70 amp charger cooking 12v LEDs?
Will using one of the upgraded 70amp Progressive Dynamics charger/converters fry my new 12v LEDs (unregulated version)? I've seen talk of leaving the old converter in place, deck mounting the new o...
Forum Discussion
DiskDoctr wrote:I had the same concern as you when I went to LEDs a few years ago.BFL13 wrote:
What is the scenario for having the LEDs on when your 12v system is at 14.8 ?????
You're right about *most* of the time, using the genny during the day.
But...I don't want to have a "cannot use lights while the generator is running...or while the camper is plugged in limitation.
If the higher voltage shortens the LED life by half, getting 5yrs vs 10 years is no big deal.
But if it *can* be done to keep the voltage in line, and is reasonable price, I'd like to look at that option.
One person here had done some testing at higher voltages, and noted that they got hot, and surmised that they would fail sooner.
So I decided to install voltage regulators on the circuits that I wanted LEDS on. 3 circuits needed the mod. I got the regulators on ebay dirt cheap... Less than 5.00 apiece. They work great. They do have a fairly low amp rating of 3-5 amps, so all lights on the circuit need to be LEDS in order to stay under that spec.
As a side note: I only installed LEDS on high use lights. Bedrooms and bathrooms don't see much use from us, so I didn't bother with them.
I later switched my outside lights over to LEDs. I did not bother installing a regulator on that circuit... So far, so good.
