclockworkorange said:
I keep reading about constant power supplies are best for LEDs... This is this magical box you speak of? And what about the ability to dim them? Do they just sell these online? I don't think these lamps even have plugs that go into a wall socket...
Click to expand...
Hm, all the ones you can get locally here are pre-terminated with plugs.

Keep in mind electrical in your country has different standards to mine (or mine to yours, whatever lol)

A constant voltage power supply is needed for 24V DC applications... so you don't need one for the 110 AC lamps.

The box (junction) you can buy from electrical suppliers and involves terminating (cutting, connecting etc.) the cables together in it yourself. You could probably get one online as well, I don't see why not. Just make sure it's properly rated for water (as you're safer to have it IP65 rated).


As for the plug.... if it only comes with a flex installed (i.e. you need to put a plug on it) then you will need to buy a plug for it to suit your electrical sockets, and terminate it yourself.
Do you have 2, or 3 prong plugs where you live?

Hopefully the lamp would come with some wiring instruction. If not I can provide details based on what you have above.

I still advise to get a friend to do it if you are wary, or better yet a licenced individual.... (covering my butt!)


Just noticed, Rose City.
So:
Check here: http://web.onetel.com/~uncletony/mains stuff.htm (under [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Other Mains (Power) Connectors[/FONT])
And here: http://www.leadsdirect.co.uk/technical/americanplugwiring.html
For american plug wiring.
 
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