Anyone still wanting to do this-Amazon has a off brand for about $20. After watching this video I used this to power my my fishing electronics, lights & a fan for an ice house. This might be the most useful DIY ever for me.
I am an electrician and I have a lot of leftovers tape/strips/modules led lights of different voltages. 24v strip/tape/modules lights works well with any 20v batteries... the little adapter works well too but it is limited to 5amp. I also have used a low voltage dimmer to dim the light and battery saving.
Thank you for making this informative video, is there a specific type of store where I can purchase on of these adapters. Because I have Dewalt batteries and this would make it much easier to light up my led fishing and camping strip lights.
I just got one of those dewalt battery attachments, and then bought a USB plug LED 66' light strip, and it works fine by just plugging it into the adapter
I've been watching your video's for a long time, I've just bought at cargo trailer to haul all my tools from jobsite to jobsite and I was wanting some additional lighting in it for if and when I may need some light, I remembered this video, searched it up and I went and bought all that stuff to run the lights in my trailer. Thanks so much man!
Thanks for the tutorial. I was looking to power 12v water pump with dewalt. This answered my question. I already have one of the knock off adapters for my heated vest. Now looking to set up 12v led lights for the backyard.
I really like the idea of using drill batteries as a rechargeable power source! Also, what a great trick using the air compressor to feed the LEDs through the tube! Air compressors are totally underrated. I find so many uses for mine in the garage. Very cool project, I think I'll try to make one too!
So helpful. I have 7 dewalt batteries and the USB converter, which we use to charge phones etc in the campervan, plus the USB powered tap.(Faucet) the interior LED lights are currently powered by the vehicles 12V system. I think this converter will be perfect. Thanks for your video.
Cool project! Something to note is that LEDs, unlike filament bulbs, are polarity sensitive. if you cross over the positive and negative when wiring, the lights wont work. So, make sure that your positive and negative are correct before final soldering.
Another tip; on the tubing i use a small ball and fished it at he other end, use a vacuumed TO Vacuumed out the led. works great as well i didn't have available the compressor .love your idea..
Great job, I just finished making mine. I did however change the gender of light strip instead of the switch. Reason being. Lets say something stupid happens, the switch breaks. Well the light roll will plug directly in to the battery still. Or if you lose the switch in your gear, leave it at home, etc. I also have a ton of the dewal batteries and when I go out, I take a few for use with the impact gun just incase I break something its easier to get off suspension parts, etc. When rewiring the lights, its super easy, just a little pad for the positive and negative. They are marked, just don't melt the assy too much. Worse case, just cut back on segment of light where the cut marks are and there will be additional pads. Thanks again for the great video and walk thru. Keep up the good work.
Solid! ive been trying to think of a way to route 12 volts to my LEDS so i can light up my camp site at the music festivals i attend. This looks pretty simple as well thanks
that is exactly what i was looking for, I wanted to use it for my tool trailer. They should just make a product like this available. people would buy it.
Just started mucking around with LED lights, I really like the diffused look, what would I ask for when buying that diffused pipe you used first, great video by the way , thanks Nick
Awesome video! Thank you so much! I want to put waterproof strips on my pontoon boat and did t want to wire it in! When I order in the spring I will definitely use your link! Thank you again!
I just bought a few USB adapters for my 18v batteries the other day. They have an on/off button to awaken the battery, and it also has a led light in the front of the adapter. I have seen that some led lights don't have the feature to awaken a powerbank (like a 13200 mAh one). I have bought the Harte USB led lamp from Ikea, which awakens my powerbanks. And I have also bought their USB Ledfyr fairlylights which doesn't awaken the powerbanks. Some of the powerbanks I have have an on/off button, but not all of them. I could get the Ledfyr lights to work if I connected the Harte lamp first, then disconnected it and connected the Ledfyr lights. A small hassle, but I got them to work. At first I thought there were something wrong with all of them, but I figured it out eventually.
Cool idea and nice work . After looking around for ideas I decided to go with the Harbor freight outdoor LED light strip with is solar powered and in the tubing already . They're not as bright as yours but they do the trick and provide enough lighting to see around the outside of the tent or even the inside depending on what kind of lighting your wanting and where you want it to be .For the inside I ended up using a pair of solar powered motion sensor type LED flood lights that can be on constantly or shut off . They came with a really long cord to the 6X4 inch solar panel which is nice for being able to run the panel to a good location where you can get adequate sunlight to charge them up . They provide more than enough lighting for seeing around the tent at night and they're fairly light weight and compact ,plus I don't need to have an AC adapter to charge them up which is nice if you're backpacking in the brush and not able to have access to any kind of charger such as a car battery ,but I'm just going on personal experience and not saying that this idea isn't a good one . You get a thumbs up from me for being innovative for sure 👍👍😸✌
I sure enjoyed this video and I am going to try this. However your link to DeWalt below for the adapter is truncated so it goes nowhere. Maybe it's because this video is just too old and it's no longer a live link but I would appreciate it if you could update it! Thank you. Great video.
I just got these same lights, great idea with the tubing, (its basically electronic masking tape). Also' my wife got me the soft shell heated jacket, so worth it, there's no such thing as a cold day wearing this in New England.
Nice I wanna put led rgb strip lights in man cave where I don't have outlets. I was going to buy a amazon 5v to 12v converter to power them with a usb power bank, what do you think?? I already have 2 power banks laying around so I was thinking of using them to run two 15 ft rgb led strip lights?,
Use a 12v UBEC (eBay) and you can use pretty much any 12+ volt power source to work. I use a 9v UBEC and a rechargeable battery to run my camcorder for 10+ hours.
It's a great idea but it quickly becomes overly complex. You'll want to use standard products from DeWalt for charging, since getting this wrong might damage the battery, make it explode, and what not. A DeWalt charger probably needs mains power (110 or 220) volt AC, so you'll have to convert the DC from the solar panel to AC for the charger input, and then the charger converts this back to DC for charging the battery... So unless there is a ready made solar charger for DeWalt batteries, you'll end up having to make a physical adapter for the battery, a charging circuit for charging correctly, maybe some kind of buffer (battery or capacitor) for a stable charging. And then the beautiful simplicity of this build is gone.
I like the way you think😎 I'm looking at a DeWalt battery powered project. Time and price, shipped to Canada deters me from the adapter so I'll likely improvise. Nice build and great presentation. Trust me, I know what it takes.
+Gunflint Designs - I just completed and uploaded it. I won't post a link as it's sometimes frowned on but simply check out the most recent video in my Gadgets playlist titled DeWalt automotive memory saver.
Good call! The diffused one is better. The lighting strip tends to turn a few corkscrews inside the tube, and those lights just shine in whatever direction they are pointing, so you look a lot pointing to the top of the tent. The diffused one seems to capture and redistribute more light evenly in all directions.
There are so many really good and cheap usb chargeable lanterns out there that stay lit for a long time which are easy to hang up and are ideal for camping. They are really inexpensive and contain a decent 18650 battery. They can also output usb in an emergency to power a phone if needed so they are both a light and a power bank. They can also switch to red light as an emergency light on the road. You probably spent as much or more on the materials for this than a fully built unit. Worth exploring.
I understood him to say he has multiple dewalt batteries and one last a night and half -- so he can take all of his batteries that last him a week then charge them all at once
GREAT find. I do have one question regarding the discharge of the battery? Do these Dewalt batteries have a cutoff voltage so the pack is not damaged? these are lithium ion batteries that need a bms to keep them from being discharged to low to avoid damage to the cells. all these different battery adapters are popping up and seem very convenient to use for more than just power tools which makes great sense however if there is nothing keeping these batteries from getting damaged, then you will be very upset to find that your awesome DIY project is killing your expensive battery pack.
I would love to see the inside of the DCB090 (USB only charger) compared to the inside of the DCB091 (USB +12v charger) and see if there is an easy way to add the female jack to the DCB090. I've been wanting to make one of those stick man halloween costumes for years and use a Dewalt battery to power the LED's. This seems like the perfect solution at best, or an excellent starting point at worst.
which one did you end up liking the most? I have the same situation as you with a wall tent, also tired of carrying fuel and fragile lanterns :) so clear? or opaque?
I don't honestly know, that is more experimenting that I'll save for another day. I actually bought some in-line dimmer switches that would replace that clicker switch. On full brightness it was fine, but when dimming and limiting the power reaching the light strip, it actually made the battery start to scream.
If I'm out for a week at a time, I always take the big wall tent and live in luxury. If its a shorter trip, or too far away from the truck, then I'll take a more traditional smaller tent.
T = E/P, where : T is time in hours (h) P led power consumption in watts (W) E battery total energy in Watt.hours (Wh) What is my battery's energy ? E=U*Q where : E is energy in Wh U battery voltage in Volts (V) Q battery capacity in Amper.hour (Ah) You should take off ~20% of that result because you never want to use your battery fully from 100% to 0% (its lifetime would be greatly reduced). For casual led and casual battery, the result should be like a few hours.
Are you up the gunflint trail I’m in grand Marais. Would like to meet up and have a chat about some other battery related off grid stuff if you’re around.
Love it - the dewalt part is discontinued but you can put an affiliate link to an amazon product: LANMU Battery Adapter for Dewalt 18V/20V Lithium Ion Battery that will work with LEDs :)
If youd had bought the brown jacket from dewalt in the winter time you could have used the jacket summer used the lights and then ordered a replacement usb block and had two and a jacket
1:15 It does have enough power for many types of light strips. Any 5v USB plug/device that is plugged into it, needs to pull between 500mA and 2A to work right. Anything requiring more or less than that rating will NOT work properly (or at all) with this adapter. Also, the round 12v side outlet can only handle upto 2A, so be very careful about using long runs of LED strips (you could damage the adapter). Depending on the SMD LED's used for a particular light strip, it's min/max power requirements will vary with the footage of strip used. That's why you need to read the manual to see what the ratings are for each type of LED strip.
I wanted to add two rgb led strip ligjts to my man cave and power them with two power banks that I have laying around somewhere. I was going to use this amazon 5v to 12 v adapter $7 and a female jack to conecte it to the 5v-12v adapter and solder it to the led lights?? What do you think??
Well I was going to do this to power LED strips in my gun case that I want to put in but I can't seem to find the adapter. I see knockoffs but I don't trust that to not have a short and then cause problems.
Hi, can you please let me know where you got the white vinyl tubing? I'd like to do something similar but I like the idea of the light being more evenly dispersed. Also, did you find the clear tubing emitted much brighter light or was it negligible?
After a little camping this spring and using them both, I like the smoky/white color better. It helps defuse and spread out the light. I just got that stuff from my local hardware store.
Great tip for needing lighting for any situation. Just wondering....can you a different brand of battery? Also could you connect several tubes of lights together?
The crucial component, at least in my build, is the Dewalt battery adapter. I'm not sure if other companies make something similar or not. At some point I plan on linking a few strings together to see how many it can power.
Gunflint Designs the instructions for the strips will probably tell you how long these configurations can be. If you make them too long, they will need too much current, things will heat up in the tiny wiring, and your plastic tube might melt, or even catch fire(?)
Is there any way male to male connectors that I can buy? I don't know a thing about soldering. I don't really need a switch for the connector if that helps.
Awesome Video -- I was thinking about purchasing 12 volt lithium batteries and some type of solar charger -- has anyone looked into that ? I would like it to run 5 meters led strip . charge enough during the day to run all night
hay buds great video,, ,i am wondering can you charge the battery though the female, coat jack//? i think one can,,trying to figer out a system that i can use on my plane, by the use of a 12v wind charger into the portable-DEWALT DCB119 Vehicle Battery Charger, that would power my USB,s and cigarette lighter plug in,,,,
Hey nice vid.. before i saw it i had already ordered a knock off from amazon ... reviews say it draws a charge and can kill a battery even if nothing is hooked up.. do you know if the dewalt is the same?
It should have come with an on/off button, like the USB adapters I have bought now. I think it might draw a charge. To be sure it doesn't kill the battery, remove the adapter when not in use.
Nice idea. I was hoping you would show what the tent looks like with these lights running. I have a wall tent also and I'm trying to figure out some lights. Also, how much did all of this cost?
You can buy a USB adapter for the Ryobi batteries too. One of those small led cob pen lights can also give you good lighting, imo. The one I have spread the light almost 180 degrees. It runs on 3 AAA batteries. You can use rechargeable batteries in it, and maybe bring a couple of sets if you need to use it for an extended period of time. I put one of those pen lights on a carrier to bring what I need to and from a cabin in the woods, where there is no lights whatsoever. Works great for that purpose.
I did something similar to this using a USB led strip with my Milwaukee m12 power source but didn't have the same issue with it not working through the USB as the Dewalt did.
It's probably bc it's 12V, and not 18V or even 60V like some of the bigger sized batteries are. He said it didn't output "enough" but it probably was outputing to much.
One question and one comment: do the rope lights heat up? The comment is I would think adding a dimmer to your design would be a great addition. That way as it gets later in the night, you don't have to have full brightness.
I had that same question, so when I first started using them I monitored the temp pretty closely, but it never heated up. We think a lot alike! I actually bought some in-line dimmer switches that would replace that clicker switch. On full brightness it was fine, but when dimming and limiting the power reaching the light strip, it actually made the battery start to scream. I'm not much of an electronics guy, but I'm guessing I would need some kind of a resistor to actually make that work well.
Anyone still wanting to do this-Amazon has a off brand for about $20. After watching this video I used this to power my my fishing electronics, lights & a fan for an ice house. This might be the most useful DIY ever for me.
That's great Mike, I'm glad it was useful for you!
Can you post the link for the off brand?
12V DC Output Heated Jackets DCB091 Li-on Battery USB Charging Converter Adapter
I guess it’s that one
I am an electrician and I have a lot of leftovers tape/strips/modules led lights of different voltages. 24v strip/tape/modules lights works well with any 20v batteries... the little adapter works well too but it is limited to 5amp. I also have used a low voltage dimmer to dim the light and battery saving.
Could I run a bilge pump off a dewalt battery?
@@adampeters4542 what's the wattage and voltage?
All the pump reads is 5amp/12v. My other is a 3amp/12v. As I type this I kind of feel stupid asking the question
Thank you for making this informative video, is there a specific type of store where I can purchase on of these adapters. Because I have Dewalt batteries and this would make it much easier to light up my led fishing and camping strip lights.
I just got one of those dewalt battery attachments, and then bought a USB plug LED 66' light strip, and it works fine by just plugging it into the adapter
What adapter did you actually buy? Can you share the link?
Thank you!
I've been watching your video's for a long time, I've just bought at cargo trailer to haul all my tools from jobsite to jobsite and I was wanting some additional lighting in it for if and when I may need some light, I remembered this video, searched it up and I went and bought all that stuff to run the lights in my trailer. Thanks so much man!
Thanks for the tutorial. I was looking to power 12v water pump with dewalt. This answered my question. I already have one of the knock off adapters for my heated vest. Now looking to set up 12v led lights for the backyard.
I really like the idea of using drill batteries as a rechargeable power source! Also, what a great trick using the air compressor to feed the LEDs through the tube! Air compressors are totally underrated. I find so many uses for mine in the garage. Very cool project, I think I'll try to make one too!
Thanks! Let me know how yours turns out!
Thank you - finally a smart guy who can communicate well.
Haha, thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful.
So helpful. I have 7 dewalt batteries and the USB converter, which we use to charge phones etc in the campervan, plus the USB powered tap.(Faucet) the interior LED lights are currently powered by the vehicles 12V system. I think this converter will be perfect. Thanks for your video.
Cool project! Something to note is that LEDs, unlike filament bulbs, are polarity sensitive. if you cross over the positive and negative when wiring, the lights wont work. So, make sure that your positive and negative are correct before final soldering.
Thanks for the heads up!
Another tip; on the tubing i use a small ball and fished it at he other end, use a vacuumed TO Vacuumed out the led. works great as well i didn't have available the compressor .love your idea..
Good idea, just the reverse of what I did!
Tie the string to a finishing nail, and use a magnet to pull it through the tube.
Great job, I just finished making mine. I did however change the gender of light strip instead of the switch. Reason being. Lets say something stupid happens, the switch breaks. Well the light roll will plug directly in to the battery still. Or if you lose the switch in your gear, leave it at home, etc. I also have a ton of the dewal batteries and when I go out, I take a few for use with the impact gun just incase I break something its easier to get off suspension parts, etc.
When rewiring the lights, its super easy, just a little pad for the positive and negative. They are marked, just don't melt the assy too much. Worse case, just cut back on segment of light where the cut marks are and there will be additional pads.
Thanks again for the great video and walk thru. Keep up the good work.
That is send sound logic! I might have to switch the design around if I build more. Thanks!
Ingenious. I hope your travels in the back country are going well.
It's been a fun season so far. Lots of close calls and some of my friends are having success. I haven't been in the right place at the right time yet.
I looked for this Dewalt N288459. It is hard to find. What is the difference between using the auxiliary port vs. using a USB port?
You just solved one of my biggest issues with an rgb project thank you!
Solid! ive been trying to think of a way to route 12 volts to my LEDS so i can light up my camp site at the music festivals i attend. This looks pretty simple as well thanks
that is exactly what i was looking for, I wanted to use it for my tool trailer. They should just make a product like this available. people would buy it.
Just started mucking around with LED lights, I really like the diffused look, what would I ask for when buying that diffused pipe you used first, great video by the way , thanks Nick
I have Ryobi cordless tools, and they make a LED lantern that uses their batteries. It's come in very handy during power outages.
Great idea. I'd go with shrink tube instead of the tape.
Good idea. I might have to go back and do that.
Nice. Perfect in the rear of a van.
when I go to your amz for the male adapter it comes up as a L E D light
love the hack !
Awesome video! Thank you so much! I want to put waterproof strips on my pontoon boat and did t want to wire it in! When I order in the spring I will definitely use your link! Thank you again!
I just bought a few USB adapters for my 18v batteries the other day. They have an on/off button to awaken the battery, and it also has a led light in the front of the adapter. I have seen that some led lights don't have the feature to awaken a powerbank (like a 13200 mAh one). I have bought the Harte USB led lamp from Ikea, which awakens my powerbanks. And I have also bought their USB Ledfyr fairlylights which doesn't awaken the powerbanks. Some of the powerbanks I have have an on/off button, but not all of them. I could get the Ledfyr lights to work if I connected the Harte lamp first, then disconnected it and connected the Ledfyr lights. A small hassle, but I got them to work. At first I thought there were something wrong with all of them, but I figured it out eventually.
7 years later... do you recommend the clear or frosted tubing? :)
Try checking out a 5v to 12v step up converter. You can get them on eBay for a couple bucks and then you can power and 12v accessories off a USB port
That's a great project! Thank's for the idea!
Which one did you end up liking more....clear or opaque tubing for light?
Light lasted 12hrs?
Cool idea and nice work . After looking around for ideas I decided to go with the Harbor freight outdoor LED light strip with is solar powered and in the tubing already . They're not as bright as yours but they do the trick and provide enough lighting to see around the outside of the tent or even the inside depending on what kind of lighting your wanting and where you want it to be .For the inside I ended up using a pair of solar powered motion sensor type LED flood lights that can be on constantly or shut off . They came with a really long cord to the 6X4 inch solar panel which is nice for being able to run the panel to a good location where you can get adequate sunlight to charge them up . They provide more than enough lighting for seeing around the tent at night and they're fairly light weight and compact ,plus I don't need to have an AC adapter to charge them up which is nice if you're backpacking in the brush and not able to have access to any kind of charger such as a car battery ,but I'm just going on personal experience and not saying that this idea isn't a good one . You get a thumbs up from me for being innovative for sure 👍👍😸✌
Harbor freight lol
I sure enjoyed this video and I am going to try this. However your link to DeWalt below for the adapter is truncated so it goes nowhere. Maybe it's because this video is just too old and it's no longer a live link but I would appreciate it if you could update it!
Thank you. Great video.
I just got these same lights, great idea with the tubing, (its basically electronic masking tape). Also' my wife got me the soft shell heated jacket, so worth it, there's no such thing as a cold day wearing this in New England.
think you have is for clear tubing but the tubing your holding is not clear. where did you get the white tubing
Cool idea... question tho... why didnt you you just use pre-made led rope lights? We have them and are very bright
Do you think you could connect to trailer lighting with a similar setup?
Great Video! How long do you think that battery will last powering up one strip?
Great video. I have lots of Dewalt batteries including 6 amp hr. Definitely will try this.
Nice I wanna put led rgb strip lights in man cave where I don't have outlets. I was going to buy a amazon 5v to 12v converter to power them with a usb power bank, what do you think??
I already have 2 power banks laying around so I was thinking of using them to run two 15 ft rgb led strip lights?,
Use a 12v UBEC (eBay) and you can use pretty much any 12+ volt power source to work.
I use a 9v UBEC and a rechargeable battery to run my camcorder for 10+ hours.
There are plenty of 3rd party versions on Amazon.com, www.amazon.com/dp/B07HLW5FYG
How about a small solar panel to recharge in the field?
Thats a good idea. I'm not very knowledgable about solar power, so I'm not sure what it would take to get the job done.
It's a great idea but it quickly becomes overly complex. You'll want to use standard products from DeWalt for charging, since getting this wrong might damage the battery, make it explode, and what not. A DeWalt charger probably needs mains power (110 or 220) volt AC, so you'll have to convert the DC from the solar panel to AC for the charger input, and then the charger converts this back to DC for charging the battery... So unless there is a ready made solar charger for DeWalt batteries, you'll end up having to make a physical adapter for the battery, a charging circuit for charging correctly, maybe some kind of buffer (battery or capacitor) for a stable charging. And then the beautiful simplicity of this build is gone.
I like the way you think😎
I'm looking at a DeWalt battery powered project. Time and price, shipped to Canada deters me from the adapter so I'll likely improvise. Nice build and great presentation. Trust me, I know what it takes.
Thanks! Let me know what you come up with for an improvisation!
+Gunflint Designs - I just completed and uploaded it. I won't post a link as it's sometimes frowned on but simply check out the most recent video in my Gadgets playlist titled DeWalt automotive memory saver.
Gunflint Designs - Now all you need is a solar system to charge the batteries on site. Which light works better the clear or the diffused?
Good call! The diffused one is better. The lighting strip tends to turn a few corkscrews inside the tube, and those lights just shine in whatever direction they are pointing, so you look a lot pointing to the top of the tent. The diffused one seems to capture and redistribute more light evenly in all directions.
Thanks for your video
Awesome, gonna make some for my boat 👍
There are so many really good and cheap usb chargeable lanterns out there that stay lit for a long time which are easy to hang up and are ideal for camping. They are really inexpensive and contain a decent 18650 battery. They can also output usb in an emergency to power a phone if needed so they are both a light and a power bank. They can also switch to red light as an emergency light on the road. You probably spent as much or more on the materials for this than a fully built unit. Worth exploring.
I understood him to say he has multiple dewalt batteries and one last a night and half -- so he can take all of his batteries that last him a week then charge them all at once
Love your work bench!
superb idea...thanks for sharing with us
Dude that is a fantastic idea man
GREAT find. I do have one question regarding the discharge of the battery? Do these Dewalt batteries have a cutoff voltage so the pack is not damaged? these are lithium ion batteries that need a bms to keep them from being discharged to low to avoid damage to the cells. all these different battery adapters are popping up and seem very convenient to use for more than just power tools which makes great sense however if there is nothing keeping these batteries from getting damaged, then you will be very upset to find that your awesome DIY project is killing your expensive battery pack.
which was the best tube? transparent or matte?
i like the tent do you have a link for that?
I would suggest that using black or grey rtv silicon instead of black tape on the ends of the tubing.
Very cool video
I would love to see the inside of the DCB090 (USB only charger) compared to the inside of the DCB091 (USB +12v charger) and see if there is an easy way to add the female jack to the DCB090.
I've been wanting to make one of those stick man halloween costumes for years and use a Dewalt battery to power the LED's. This seems like the perfect solution at best, or an excellent starting point at worst.
Genius level . . .
which one did you end up liking the most? I have the same situation as you with a wall tent, also tired of carrying fuel and fragile lanterns :) so clear? or opaque?
Can you reduce the voltage to increase battery life and trade off brightness? Also adds dimming settings? Or does the strand require the full 12v?
I don't honestly know, that is more experimenting that I'll save for another day. I actually bought some in-line dimmer switches that would replace that clicker switch. On full brightness it was fine, but when dimming and limiting the power reaching the light strip, it actually made the battery start to scream.
Hey Gunflint. Could I use this power system on some standard 12v downlighters ? I have a cabin which I’m wiring the lights 12v
when you said you were camping I expected a normal tent not a mobile home, that looked huge.
If I'm out for a week at a time, I always take the big wall tent and live in luxury. If its a shorter trip, or too far away from the truck, then I'll take a more traditional smaller tent.
How much of your woodworking equipment do you take along?
You may have said or it been asked, but on average, how long did 1 battery provide power to the strip? Thanks & appreciate the info.
T = E/P, where :
T is time in hours (h)
P led power consumption in watts (W)
E battery total energy in Watt.hours (Wh)
What is my battery's energy ? E=U*Q where :
E is energy in Wh
U battery voltage in Volts (V)
Q battery capacity in Amper.hour (Ah)
You should take off ~20% of that result because you never want to use your battery fully from 100% to 0% (its lifetime would be greatly reduced).
For casual led and casual battery, the result should be like a few hours.
Are you up the gunflint trail I’m in grand Marais. Would like to meet up and have a chat about some other battery related off grid stuff if you’re around.
Really clever thanks, the dewalt site note says contact service department for availability lol
Where can I get adapter when I try to get into site says it's not secure
Dewalt does not make the N288459 inverter anymore, no mater where I went, I could not find one, Any ideas
Whats the link the hard tubing your using, i want to make led hoops, the soft wont work. Can you please share?
I'd be cool to see how bright they were in your trailer at night.
Nice project and very good idea. You made it look easy but I think you had to do your research.
Love it - the dewalt part is discontinued but you can put an affiliate link to an amazon product: LANMU Battery Adapter for Dewalt 18V/20V Lithium Ion Battery that will work with LEDs :)
How long do batteries last running a led step
Great little vid, thanks for the info and straightforward demo, much appreciated. Thanks
I'm glad you found it useful!
If youd had bought the brown jacket from dewalt in the winter time you could have used the jacket summer used the lights and then ordered a replacement usb block and had two and a jacket
What about using this connected to my car's 2nd battery?
Find an oem one in amazon now. Great idea!!
1:15 It does have enough power for many types of light strips. Any 5v USB plug/device that is plugged into it, needs to pull between 500mA and 2A to work right. Anything requiring more or less than that rating will NOT work properly (or at all) with this adapter. Also, the round 12v side outlet can only handle upto 2A, so be very careful about using long runs of LED strips (you could damage the adapter). Depending on the SMD LED's used for a particular light strip, it's min/max power requirements will vary with the footage of strip used. That's why you need to read the manual to see what the ratings are for each type of LED strip.
I wanted to add two rgb led strip ligjts to my man cave and power them with two power banks that I have laying around somewhere.
I was going to use this amazon 5v to 12 v adapter $7 and a female jack to conecte it to the 5v-12v adapter and solder it to the led lights?? What do you think??
Sweet! You sir are going to to go far
Well I was going to do this to power LED strips in my gun case that I want to put in but I can't seem to find the adapter. I see knockoffs but I don't trust that to not have a short and then cause problems.
What about the 5v led strips?
Hi, can you please let me know where you got the white vinyl tubing? I'd like to do something similar but I like the idea of the light being more evenly dispersed. Also, did you find the clear tubing emitted much brighter light or was it negligible?
After a little camping this spring and using them both, I like the smoky/white color better. It helps defuse and spread out the light.
I just got that stuff from my local hardware store.
Awesome idea!!
this could ba a great solution for lighting in the back of a van instead of wiring in
definitely , because a car's overall power IS 12 volt so you should be really good.
I wanna install this on my vacuum cleaner
Wow thank you.
Great tip for needing lighting for any situation. Just wondering....can you a different brand of battery? Also could you connect several tubes of lights together?
The crucial component, at least in my build, is the Dewalt battery adapter. I'm not sure if other companies make something similar or not.
At some point I plan on linking a few strings together to see how many it can power.
Gunflint Designs makita is building the same adapters for their batteries
Gunflint Designs the instructions for the strips will probably tell you how long these configurations can be. If you make them too long, they will need too much current, things will heat up in the tiny wiring, and your plastic tube might melt, or even catch fire(?)
@MrConminer
are u sure? as far as I know the makita version only provides two usb ports and not the extra power source he is using in the video!
Where did you bought those male and female adapters?
Your a generous my friend ! 😜 that would be killer for my Jon boat
Well, it's been a few months... which do you prefer- the clear or opaque tubing?
I honestly have't really used them since finishing the video. Camping season came to an end and I didn't have a need to break them out again.
Gunflint Designs
Can we do a test?
I'm kinda thinking that the opacity will make them more practical
... thoughts?
Looks like a possible business adventure there m8
every sight I went to said no longer available for dewalt adaptor. do you have a source for this n288459
Is there any way male to male connectors that I can buy? I don't know a thing about soldering. I don't really need a switch for the connector if that helps.
I'm sure it exists. If you just search for 12v male to male you could probably find what you need.
I just looked up the part number N288459 and it says part no longer available.
Do a quick video ,side by side on both lit up in the dark, so we can see brightness
Take some sand paper to the clear tubing
great DIY, thank you
Awesome Video -- I was thinking about purchasing 12 volt lithium batteries and some type of solar charger -- has anyone looked into that ? I would like it to run 5 meters led strip . charge enough during the day to run all night
hay buds great video,, ,i am wondering can you charge the battery though the female, coat jack//? i think one can,,trying to figer out a system that i can use on my plane, by the use of a 12v wind charger into the portable-DEWALT DCB119 Vehicle Battery Charger, that would power my USB,s and cigarette lighter plug in,,,,
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
You are very welcome!
Hey nice vid.. before i saw it i had already ordered a knock off from amazon ... reviews say it draws a charge and can kill a battery even if nothing is hooked up.. do you know if the dewalt is the same?
It should have come with an on/off button, like the USB adapters I have bought now. I think it might draw a charge. To be sure it doesn't kill the battery, remove the adapter when not in use.
For some reason the part number for the adapter is not working for me... I can't find it
It worked for me... servicenet.dewalt.com
Then put N288459 in the search bar.
@@GunflintDesigns i just checked it and it says no longer available
Nice idea. I was hoping you would show what the tent looks like with these lights running. I have a wall tent also and I'm trying to figure out some lights. Also, how much did all of this cost?
Can ya do a ryobi light coversion?
Is all I have 18 volt
Wanted to have an easier way to run lights onnmy wheelchair
You can buy a USB adapter for the Ryobi batteries too.
One of those small led cob pen lights can also give you good lighting, imo. The one I have spread the light almost 180 degrees. It runs on 3 AAA batteries. You can use rechargeable batteries in it, and maybe bring a couple of sets if you need to use it for an extended period of time. I put one of those pen lights on a carrier to bring what I need to and from a cabin in the woods, where there is no lights whatsoever. Works great for that purpose.
I did something similar to this using a USB led strip with my Milwaukee m12 power source but didn't have the same issue with it not working through the USB as the Dewalt did.
It's probably bc it's 12V, and not 18V or even 60V like some of the bigger sized batteries are. He said it didn't output "enough" but it probably was outputing to much.
One question and one comment: do the rope lights heat up? The comment is I would think adding a dimmer to your design would be a great addition. That way as it gets later in the night, you don't have to have full brightness.
I had that same question, so when I first started using them I monitored the temp pretty closely, but it never heated up.
We think a lot alike! I actually bought some in-line dimmer switches that would replace that clicker switch. On full brightness it was fine, but when dimming and limiting the power reaching the light strip, it actually made the battery start to scream. I'm not much of an electronics guy, but I'm guessing I would need some kind of a resistor to actually make that work well.