LED lighting

[warden243]

I am what you would call an extream newbie when it comes to electronic circuits.But what i am trying to do is build a very bright outdoor light using led's.
this light will have a dark/light switch on it, a 12 volt gel cell battery and hopefully recharge using a solar panel. i can't seem to find a easy to build circuit. any help would be greatly appreciated.. The light purpose is for my wife
i need to install a light at the end of the drive way but don't want to run power that far.. Thanks...

 

[Andy1845c]

Well, it would be two seperate circuits. One for the solar charger and one will turn the leds on when its dark.

Google "Dark detecting circuit" or do a search here, there are 100's on the internet. Here is a super simple one I posted here a while back. Its simple and I don't know if it would be the best choice for your application as it is pretty crude. . Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories - A dark detecting circuit for your jack-o'-lantern

How many leds are you going to light? I think you will need a large solar panel to keep ahead of having a few small leds on all night. Those ready made solar garden lights only stay on part of the night, even with full sun all day. Will this be an issue?

 

[warden243]

no
i don't think it would be an issuse as long as it stays on 5 or 6 hours.
i was thinking of 5-10 super bright led's. Thank you for your time i found a few circuits search for the dark activated switch

 

[warden243]

LED Lamp
Bulb Size:T-1 3/4; LED Color:Red/Green; Luminous Intensity:25µcd; Viewing Angle:50°; Forward Current:10mA


Is this a Bright LED ? what is ucd

 

[charlie_r]

Standard 5mm LED used mainly as a panel indicator.

µcd is micro candela, a measurement of light. That one would be rather dim.

What you need is Luxeon 1W or 3W units, or a huge number of 10,000 mcd (millicd) 5mm.

 

[ShosMeister]

Please let us know your progress as this is something I was going to try. Don't forget the pictures

 

[Ubergeek63]

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you need to remember you need double the watt hours that you want to deliver to the LED available from the solar panel.