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12v Christmas lights in my bug.
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jzjames
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 1:34 pm    Post subject: 12v Christmas lights in my bug. Reply with quote

Id like to run a string of them in my bug the week before Christmas. Whats the easiest way to do it?
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torsionbar
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 1:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

plug them in to the cigarette lighter. ensure the current draw does not exceed 7 amps, or the fuse will perform that for you.
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Max Welton wrote:

[air cooled vw's] are no longer suitable for the general public. The owner has to be be able to maintain the car. And that is after fixing all the deferred maintenance items and ill-conceived modifications. If you can't do those things you are pretty much screwed.
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zombiebug
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 3:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Or if your like me and do not have a cigaret lighter, put a fuse on the string and wire them up to your battery or other power source with a switch. I use to put them on the outside of my old station wagon and I connected them to the low beam headlight of the car.
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JerryMCarter1
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 3:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Led's are directional, don't use anything else-- they have them now at walmart
red to the red pole on the battery black to the black pole on the battery

Waallla

Jerry
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GA_Boy
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 3:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

JerryMCarter1 wrote:
Led's are directional, don't use anything else-- they have them now at walmart
red to the red pole on the battery black to the black pole on the battery

Waallla

Jerry

Jerry, are you saying that WM has 12 Volt Christmas lights?
TKS, Marvin
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bugbyte
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 5:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Merry Christmas!

I used an extra 12 volt battery on the floor behind the front seat. Then with a AC/DC converter from 12vdc to 110vac. - After a day or night's drive I'd put it on the charger, and ready to go for the next romp. - The best part is having people wave, smile, and even take pictures when driving along I-95.

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Adventurer
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 5:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had some solar powered LED lights i put on my roof rack last year, before that i just bought regular LEDs and plugged them in to a power inverter. Now I have a string that runs off of 2 D cells.
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bensherb
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We've been using 110 volt lights for years. I have a tiny 70 watt inverter, about the size of a cell phone charger, that plugs into the cigar lighter and can power 250 of the small incandesent lamps. After xmas last year I picked up about 1000 led lights for this year, they draw far less power so I can use more of them.
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JerryMCarter1
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

yes they are 12volt - I will double check -
they have a 110 inverter - I think all leds are 12 or 18 volts

heading there today

Jerry
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torsionbar
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 10:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

JerryMCarter1 wrote:
I think all leds are 12 or 18 volts

no they aren't. there is no fixed voltage that an led operates at. the required circuit voltage is dictated by the current limiting resistor used at the led, and in strings of multiple led's, whether they are wired in series or in parallel.

i can run the exact same led bulb from a 9v battery, a 12v battery, a 24v battery, or a 48v battery. i just need a different sized resistor for each source.

the resistance required is equal to the power supply voltage minus the led voltage drop (typically between 1.8v and 3.3v depending on color of the led) all divided by the led current.
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Max Welton wrote:

[air cooled vw's] are no longer suitable for the general public. The owner has to be be able to maintain the car. And that is after fixing all the deferred maintenance items and ill-conceived modifications. If you can't do those things you are pretty much screwed.


Last edited by torsionbar on Tue Nov 15, 2011 10:28 am; edited 1 time in total
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okubricko
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 10:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree with jzjames, see the below web page

http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/led.htm
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torsionbar
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 10:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

okubricko wrote:
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/led.htm

that's a nice web page, explains it all very clearly!
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Max Welton wrote:

[air cooled vw's] are no longer suitable for the general public. The owner has to be be able to maintain the car. And that is after fixing all the deferred maintenance items and ill-conceived modifications. If you can't do those things you are pretty much screwed.
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kburg12
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you have a cigarette lighter, then buy an inverter. Plug it into the lighter and you now have a 110 plugin in your car that will run your Xmas lights with no problem.
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JerryMCarter1
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Someone on a previous thread asked about 12 volt led lights for their car.
I had responded with saying that I thought they had them at wall mart. Well, they do- not- have them at wall mart,, below is a list of suppliers. Like I said in the thread one red lead to the plus side of the battery and the other lead to the neg side of the battery
Jerry
http://www.christmas-light-source.com/12-Volt-LED-Lights_c_253.html
http://www.environmentallights.com/Auto-Boat-LED-Christmas-Lights_C404.aspx
http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/12-volt-Rope-Lights--131.htm
http://www.inirgee.com/catalog/12-volt_515956_products.htm
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torsionbar
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kburg12 wrote:
If you have a cigarette lighter, then buy an inverter. Plug it into the lighter and you now have a 110 plugin in your car that will run your Xmas lights with no problem.

that's a bizarre and expensive way of doing it. you're converting dc voltage to ac, and then back to dc again. doing a double conversion is just silly!!

it's like you're thirsty for a glass of water, so you fill a glass, then put it in the freezer and freeze it solid into ice, then melt it back into liquid again and warm it to room temperature....and then drink it.

double conversion is pointless, it makes no sense!
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Max Welton wrote:

[air cooled vw's] are no longer suitable for the general public. The owner has to be be able to maintain the car. And that is after fixing all the deferred maintenance items and ill-conceived modifications. If you can't do those things you are pretty much screwed.
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Q-Dog
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 4:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

torsionbar wrote:
kburg12 wrote:
If you have a cigarette lighter, then buy an inverter. Plug it into the lighter and you now have a 110 plugin in your car that will run your Xmas lights with no problem.

that's a bizarre and expensive way of doing it. you're converting dc voltage to ac, and then back to dc again. doing a double conversion is just silly!!

it's like you're thirsty for a glass of water, so you fill a glass, then put it in the freezer and freeze it solid into ice, then melt it back into liquid again and warm it to room temperature....and then drink it.

double conversion is pointless, it makes no sense!


Nothing bizarre about it at all. I have a couple of inverters already, for charging phones and other gadgets, one of them was about $20. Oh, and I have LED lights already, but they were about $10 per string. So, no, it's not expensive at all.

12 volt lights would be ideal but really, the amount of power we are talking about here is very small. I bet lots of people already have small inverters.
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bensherb
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

torsionbar wrote:
kburg12 wrote:
If you have a cigarette lighter, then buy an inverter. Plug it into the lighter and you now have a 110 plugin in your car that will run your Xmas lights with no problem.

that's a bizarre and expensive way of doing it. you're converting dc voltage to ac, and then back to dc again. doing a double conversion is just silly!!

it's like you're thirsty for a glass of water, so you fill a glass, then put it in the freezer and freeze it solid into ice, then melt it back into liquid again and warm it to room temperature....and then drink it.

double conversion is pointless, it makes no sense!


If you have an alternator, you are generating AC power and converting it to DC all the time. So big whoop, you get a small inverter and change it back to AC.

Double conversion? So what, what do you think happens every time you plug in your cell phone or laptop? Hydroelectric generators make DC, it's converted to AC, sent thru power lines and several step down transformers to get it to you as 110 volts AC, then you plug in your "power supply" an inverter, which changes it to somewere around 3 to 20volts DC, then the computer steps that down to 3 to 5 volts to use it.


The little 70 watt cigar lighter unit I have came in a package of two from Costco for around 12$ . The big expense is LED lights, I bought them for 1/2 off at wal-mart after xmas last year and they were still 7$ a string. Strings of lights for 110volts AC are readily available, a 100 light string of incandesants costs about 2$, LED's about 14$, last year anyway. If you want expensive try putting togeather 1000 12 volt powered lights. I haven't seen a string of more than 20 lights and they still cost 15$ a string.

Just read the box the lights come in and determine how much power you need for the number of lights you want and get an inverter capable of supplying at least that amount.
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torsionbar
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 8:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

bensherb wrote:

Double conversion? So what, what do you think happens every time you plug in your cell phone or laptop? Hydroelectric generators make DC, it's converted to AC, sent thru power lines and several step down transformers to get it to you as 110 volts AC, then you plug in your "power supply" an inverter, which changes it to somewere around 3 to 20volts DC, then the computer steps that down to 3 to 5 volts to use it.

your analogy is one of the most preposterous and nonsensical analogies i have ever read here on the samba. really. you ought to be congratulated for coming up with that. thanks for the laughs!

there is a technical reason that power distribution in the us is done via ac instead of dc. here's a history lesson for you. in the 1880's thomas edison wanted to use dc for the nation's power distribution grid. tesla's proposal was to use ac. tesla won. ac is better and easier for long distance transmission. and none of this has anything to do with your car, so it's silly that you even brought it up in your silly strawman argument.

double conversion is for people who don't understand how electricity works (and probably also think the earth is flat).

next time your mom is driving you to wall mart, take a moment and think about what i'm saying here. your mention of prices for different kinds of lights only shows that you aren't paying attention. what i'm trying to tell you, is to buy the absolute cheapest string of led lights, and if it happens to be a string designed for 120v ac, then modify the string for use on 12v dc. it's a stupid simple modification. a monkey could be trained to do it. i'm not telling you buy anything special or unusual or expensive.
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Max Welton wrote:

[air cooled vw's] are no longer suitable for the general public. The owner has to be be able to maintain the car. And that is after fixing all the deferred maintenance items and ill-conceived modifications. If you can't do those things you are pretty much screwed.
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bensherb
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 9:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, you missed the point entirely. It has nothing to do with power transmission at all, but with conversion. Simply put , it's common to change power from DC to AC, AC to DC, and back again. We all do it regularly weather we know it or not. It's no big deal.
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CarlIseminger
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 9:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know that this is takes a bit of work, but I buy four battery powered sets of lights and hook them up end to end. This adds up to 12volts. I get just enough to mix in with a strand of garland and wrap around my front bumper.

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I am working on taking a set of red A/C lights and cutting and soldering them into a 12V set, but it takes a bit of work (time consuming) to put on the rear of the bug this Christmas.

Just have to figure out how to get a power source back there that turns on and off with the key (I don't want to overload the ignition wire).
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