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1-02-06
Dear Hans,

Thanks for writing! I don’t know if your email has been responded to or not—my apologies either way.

I am not aware of a consumer-based product of this type. I expect that 2007 will bring many wonderful new designs since people have finally “discovered” LED lighting (we’ve been doing this for four or five years and just this year sales exploded).

I do not think you’ll find a 12v set with 75-100 bulbs. Most 12v sets have only 20 bulbs for some reason.

Finding animated LEDs was a challenge this year, and I could not find any animated 12v LED lights at all. I doubt they will be available in 2007, though I know I could sell them if they’d make them!

If you check out www.michaelbluejay.com or www.breskin.com, those guys have pages on their websites which explain how to make 12v light strings out of 120v light strings. I would imagine that it would be easy to wire in a flashing device, though I’m not a wiring guy.

You will also want to consider what type of blinking you want—do you want the whole string to blink on and off, or do you want random bulbs to blink, do you want them to twinkle, or do you want them to have a function controller such as chase, fade, blink, etc.

If you can’t find 12v lights to do what you need, you may be able to work with 120v light sets and run an inverter off a 12v battery. You will just need a dry and ventilated place to mount the inverter to protect it from the elements.

Oh, if you sign up for our free LED-Mail, we’ll keep you apprised of the newest things in LEDs! Details here: http://www.inirgee.com/Submission%20form.htm

12v LED light strings: http://www.inirgee.com/catalog/12-volt_515956_products.htm

120v twinkling LED light strings: http://www.inirgee.com/catalog/commercial_twinkling_558505_products.htm

I hope this gives you some direction. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Thanks for shopping at Inirgee! 

Sincerely,

Tom

G. Tom Tsao

www.WeAreLED.com

Thanks for writing! I’m glad to help you with emergency lighting. Many of our customers buy our lights exactly for this purpose. You have many options, and I’ll try to guide you with ideas, then you can decide what fits your purpose better.

12v dc lights—these are low-voltage lights used in track lighting. They can be wired to work directly off a 12v battery, rather than in a 120v ac fixture then through a transformer. Look here: http://www.inirgee.com/catalog/track___spot_lighting_-_mr16_base_364787_products.htm

12v light strings—I know you don’t like “foo-foo” Christmas lights, but these 12v strings are actually a nice option in emergency lighting. They give off enough light to get around with, and will work on a small 12v battery (you can fit the whole thing into a fanny pack for portability and storage—you have to modify the plug to do this but it’s five minutes’ work). You can also connect a few strings together end-to-end. White will be brightest, amber will cut through fog best (like foglamps on the car) and I suspect won’t attract bugs as much if you’re camping—but I don’t know for sure, and, according to the Survivalists, red won’t cause your eyes to adjust to the dark after turning them off. Look here: http://www.inirgee.com/catalog/12-volt_515956_products.htm

4.5 v dc battery-operated strings. These are probably my favorite for emergency lighting, and they are what I use at home and at the shop when the power goes out. They run on 3 AA batteries and will last for several days on Duracells. A little less with lesser brands, and for only about 20 hours on rechargeables. The bulb design on these lights results in particularly bright light. Look here: http://www.inirgee.com/catalog/battery_operated_547009_products.htm

As you know, LED lights are not as bright as incandescents, so if you wanted more light distributed around your house, I suggest going with 120v ac light strings and a deep cycle battery of perhaps 500 amp-hours or more. You would need to use an inverter, of course. You would not need an inverter with more than 400 watt rating (in fact, this is wayyyy plenty). Look here for photos of our trade show booth where we ran 2500 LED bulbs all day long on two such batteries and one inverter: http://www.inirgee.com/parade.htm.Look especially at the last two photos. Click to enlarge.

I mention the string lights because you can run them along walls and banisters and provide light over a greater area. For instance, we have a dark stairwell in the house we’re renting (a tornado removed our real house) and there’s something wrong with the fixture where the light doesn’t always work. So, we just ran two strings of LED lights and just leave them plugged in 24/7 (still going after about five months). We used a purple string and an amber string because they look pretty together and provide enough light for safe passage on the stairs.

We also use two other strings for constant lighting because in this house, they have one particularly long room which only has a light switch at the far end so having the light strings makes sure we don’t walk into the furniture after dark.

Any of our 120v ac light strings will work with an inverter. The deep-cycle batteries will work MUCH better than will a car battery.

If you wanted more light still, we do have 120v ac LED spot lights and festival lights which would also work off an inverter and would each provide the approximate light of a 20watt incandescent bulb. So, again, not reading-lamp bright, but will get you around the house safely. Look here for spotlamps (variable beam angle): http://www.inirgee.com/catalog/spot_lighting_-_edison_base__normal_screw-in__364788_products.htm

Look here for festival lights (180 degree fixed beam angle): http://www.inirgee.com/catalog/accent_lighting_-_edison__normal_screw-in__364789_products.htm

We have all popular base styles, even though the website does not show them.

Finally, don’t forget LED candles. These provide a little bit of light without the safety issues of live candles. The advantages being that they are probably the most portable of lights, and will run for about 20 hours on a single battery. They are also useful during other times—not just in power outages. We have both batt-op and rechargeable types. Look here: http://www.inirgee.com/catalog/unique_led_gifts___candles_490468_products.htm

OK, I know this is a really long response, but I’ve never been a fan of one-sentence answers. I hope this helps you in making the right decision. If you have other questions, please do contact me.