Need LED advice.

[Anthony Welch]

I'm gonna build an outdoor-portable-hutch/prep stand to go with my new Weber grill
that is on it's way.

I'm wanting to engrave acrylic panels for the doors and valance. These will be lit w/LED
strips I plan on getting (the type that comes in a roll) from ebay. Also will be a 3-light
puck type lighting for the prep/table area and a "crook" neck light that can be pointed
to the grill itself and I'm incorporating a power strip into all this.

What I plan on doing is flipping a switch and all this turns on. The lights themselves
will be no problem as I've done this with my dust collector and air compressor.
What I don't know is what I need to get, to make the LED's tie in and work w/the
same switch.

I want this to be the "Lamborghini" of the grill prep stands. Sort of the hang-out
place everybody's at while the food is cookin'/bbqin'.

I promise pics' when complete.

Thanks!!

[Doug Lynch]

If you get the LEDs off ebay most (if not all) already have current limiting resistors built in on the strip and they are made to work with 12VDC. I assume that you will be using a small 12VDC power supply maybe a wall wart? Anyway just switch the 110VAC side of the power supply, that way you only use one switch for the 110V lamps and plugs and for the LEDs.

Doug

[Joel Ifill]

several ways to go about this, You could go for a small 12V DC power source as mentioned. You could then search all the Car/ Motorycyele etc type lighting applications as that would turn up bulbs, and connectors and more "premade" solutions, before you have to go out and solder/ crimp your own.

Nowadays they also make 120V LED bulbs with their own inline resistors or transformers built in, but it sounds like you want small.
Finally a lot of LED companies will make their own power supplies. I would take a look at:
www.digikey.com
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2Fps_specs.htm

Both sites have good reputations. There's a million more places where you can find LED's

[Larry Allred]

My local electronics shop has flat LED strips that can be used long or clipped into shorter sets. For 15 bucks you get an 18" strip in white or colors. They run on 12 vdc, like a wall wart. Doesn't need to be regulated. They're perfect for embedding in acrylic, take very little room and don't require fussing with resistors. The same thing retails for 70 in lighting stores, for much shorter lengths. Like Doug suggested, plug it into a power strip with the rest of your lighting and you have an easy one switch way to control it all.

Or if you want to get fancy, put together a 12v power supply in a box with a switch and LED, and run wire from that to each light fixture, providing they're all 12 vdc.