For the electrical experts...Christmas Lights

S

southtj

Active member
I bought a short strand of Christmas lights at Lowes over the weekend that are powered by two size C (1.5v) batteries. I was going to put them in the front grill but it was too short (only 10 bulbs) and it said indoor use only. So, I strung them from sun visor to sun visor with the battery pack behind the drivers side visor. I think it looks pretty cool. :D

The question is, is there an easy way to convert this to 12 volt and just plug it into the cig lighter?
 

I dont know much, but I know you need something to step down the juice from your 12V if the lights are built to run on 1.5V. Where is Nick, he is the resident electrical guru.
 
judge09 said:
I dont know much, but I know you need something to step down the juice from your 12V if the lights are built to run on 1.5V. Where is Nick, he is the resident electrical guru.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought that might be the case. Because it uses two 1.5v batteries, does that mean it runs on 3 volts? I don't know alot about this electical stuff.
 

RE: Oil pressure sending unit (I think)

Just go to Raidoshack and get a 12 vdc to 3 vdc converter they probably have one that plugs into a cig. lighter. Cut the plug off the end, cut off the battery pack from the lights and but splice the wires together (polarity does not matter on lights)...
 
76cj7nola said:
Just go to Raidoshack and get a 12 vdc to 3 vdc converter they probably have one that plugs into a cig. lighter. Cut the plug off the end, cut off the battery pack from the lights and but splice the wires together (polarity does not matter on lights)...
Click to expand...

Luckily there is a Radio Shack just down the street. I did exactly what you said and it works like a charm. Thanks. Now I don't even have to turn them on, they just come on when the Jeep is on. It looks very Christmasy. My 2 1/2 year old loves it. :D Ok, I do to. :lol:
 
terrymason said:
http://www.noveltylights.com/auto_christmas_light.htm

Auto Christmas lights - $9.95 + $5.59 shipping

I just ordered, and will report back....
Click to expand...


At 10.99 for the radioshack adapter and 2.00 for the lights and probably 3 bucks for the batteries I bought, we're at about the same price. But I think the ones you ordered are twice as long. Let us know how they work.
 

Re: RE: Re: Good American Company?

Im new to the board but, if you take a normal set of christmas lights and put 5 bulbs in series they total about 12 volts with each bulb being about 2.5 volts, take (each set of 5 in series) and put them in parallel with eachother. I have 35 lights on a wreath on the back of my jeep and they look pretty good.
Just be sure to tape all of the connections.
 
Re: RE: Re: Good American Company?

84cj said:
Im new to the board but, if you take a normal set of christmas lights and put 5 bulbs in series they total about 12 volts with each bulb being about 2.5 volts, take (each set of 5 in series) and put them in parallel with eachother. I have 35 lights on a wreath on the back of my jeep and they look pretty good.
Just be sure to tape all of the connections.
Click to expand...

Well, welcome aboard!!!! A big hulk-hand, Jeepz, Jeep wave to ya!! Now, all of you puttin' these lights on.......HOW "BOUT SOME PICS!!! :lol: :lol:

Mudwoman has a wreath she puts on the front of l'il Red every year - last year we lit it up with those one of those battery operated sets - looks really cool! I'll see if I can find a pic.

Merry Christmas, all!!!

mud
 
Hi,

84cj said:
Im new to the board but, if you take a normal set of christmas lights and put 5 bulbs in series they total about 12 volts with each bulb being about 2.5 volts,
Click to expand...

You are right.

Regular mini lights are wired in SERIES. That is, in a normal set of 100 mini christmas lights, you have 50 lights with a voltage drop of about 2.4 volts each. Thus, 2.4v * 50 lights = 120 volts, which is normal household voltage, so the lamps work without being blown up. Then there are two circuits of these 50 lamp series strings hooked up in PARALLEL to make the 100 lamp set. Make sense?

The same is true for other size mini light sets, just with lamps that use slightly higher or lower voltages.

I DO put christmas lights on my Jeep (well, what did you expect!). However, I do it the "cheap" way. That is, I cut up an old 100 count light set and use two series strings of 6 lamps from it, hooked in parallel to a cigarette lighter type plug. Thus, I now have 12 lamps which are powered from the cigarette lighter and are taped up near the top of my windshield (with foil over the back of the lamps to keep them out of my eyes!).

Because a 12v power system is almost always 14 volts when the Jeep is running, 14.4v / 6 lamps = 2.4 volts per lamp, so they work just great and basically cost nothing. :p

I'll post a schematic soon....
I'm just glad to hear I'm not the only one who puts lights on my Jeep :mrgreen:

-Nick :!:
 

Hi,

I finally got around to drawing up a nice connection picture + schematic for using christmas lights in your Jeep .

I make mine out of 6-lamp strings of old/non-working light sets which I cut up. I wire them as shown below. Note that if you wire the lights this way you can use as many 6-lamp strings as you wish, just as long as each 6-lamp string is connected to +12 volts and ground, and uses 2 - 2.5 volt lamps. And yes, there are many other ways to achieve the same effect, but I've found this to be the cheapest and easiest :mrgreen:
Well... ok... buying battery operated light sets might be easier, but they certainly aren't as cool :p

image-missing.png


Hope that helps
-Nick :!:
 
I think I'm just gonna be lazy, and plug a regular strand in my inverter for the luggage rack... But then again, maybe not.
 
Hi,

Saurian said:
I think I'm just gonna be lazy, and plug a regular strand in my inverter
for the luggage rack... But then again, maybe not.
Click to expand...

Where's your sense of adventure? Playing with electricity is FUN, I promise :p

The only downside to most car inverters is they:
1) need to be INSIDE the Jeep so they don't get wet
2) Have fans and are thus noisy
3) much less efficient than going direct to 12 volts DC. Basically, there are efficientcy losses anytime you transform electricity (that is: step-up the voltage, step-down the voltage, going from DC to AC, etc..).

-Nick :!:
 

Mine's fanless, very quiet, but at the same time, it's only a 150 watt, sits perfectly on the bezel to the right of the shifter, looks like it belongs there. I have to get a pic of that, I have a 3 plug splitter on it, a grounding extension on the left, which accommodates my spruce wallflower (because even Jeep can smell better than musty), the center is laptop/whatever, and the right is my cell phone charger... And with the setup, I can exactly shift into drive without pestering it.

But I've gotta agree with ya, it would be more fun to wire something up in a strange and scary fashion. Time, now there's the issue... And I agree with Mud: HOW 'BOUT SOME PICS, everyone?
 
I just light a road flare and set it on the dash.
Bright red, its get everyones attention...



J/K
 
Hi,

I got some pictures of the x-mas lights on my Wrangler tonight. I was impressed that my digital camera did better in the dark than I though it would (though, it made all of the pics have an exaggerated reddish tone.)

(Click to enlarge):


As a note, I put tin foil behind the 6 lights on the driver's side of the windshield so the light is not distracting while driving, as I'd imagine white's road flare is :p

-Nick :!:
 

RE: Re: Here are some progress pics

Nice Nick. I like the colored lights.
 
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