Using 12v LED strips with a 52v battery.

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bentstrider83

10 mW
Joined
Dec 13, 2014
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27
Location
Clovis NM
I've been checking around and haven't found a similar thread. But I want to make sure I'm doing it right before I cut some strips up. I was about to use a 60v to 12v stepdown converter I had. But the LED strips were pulsating.
So now, I'm thinking about cutting a long strip of LED down into a four, 1' pieces and wiring them in sequence to possibly make them 48v?
Is this doable? I'm not a pro electrician by any means and just want to use some material already around the house.
 
I once ran a 12V led strip with 12.9VDC and it died instantly. A 52V Battery is 58.8V at full charge, so you would need 5 LED strips in series.
 
This is doable if all strips is the same lengt.

I think there is 40-60V led strips you could buy ?
 
As others have said, yes, that approach will work. That said, I use a 12v convertor to run my LED strips. This makes a lot of sense since I also run a 12v headlight and a 12V (cigarette lighter) accessory plug. There is no obviously visible pulsing.
 
Ya i would use a 12v dc converter or simply use the 120v to 12vdc wall plug that came with the led ribbon and power the input with your battery. Putting the ribbon in series seems really complex and silly nevermind the ribbon is likely only 12v or 24v rated. They do now have 120v ac ribbon not that it would help in this situation.
 
I run a 16.4v full 4s lighting pack, and the various "12v" led strips and units all run off that ok, though they are pretty warm. ;) They're significantly brighter than at just 12v (though their lifespan is probably reduced, I doubt it will matter).

On CrazyBike2, there's a 15v converter running off my 14s (58v full) traction battery, that runs all the LED strips and other lights (except for the car headlight, which runs directly off another 4s pack).

I haven't tried seriesing strips, but there's not much reason it wouldn't work.
 
wturber said:
As others have said, yes, that approach will work. That said, I use a 12v convertor to run my LED strips. This makes a lot of sense since I also run a 12v headlight and a 12V (cigarette lighter) accessory plug. There is no obviously visible pulsing.
Click to expand...

Does it depend on the brand of the converter? I got one of these...buck regulator.jpg
 
bentstrider83 said:
wturber said:
As others have said, yes, that approach will work. That said, I use a 12v convertor to run my LED strips. This makes a lot of sense since I also run a 12v headlight and a 12V (cigarette lighter) accessory plug. There is no obviously visible pulsing.
Click to expand...

Does it depend on the brand of the converter? I got one of these...buck regulator.jpg
Click to expand...
That looks just like mine. Have you put a voltmeter on the output? Have you hooked the LED strips up to a different 12v source? Something doesn't seem right.

And to be clear, many LEDs are powered through a flasher circuit of some kind that controls their brightness and reduces power drain. Even the ones that look steady are actually not. If you turn your head quickly back and forth while looking at them, you will see a a series of discrete red spots rather than a smooth blur. Many auto LED taillights are powered in this way. So if that subtle flashing is what you are seeing, then be aware that this may very well be built into the LED electronics of your strips. The cheap-o strips I used don't use a flasher circuit. But some might.
 
I use 12V lED strip lighting on my bike too. At first, I tapped into 3 cells on the battery pack to get the necessary voltage to run them. This worked, but I worried about unbalancing the pack. I now run this lighting from a separate 3 cell lipo pack, not too bad a chore to charge the lighting pack separately.
 
wturber said:
bentstrider83 said:
wturber said:
As others have said, yes, that approach will work. That said, I use a 12v convertor to run my LED strips. This makes a lot of sense since I also run a 12v headlight and a 12V (cigarette lighter) accessory plug. There is no obviously visible pulsing.
Click to expand...

Does it depend on the brand of the converter? I got one of these...buck regulator.jpg
Click to expand...
That looks just like mine. Have you put a voltmeter on the output? Have you hooked the LED strips up to a different 12v source? Something doesn't seem right.

And to be clear, many LEDs are powered through a flasher circuit of some kind that controls their brightness and reduces power drain. Even the ones that look steady are actually not. If you turn your head quickly back and forth while looking at them, you will see a a series of discrete red spots rather than a smooth blur. Many auto LED taillights are powered in this way. So if that subtle flashing is what you are seeing, then be aware that this may very well be built into the LED electronics of your strips. The cheap-o strips I used don't use a flasher circuit. But some might.
Click to expand...

These LED's work just fine when I hook them up to a regular 12v battery of any type. I'm just trying to reduce the amount of batteries carried on the bike and run everything off of the 52v/13.5AmpH pack I have for my Bafang BBS02.
Only when I have them hooked to the converter, when the converter's hooked to the 52v, do they flicker like a bug zapper. I also have yet to hook them up to a voltmeter of any type. Never thought I'd have to get this thorough when wanting to add a little more lighting than just the front/rear combo.
 
Bobw said:
I use 12V lED strip lighting on my bike too. At first, I tapped into 3 cells on the battery pack to get the necessary voltage to run them. This worked, but I worried about unbalancing the pack. I now run this lighting from a separate 3 cell lipo pack, not too bad a chore to charge the lighting pack separately.
Click to expand...

I do this as well, but as I mentioned, I'm just trying to reduce the amount of batteries carried on board.
 
bentstrider83 said:
These LED's work just fine when I hook them up to a regular 12v battery of any type. I'm just trying to reduce the amount of batteries carried on the bike and run everything off of the 52v/13.5AmpH pack I have for my Bafang BBS02.
Only when I have them hooked to the converter, when the converter's hooked to the 52v, do they flicker like a bug zapper. I also have yet to hook them up to a voltmeter of any type. Never thought I'd have to get this thorough when wanting to add a little more lighting than just the front/rear combo.
Click to expand...

The idea was to hook the converter to the voltmeter. But if the flicker is too fast, the voltmeter will probably just average it out. Sounds to me like the problems is in the converter. So you can either replace that, or do the series connection and you should be fine I'd think.
 
Is your lighting the multicolor/color-changing kind, that uses a remote controllable driver box? If so, that part may not be compatible with a noisy PWM power supply.
 
A stepdown converter should work fine if it is properly rated. Yours might not be rated for the load applied. Adding a bigger capacitor on the 12v output won't hurt either.
 
fechter said:
A stepdown converter should work fine if it is properly rated. Yours might not be rated for the load applied. Adding a bigger capacitor on the 12v output won't hurt either.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but LED strips like these have a pretty tiny load.
 
Some of the cheap dc-dc converters have a tiny output rating or may just be defective. I've had plenty of the die or not come close to the advertised rating.
 
It's also possible that if there isn't *enough* load on the converter, it may have an unstable output, if it's poorly designed.
 
Well, I caved and decided to just use one of my 12 volts that still had enough juice and charge capacity. Hooked up some extra LED's along the downtube and rewired a red strip LED onto the rear rack lip. Not originally what I wanted, but I'll still be able to light up the night for some time with this.
 
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