Glowies, Blinkies, UVies & Other Illuminations

serafaery · Post by **serafaery** » Wed May 24, 2006 1:00 pm

I had really bad luck last year with the little cheap battery-powered christmas light strings for our camp. Most of them were too cheaply made and connectors just broke right off, and they eat batteries sooooo fast - ESPECIALLY the colored ones.

Has anyone had any luck finding battery-powered LEDs on a string? The only place I've found them so far is some lighting place in the UK that (of course) charges a lot extra for shipping.

I've found lots of great sources for other kinds of LEDs and EL wire and all that stuff (thanks for all the links!), but I'd still like a few twinkly light strings, if I can find some.

Thank you!

ibdave · Post by **ibdave** » Wed May 24, 2006 1:18 pm

http://www.littlebrightlights.com/site/ ... age/632149

This should help...

Mister Jellyfish Mister · Post by **Mister Jellyfish Mister** » Wed May 24, 2006 8:29 pm

Cheers![/quote]That's really good to hear... Now I need to find a bunch of chargers for all these battery arrays!

[/quote]

I should tell you, however, that we're using mostly high-bright el wire, not ccfl tubes as they are too brittle for walking around in. Had some sucess using multiple runs of el inside clear pipes covered with drafter's vellum for that florescent tube look.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Wed May 24, 2006 8:48 pm

Found this the oter day and plan to make a few...

http://www.breskin.com/writing/led1.htm

adept · Post by **adept** » Thu May 25, 2006 9:17 am

Have you tried CCFLs in poly carbonate tube? The ones I ordered come inside polycarb tubes so you can mount them on your car.

I want to pick up some EL wire, but I don't think it's going to be this year.

Mister Jellyfish Mister · Post by **Mister Jellyfish Mister** » Thu May 25, 2006 8:14 pm

adept wrote:Have you tried CCFLs in poly carbonate tube? The ones I ordered come inside polycarb tubes so you can mount them on your car.

Yep. I've got a couple and they are really nice. Just don't want to bend, smack or hug them (hey! my kind of date!) or you still get broken glass. Better from a moop standpoint sealed in the polycarb.

softness · Post by **softness** » Thu May 25, 2006 11:33 pm

hi all,

i'm going to be making some large decorative pendants and want them to glow all night from some battery-powered color-changing LEDs housed within. i'm looking for advice as to the best lamp, fixture, and power source for this application. help, please!

thanks yous...

softness

Azmie · Post by **Azmie** » Sat May 27, 2006 3:52 pm

[quote="epiphany*"]Any good sources for lighting that can be sewn into/onto clothing?[/quote]
There's these cool little battery operated lights called FloraLytes. They are LED and come in all colors. Some even have strings on them for easy attachment. I don't know what stores to by them at, but I got some from www.LittleBrightLights.com.

Azmie · Post by **Azmie** » Sat May 27, 2006 3:54 pm

Man, you gotta check out www.LittleBrightLights.com They have all kinds of stuff that I think you need.

[quote="serafaery"]I had really bad luck last year with the little cheap battery-powered christmas light strings for our camp. Most of them were too cheaply made and connectors just broke right off, and they eat batteries sooooo fast - ESPECIALLY the colored ones.

Has anyone had any luck finding battery-powered LEDs on a string? The only place I've found them so far is some lighting place in the UK that (of course) charges a lot extra for shipping.

I've found lots of great sources for other kinds of LEDs and EL wire and all that stuff (thanks for all the links!), but I'd still like a few twinkly light strings, if I can find some.

Thank you![/quote]

Azmie · Post by **Azmie** » Sat May 27, 2006 4:01 pm

www.LittleBrightLights.com is the place. I got some stuff from them that is blinky LED clothes pins and earrings, drink glasses and ice cubes, string lights, and any kind of battery operated LED colored light you could want...

[quote="robotland"]Well, I figured HERE was as good as ANYWHERE.....

What have you tried and liked/disliked, want to try, etc...

LED's, ELwire, Tiki Torches, Solar, what-have-you.....

-I just bought some of the LED automotive clusters designed to replace regular 12V bulbs- little cluster of 10 diodes, and BRIGHT....a cluster of 3 or 4 pointed radially would make a dandy beacon!

Okay, your turn.[/quote]

clarkeeee · Post by **clarkeeee** » Tue May 30, 2006 4:16 pm

Hi. I just saw Azmie's note about the LED lights and I wanted to let everyone know that the www.LittleBrightLights.com web page has light up drink glasses...for any kind of alcohol or non-alcohol drink. I use these for parties cuz noone ever looses their glass cuz they're all different lighted colors. And the best part?...if you hold it while stumbling home at night, the cars can see your cool light up beer mug and they won't hit you...or if they do it's only because they want to steel your mug. Anyway, I'm also a dancer and am constantly making costumes for stage. The battery operated LED lights always make my costumes stand out above the rest. String lights for camp? Don't have a generator? Yup, they've got battery operated string lights too.

Azmie · Post by **Azmie** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 12:05 am

Check out these links for different kinds of color changing LEDs
http://www.littlebrightlights.com/site/ ... t/AL-11810
http://www.littlebrightlights.com/site/ ... t/AL-09830
http://www.littlebrightlights.com/site/ ... CL-BK7-RGB

[quote="softness"]hi all,

i'm going to be making some large decorative pendants and want them to glow all night from some battery-powered color-changing LEDs housed within. i'm looking for advice as to the best lamp, fixture, and power source for this application. help, please!

thanks yous...

softness[/quote]

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 10:02 pm

Me likey neon sword on that site!! Be good for staving off unlit kamikazes at night!

Satisfied Mind · Post by **Satisfied Mind** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 12:09 pm

alright, after reading this forum for so long, here goes my first post:

in the past i have made costumes using el wire, but each one had its own battery pack.

is there a way that i can sew the el wire into the costumes, then transfer the battery pack so i would only need one power source?

thanks!

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 1:14 pm

Satisfied Mind wrote:alright, after reading this forum for so long, here goes my first post:

in the past i have made costumes using el wire, but each one had its own battery pack.

is there a way that i can sew the el wire into the costumes, then transfer the battery pack so i would only need one power source?

thanks!

So you just want the battery pack to be detachable? Easy!

Just go down to Radio Shack (or the like) and pick up a pack of the 9v battery clipy things and attach one to your battery pack, and one to the power wires leading to the EL inverter.

Just make sure you get the + and - correct or else you will blow the inverter.

nogganoodle · Post by **nogganoodle** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 9:29 am

Just found these cool umbrellas with LEDs built in. Keep the rain off, keep the sun off. Comes with 8 coloured phasing lights. Who knows what fun you might have

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/search.d ... =TWIUMBVAR

serafaery · Post by **serafaery** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:37 pm

So the littlebrightlights.com site is awesome, thank you! Here's the thing though - I've had strings that look really, really similar to the string lights they offer, but the little connectors at the battery were super fragile and broke really, really easily in the wind on our dome. Does anyone have any actual experience with the string lights at littlebrightlights.com? Are they sturdy? I'm about to order several strings but I don't want to waste my money on stuff that breaks the first day.

Thank you!

wine drops · Post by **wine drops** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 11:49 pm

i use the littlebrightlites - string lites for all my art projects - on the playa last year they hung out side my tent the entire week - i have worn them as decoration in side of a plastic innertube - no problem - i have also wrapped them around my backpack with no poor situations--- i ordered three sets and tested them out - went back and ordered 12 more --- the batteries last a long while - these have been my little secret - glad to know others have been "turned on" :)

serafaery · Post by **serafaery** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:25 pm

omg I just got my littlebrightlights LED string lights in the mail and tested out a set and they're SOOOOOOOO PRETTY!!! They look very sturdy, too. I wish I'd ordered more!

Thanks again for all the helpfulness, everyone!

phil · Post by **phil** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:06 am

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/20 ... 6B48984890

axolotl · Post by **axolotl** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 11:49 pm

What kind of lifespan are people getting on individually powered LEDs?

I mean, just stuck directly onto a low-drain 3V lithium button battery, one battery per light.

Can they stay lit all week?

ricochet · Post by **ricochet** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:50 am

axolotl wrote:What kind of lifespan are people getting on individually powered LEDs?

I mean, just stuck directly onto a low-drain 3V lithium button battery, one battery per light.

Can they stay lit all week?

I solder 3 LEDs together with a resistor and run them off a little 12V "keyless remote" Duracell MN21 battery. Not sure of the MAh but one will light up those 3 for 24 hours straight. I think there's a lot of variation in the power ratings for similar A23 batteries.

These are 3.5V LEDs with a 100 ohm resistor. See http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/b2_specs.htm. You can also buy them wired together with a cool little reflector for PC mods. See http://xoxide.com/lazerled.html

Um, you do know you need to use a resistor to make the battery last longer? See http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

ricochet · Post by **ricochet** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:16 am

ricochet wrote:
axolotl wrote:What kind of lifespan are people getting on individually powered LEDs?

I mean, just stuck directly onto a low-drain 3V lithium button battery, one battery per light.

Can they stay lit all week?
I solder 3 LEDs together with a resistor and run them off a little 12V "keyless remote" Duracell MN21 battery. Not sure of the MAh but one will light up those 3 for 24 hours straight. I think there's a lot of variation in the power ratings for similar A23 batteries.

I also ran blinkies off pairs of AAA batteries all week last year. Well actually, for months, but they start to fade by the end of the week and just kind of hang on forever. It might be worth trying those with lithium batteries to see how well they hold up.

Oh, and I strung a bunch of blue blinkies on our shade structure running off of 3 D cells. That lasted forever.

Post by **AntiM** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:27 am

We do rechargables with one of those little 12V solar rechargers as backup. Seems to work so far.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:49 pm

I just ordered a passel of schtuph from Coollightwest. Since they're only in Portland, I should have it in me paws by Friday!

Other schparklies coming from Oriental Trading, too. They sell by the dozen but that's cool. I'll take what I want, one backup, and gift the rest.

Lady V · Post by **Lady V** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:21 pm

The el wire from www.lightgod.com -- it's all battery powered. Almost everything on there is. We are lighting up ourselves and our first year theme camp--and using lotsa' tape to secure it!! :0) Not sure whether or not to use the small or medium size wire, though--anyone know? I've never actually touched the stuff.

ricochet · Post by **ricochet** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:40 pm

Tried a couple of experiments with a high power LEDs and one of those AA phone chargers
(http://www.boscovs.com/StoreFrontWeb/Pr ... pe=Product)
and found that while an alkaline can run for 11 hours or so, an old 2000Mah rechargable AA battery can still put out 5.5 volts for 7 hours. Not bad, rechargables tend to run at a constant voltage until they give out all at once. Which is better than fading away.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:07 pm

I picked up a solar battery charger on Ebay. I'm going over to Battery Depot next week and get three packs of AA and two of AAA and switch between them.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 1:50 am

Okay! The soldering can commence NOW! Quitting my crummy job on Monday, and I've got an entire pedal-powered UFO to light up!

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 9:39 am

A fresh start in a pedal power UFO...

Nice...

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