12 volt solar kitchen light Bright light/night light

Hello new old guy here, I build most of my solar accessory's this is one of them

I have looked and I can't find a place that sells 12 volt light fixtures for the home.

The 12 volt LED light bulbs are to big for standard fixtures so I took the LED board out and installed it I my own fixture.

The bulb in the center is a small led for automotive use it's very dim (194 replacement bulb)

A three way switch was used so ether the night light or the bright light can be used independently

 

That's a cool idea. Any more, LEDs are the way to go if you're on an energy budget. I bought a travel trailer a couple years ago for use at my BOL until we get something built. There is no such thing as commercial power available, so it's either solar, or flashlights and candles. Solar means energy budget unless you're uber rich.

First thing? Pulled all those incandescent bulbs and replace with LEDs! After checking the current draw on the typical #1141 incandescent and comparing it to an equivalent light output LED, I found that I could operate almost 5 LED towers on the same current draw.

 

Just for your info, almost all RV dealers has selections of 12VDC light fixtures including LED ones. Also RV supplies/light fixtures etc on a search online will find several sources as well. Very nice job on converting your fixture.

 

yea, I found the same thing, Where as incandescent pulls 60 - 70 watts this light only pulls about 9 watts.
They call this a 12 watt bulb but doesn't pull that much. So yea about 5 to 1
What is a LED tower? The things I'm using look like a regular bulb only a little bigger around.

I used one of these bulbs in an out side security light that I switched over to 12 volts
runs on a car battery and a 100 watt solar panel with a photocell to turn it off and on.
It's really bright for only using 9 watts it's still in the experimental stage but seems to
work well I can do a post on it if anyone is interested.

Yes that's a good idea. It's just that I wanted a light fixture that looked like a regular light like what I'm use to.
And even using all new stuff only have about $17 in this light (including the fixture)

 

Even switching from low voltage CFL, to LEDs, will be considerable savings on power usage.

Thanks for sharing your project with us. And, welcome to the Tree.

 

This is how I do it. Of course I am on 12 volts so I just pick up regular fixtures and wire them in the 12 volt circuit. I started years ago with quartz bulbs ,LED was not available yet .
Friends give me all their old used/burned out incandescent light bulbs and I bring them back to life .

 

Good ideas all. My local Menards sells 12v LED's that go in conventional sized fixtures. Another option (someone already mentioned RV dealers) is boat dealers (as well as Amazon and Wally World boat/RV supplies). They generally have a good selection of both LED's and 12v fixtures.

 

Here in Cambodia, 12vdc LED lamps, fans and other appliances, etc., are commonplace. Many people will run small solar arrays, or just a battery they take every few days and have charged.

In many areas of the country, mains power still is not available. We have only had mains power here (~18 miles outside Battambang) since March of 2016. Our connection is, believe it or not, 32 ampere service. This is 230vac / 50hz, depending on the time of day, of course.

 

I buy standard E6 12v bulbs on amazon or if it some weird bulb I make my own sometimes. These are 2 recessed 12v RV lights I modified to fit in my porch light and run off 24v.

 

These are those same 12v RV recessed lights from my previous post, I got them from ebay for $2 each and put them in our house. I don't think the company is in business anymore but I bought about 10 extra for the future. I have never had one fail other than a couple I deliberately over powered to make sure they would not catch fire or anything weird.