How to: Make standard 120v AC Christmas lights (not LED) work off of your car battery.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- This video will show you how to take a standard string of Christmas lights and make them work straight off of your cars power supply without needing a power inverter. These are the cheap old school Christmas lights (not LED) that range in price usually from about $3-5 dollars for a set of 100.
Yes, the LED versions are possible to do. However, they are significantly more complicated so you are on your own with that.
Great video. Thanks for the calculations. They make sense!
LED lights are cut every 5 to equal 12v so to make a longer string you have to run a a wire for the positive (+) and a wire for the negative (-). Then hook each cluster of 5 LED lights in parallel but in the way it looks like a string of lights. Also remove the plastic piece off the beginning of the string cuz that is the rectifier to convert AC to DC for each section of I think 60 LEDs.
Can you make a tutorial on this?
Sir thank you gonna do this for mood lighting for my go-kart
Excellent video.
So now how do you connect this to a 4 pin trailer connector?
Not LED, think wiring issue, changed all bulbs at time they will come on but very dim. I initially started the wiring sequence from the male end and was left with the last 10 dim lights then I started from that end doing what you did cuz I had left over wire. On the second set of bulbs though I already had wiring done for the following set so I assumed I cudnt make an additional attachment in that section....hope I didn’t confuse
could have, but they you can't do cool custom stuff like make them work in tandem with the vehicles lighting.
Michael Brady exactly! like that way you think.
Hi Michael, Thanks for the informative video! Would converting a LED strand of Christmas lights be a very different process? I am turning my van into a tiny house powered by solar/12v battery.
Converting the strand is the exact same process...... Now for the catch.....
Incandescent bulbs work regardless of current flow. LEDs on the other hand need current to be flowing in a certain direction to operate. When LED strands are connected to an AC power source, they are essentially turning on and off as the alternating current cycles back and forth (think 60 hertz). As soon as you try and connect to a DC power supply this is no longer the case.
Once you have completed the conversion, you will most likely find that EVERY OTHER 5 bulb set works. Reverse the polarity of your power source and you should find the pattern in reverse. You'll need to change the orientation of each bulb in every other set. The strands I have worked with will only allow the bulbs to be plugged into the socket one way. I found it easiest to actually push the metal tabs out of the socket with a jewelers screwdriver and then spin the housing 180 degrees then push the tabs back together.
Personally I thought this was way more trouble than it was ultimately worth. But the short answer is yes, you can do LEDs as well.
@@MchlChrstphr what metal tabs are you mentioning? Ik this is posted a while back but im not sure if you mean the actual bulb to be rotated?
@@skylinegtr2407 Since LEDs are polarity sensitive, you have to make sure they are all oriented correctly in relation to the DC current, otherwise they just won't light up. These strands are intended for AC current which alternates directions very fast, so polarity doesn't really matter since the current will be flowing in each direction for half of the time.
It's been a while but if I remember correctly the bulbs will only plug into their socket one way. I think I found it was actually easiest to rotate the socket itself (plastic piece attached to the wire) which basically requires pushing out the metal contact points (tabs) then reassembling them opposite where they came from.
To be honest LED strands were more trouble than they were worth, I just wanted to see if it could be done. They're also expensive to screw up compared to incandescent strands.
Hi! I am trying to convert my little 120v Halloween spiderweb lights into a battery operated set. There’s 20 bulbs and only 2 wires not 3 like you showed above. I understand battery operated and 12v car battery may look different but can you offer any help? I already cut the plug off and attempted to attach the 2 wires to my 8ct battery pack holder w/ positive and negative cords but did not have any luck. The AA batteries I have are 1.5v if that’s info you need. Any advice would be appreciated! I’m so sad now that I’ve cut the plug off. Thanks!!
Lot of unknowns. Are all 20 lights connected in series, parallel, or a combination of the two? If you do in fact only have two wires then it's only going to be one or the other. Also, are all 8 batteries in series, parallel, or a combination of the two. 8 AA batteries in parallel is still only going to be 1.5v but will last 8x longer than a single battery by itself. 8 AA batteries in series however will give you 12v (8x1.5).
Let's just assume for the moment that all 20 bulbs are in series. If they operate at 120v then is roughly 6 volts per bulb. If you take 4 AA batteries in parallel you will also have 6 volts. If you then hook up the remainder of the bulbs in parallel, then it should work, however the duration of time the batteries will hold decreases with each additional bulb.
If you're battery pack is in fact 12 volts (8 AA batteries in series), then try making individual series sets with 2 bulbs each, and then connect all those sets to one another in parallel.
Actually, without going completely down a deep rabbit hole as to why, I might try 3 bulb series sets instead of 2 at 12vDC. If it works but seems too dim then try 2 bulb sets.
@@MchlChrstphr thank you so much for replying! I don’t even know who I’d ask about this stuff and surprisingly cannot find any other similar videos.
I wish I could add pictures in this reply but I’ll try to explain. It looks like a spider web if it were in the corner of a doorway. Where it attaches to the plug there’s 2 cords but within the web there’s 2 cords plus 12 different cut ends of cords tied off throughout the web. As for the batteries they are in a series. Does this help at all? Sorry I’m useless lol
@@brianalouck8630 by cord I assume you mean I individual wires? (Sorry, when I think of a cord, I think of a cord assembly with multiple wires). There probably is only two wires coming from the plug, but what it does from there could be various things, and you might need to sacrifice and dissect one to understand exactly what's going on.
Truthfully I think an issue you're going to run into is the fact that these lights are arranged in a shape rather than a linear strand. I think you're going to run into a situation where you are almost going to have to reconfigure the whole thing, possibly adding a bunch of new wires to the point it may no longer look like you want it.
Depending on your application, you're probably better off just reattach the plug, and getting a 12v to 120v power inverter if you're trying to use it in a vehicle.
I originally did mine because of some crazy idea where I was trying to make a Christmas wreath work off a tow hitch plug for a certain effect (that video is on my page somewhere too), so using a single power inverter wasn't really and option.
@@MchlChrstphr yes I meant wire sorry. Yeah I think if it was linear I could figure it out but the shape is making it much more difficult. I was attempting to convert to batteries because my house is old and there’s no outlets anywhere near my entryway where I want to hang them. Even though it won’t work out for me, I appreciate all of the information!
I need help. I've done it three different times & I'm having mixed results and I can't find where I'm messing up. Either the first and last set of bulbs are working. Only the last set. Or nothing is working at all.
sdog300 you're just using standard incandescent strands like I have? not LED right?
How many amps do you need to run a converted set of 50?
I measured it once and it wasn't much but I honestly can't remember. I think it's only 1/2 amp at 120v so maybe 5 at 12v?
For those wondering, "why not just use a power inverter" (cough, cough, Steven), here is the end result of what I was set out to achieve.
th-cam.com/video/HUHvYOr4Us4/w-d-xo.html
i did the math for a 20 light set. and it doesn't seem right. making a light up wreath for the front. it's coming to 2 bulbs per splice. is this correct?
What type of lights are they? Are you trying to make a wreath with 20 lights? Or is the set you have, as it was manufactured, only have 20 lights?
Michael Brady manufactured 20 light set
anthony delgrosso assuming they manufactured in series then you need 2 volts per light bulb, so series sets of 2 for a 12 bolt battery. this ONLY works of they are manufactured in series though. If it's a parallel set then each bulbay in fact need 120volts. Can you post a link to what you're working with?
can you wire 2 sets wired the same way using more volts
The voltage necessary is determined by how many bulbs are in the series sets. I think I used 5 bulbs per set. If you used 10 bulbs per set then you would need about 24 volts.
Couldn't you have just bought an inverter for the car? Converts 12v dc to 120v ac...
Did mine...50 bulbs in set but bulbs 40-45 won’t come on
If you used LEDs, keep in mind they have a polarity on DC current. Otherwise you may have just mixed up a wire at some point and threw your pattern off. I've wasted a few strands that way. Lastly, if any one if the bulbs in a set of 5 is burned out, the rest of that set won't function since they are in series with each other.
how long will they stay lit?
Depends on the battery. I've only ever hooked it up to a car so I've never tested it.