Here you are Half-pint. Fortunately for you today is a very kaka day for fishing….so there was time to write this up. This is the fourth lamp I have made – learning new things each time.
COMPONENTS
- 1 meter of white 25mm PVC conduit
- 1 25mm PVC right angled elbow
- 1 PVC coupling (that fits over the conduit)
- 1 cone shaped dome lid PVC fitting
- 1 Dome lid gland
- 1 PVC box (you can use a socket box and a blank cover). The best is one that you can get from electronic component store – used to house electronic circuits
- PVC glue
- A press button switch of your choice
- 2 meters of electrical cord
- A 12 volt transformer – preferably one that fits into the PVC box
- Connector from transformer cable to the LEDs – see pics below
- 3 LED strips (30cm long with 18 LEDs each, they come in sections so 30 cm is the best)
- LED strip connectors
- Electrical terminal connector
- Double sided tape
- Some heat shrink
- Bolts nuts and washers
- Flat aluminium 40mm wide and 2mm thick
- Some large lead sinkers or other suitable weights
- Silicon sealer
- Fine grit sandpaper and Brasso
NOTES: Make sure that all components to be glued are PVC and not plastic. Plastic and PVC don’t bond with PVC glue. This is particularly important when you make the join between the vertical conduit and the stand box. So watch out when you buy components – not everything is PVC. Bear in mind that there is no adhesive that sticks PVC to aluminium! The stand box is important. The original lamp was made with a socket box. I found that its footprint was a little too small – and also was difficult to fit a transformer into it. When you have cut each piece of conduit, use fine sandpaper or steel wool and rub them down to take off all the manufacturers’ text. He rub down with Brasso to get a nice finish….if finish is a concern! STEP ONE- MAKING THE VERTICAL COMPONENTFirst smear the inside thread of the dome lid with PVC glue and screw in the gland. Don’t put glue on the thread of the gland because then the glue will squeeze out when you screw it in – making a mess. Leave to cure.[smg id=2944]
Look inside the coupling and you will see a little stopper ridge in the middle inside that prevents the coupling from going all the way down on the gland. File out that ridge to ensure that the coupling covers the whole gland and the protruding section of the dome lid and is flush.
Apply adhesive to the inside of the coupling and push it over the gland. Only apply the glue inside the coupling. If you apply glue to the screw on gland, excess glue will squeeze out the bottom and make a mess – I know from experience!
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Glue the vertical conduit (cut to your desired height) into the coupling on the dome lid – again, only glue the inside of the coupling and not the conduit so that the glue is squeezed into the dome section for less visible mess.
Drill a hole in inside of the elbow so that you can later pass your electrical cord through it. On the top end of the conduit, glue the elbow on making sure the elbow lines up exactly with the holes on the dome lid otherwise your lamp will stand skew.
You will now have the vertical section prepared
STEP TWO – PREPARING THE STAND BOXDrill holes on the stand box lid corresponding with the dome lid. Make sure that the holes are drilled across the length and not breadth of the lid. In the centre of the holes, drill a hole in the box lid large enough to provide free movement of the electrical cord that is later to be fed from the transformer up the vertical conduit and through the elbow hole to the LED strips.
It is best to offset the dome on the lid so that it is closer to one side of the box – this will increase the work space under the light. Bear in mind that later you will have to ensure that there is sufficient weight on the other end of the box to counterbalance the lamp so it does not topple.
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When you fit the dome lid to the box lid, also only use glue sparingly on the base of the dome lid, keeping it away from the edge– again, no glue squeezed out making a mess. When gluing, use the bolts and nuts as your clamp. I found that the box lid was a little too flexible, so I added an aluminium strip underneath the lid on the inside to give it more rigidity. This is why the holes for the dome lid should be drilled along the length, so that the supporting stripped can be bolted on with the dome lid. No glue will stick the strip to the base, so I relied only on the bolts used to attach the cone to the lid – works fine. I tried everything to glue PVC to aluminium – not possible!
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Drill a hole to fit the on/off press button – on the side where the electrical cord enters the box. Of course you will drill a hole where the cord will enter the box. Then install the switch. Before installing the switch, solder a single strand of cord on each pole for later connection – cover the pole and connection with heat shrink to ensure that there will be no short circuiting later. I also covered the connections with some silicon sealer for double security. Bear in mind that this switch will be live with 220v.
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Your box is now ready.
STEP THREE – HORIZONTAL SECTIONCut one length of aluminium strip 330mm long which will become the heatsink on which you will stick the LED strips. Also cut two pieces 35mm long which will become the base plates for attaching the heatsink later. Place the shorter pieces square with the end of the long piece in the vice and drill three holes as per the pic below. I used a 3mm drill to fit the bolts and nuts to be used. Use a centre punch to make sure that your drill does its work in the right spot. Bolt the pieces together and file the corners round for sake of appearance and also to ensure that nothing will snag on the corners in the final product – you can sand the edges to make them smooth. Repeat the process on the other end. Now disassemble but first mark each end so you know which one goes where when you put it all back together.
Cut a piece of conduit that will be as long as the long strip (heat sink) plus the section that will be glued into the elbow – ass a little more just in case. When you do the final assembly, you can then saw off the excess, if any.
Put the end of the conduit into the elbow and place the long strip onto that so that it lies snugly against the lip of the elbow. Through the centre holes drilled in the strip, mark the position of where you will drill the holes in the conduit. Drill the holes and then bolt the short pieces on to the conduit. Make sure that the holes are drilled in the same place so that when you bolt the short pieces on, they lie flat and square on a level surface. It is advisable to put some glue on the thread of the bolts so that they never come loose once the light is assembled. Once assembled, you will not have access to these nuts again. How to bolt it…
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Take the long piece and drill the centre hole larger so that the bolt head that attaches the base plate to the conduit fits snugly. This will allow the base plate and heat sink to be bolted together closely. This is how the final assembly will look – note how the bolts placement should look
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Next, take the conduit with the base plates bolted on and fit it into the elbow – make sure that it is level, mark the position of the elbow and conduit with a pencil. Remove and smear glue inside the elbow and insert the conduit making sure that you line up your level marks. Leave to cure.
Now the horizontal assembly is done - in the finished product it will look like this
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STEP FOUR – LAYING DOWN THE LED STRIPSThis part gets a bit finicky!
Make sure that you buy good quality LED strips that are replaceable – the original ones I used are no longer available. However, the strips do not come with a cover or heat sink. Apparently you can get covers, heatsinks and end pieces and make your own – but I did not bother because they would have to be ordered from Johannesburg. I also thought that, by adding an extra LED strip for more light, the bulk and weight of the horizontal part of the lamp would be increased if I used the heatsink and covers. Also, three of the strips with heat sinks and covers would make the lamp section wider.
First sand the aluminium heat sink/LED holder so that the surface is slightly etched to assist with the sticking on of the LED strips and the LED clip connectors. Clean all residues on the aluminium with acetone or other degreaser. Aluminium apparently oxidises fast and this is what causes adhesives not to stick – I read that acetone is the best to ensure that you remove the oxidised layer.
Cut the wires from the strip connectors to the length needed from the strip connectors to the electrical terminal connector …..Like this picture below of the final product. Solder the three positives together and the same with the negatives. Position the strip connectors on the heatsink and mark. Then take double sided tape and stick them on like this.
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I could find no adhesive that sticks to aluminium. I tried contact glue, epoxy, glue gun, etc. The strips come with their own adhesive which does stick to aluminium. However, I could not stick the LED clip connectors on the aluminium until I used this expensive stuff. Worked perfectly…and it’s thin. I am sure I will find a use for the rest of it over time.
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Once the clip connectors are placed and stuck down, clip in the LED strips (the clips are very easy to use) and, starting from the loose end, remove the backing. When you have peeled off the backing, stick the strips down on the aluminium heatsink starting from the clip connectors. Remember, you only have one chance here! Once the strip is stuck down, it is not easy to take them off to correct any mistakes you may have made. So make sure you do it right first time
You will now have the heatsink with clips and LED strips attached and wires soldered and ready for the next step
STEP FIVE – WIRING UPTake your transformer and fit it into the stand box. This may take a bit of effort, I had to cut some of the excess rubber protection sections off where the wires go into it. However, you may find a transformer that fits exactly. Not all transformers are the same. I got the latest one from A1 Radio in Durban. The transformer has to deliver a consistent 12v at all time – speak to your electronics shop about this. DON’T BUY THE CHEAP CHINESE ONES FROM MICA - ABSOLUTE RUBBISH – I have tried two so far and both have failed. You can use an external transformer, but then you lose the ability to just leave the lamp plugged in. With an internal transformer you can switch the 220v off on the lamp.
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The wiring diagram is as follows:
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From the cord that will lead to the 220 power point, take the live and connect it to one strand of cord that you soldered on to the switch earlier on (see above) and then connect this to the live wire going into the transformer. The transformer live wire should be red. Take the neutral wire from the cord directly from the plug point and connect it directly to the neural wire that goes into the transformer. For these connections I soldered them and covered them with heat shrink to ensure that they were insulated.
Thread a piece of electrical cord up the vertical through the dome lid and then through the elbow. On the bottom end below the dome lid, strip the cord sand solder on the transformer connector. Strip and solder the upper ends at the elbow and connect to the terminal connector. It is important to keep track of the positive and negative otherwise you could damage the LEDs. This means you should know which the positive and negative coming from the transformer is – use a volt meter to make sure.
To further explain the above, it is best to make use of connectors rather than solder the wires in two places – this facilitates any repairs that you may have to make in future. On the horizontal so that each LED strip can be removed individually, I used a plain old terminal connector. I used double sided tape to keep it in place – I did not have a self-tapping screw handy that had a head small enough – it would have been a better option.
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Between the transformer and the terminal connector I used this one below. Using this connector, I also did not have to fiddle with the transformer lead that delivers the 12v to the strips.
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Now bolt the LED strip and heat sink assembly onto the base plates with the 4 bolts one on each corner, then connect the positives and negatives in correct polarity on the terminal connector at the elbow.
Check your circuits and when you are sure everything is right, switch on the see if it works.
The electrics are now done!
FINAL STEPS - In the remaining space in the box stand, place lead sinkers (or any other suitable weights) using silicon sealer to keep them in place. Make sure that you put in enough so that the lamp will stand in a stable manner. Bear in mind that, because of the offset of the dome lid and the cantilever effect of the horizontal section, you must ensure that you place sufficient weight on the switch side.
Then make sure all connections are done – and close up the box. Under the box stick four nonslip silicone buttons that you can find in any hardware shop. Not sure what they are called exactly
To close off the end piece of the horizontal conduit that holds the strips, I added a piece of cork and coated it with clear nail varnish……now I feel that the lamp is more environmentally friendly – using a recycled wine cork (just a quirky thing on my part!). Also looks prettier
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