Gdetrailer wrote:
If it is turned off, should not be an issue while charging, however one would have to remember to make sure every one of these lights are turned off before turning on the charger.
You do have several options that may be better..
1 add a current limiting resistor, will drop brightness slightly, would need to do some work to determine the resistor wattage and resistance.
Ideally you would need to insert a ammeter capable of reading 2A or less to get the current draw at battery resting voltage. Then you calculate the voltage drop across the resistor needed (charge voltage - battery resisting voltage).
Divide current draw at resting voltage by the voltage drop the result is the resistance needed.
Example, 13.8V battery, 14.7V charge = .9V drop needed.
LEDs at 13.8V draw 100 ma (.1A)
Gives you resistance of .9 ohms (not common resistance in small wattage resistors would have to sub in 1 ohm)
power dissipated by resistor is .09W so a 1/4W-1/2W would be fine (common wattages)
Look up Ohms Law and Watts law..
2 add one or two diodes in series, each diode will drop .6V to .7V reducing the voltage and current to the LEDs. Doesn't require much work and should get the fixture to a safe voltage/current.
while this may solve the 14.7V problem, the LED's will likely be quite dim when the battery or charger goes to 13V, or even dimmer as the battery discharges to 12.4 or so.
And LED's for decent life over a variable input voltage range need to be driven by a constant current source to fix the brightness. Not any form of voltage source. LED junction voltage drops as temp rises, and if driven by a voltage source that results in a current increase, more junction voltage drop, more current..... then poof.
The best LED drivers actually use a pulsed current, LED's brightness is a non linear function of current, so higher current = much more brightness. so pulse the current and keep the RMS current to a good value= bright light, long life. Need to pulse the current fast enough not to cause visual flicker. but with the IC's available today not a problem.
all this doesn't come for free, that's why there are cheap LED lights and more expensive ones. You get what you pay for.
