Thread: CARAVAN LIGHTS

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

What is HDPE pipe.

High Density PolyEthylene. Any colour you like, try a plastics supplier?

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

What is HDPE pipe. I googled it and all I could find was a black pipe that I think is what we call poly pipe, which makes me think that is what the "P" in HDPE stands for.

So am I correct and if so where do I find clear stuff. Would love some pics.

Dave.

Originally Posted by bee utey

High Density PolyEthylene. Any colour you like, try a plastics supplier?

Yes, the HDPE was flat sheets about 1 cm thick, a bit like a kitchen cutting board. I used some offcuts of it to make plates needed to fit air bags inside my coils. Nothing to do with LEDs. I only mentioned it because I had found that company when I was looking for the HDPE for the air bag plates and assumed they would be a good place to start looking for clear tube.

The place I bought from was Fairlite Plastics, but that doesn't help you much because they are in Gosford. However, they are like a lot of other companies that sell all sorts of different plastics; flat sheets, solid rods, tubes etc. A lot of industrial areas would have similar companies.

They had several sizes of rigid, clear tube. As I said, the size tube I bought was a perfect fit for that LED strip with the rigid backing still attached.

There may be some LED strips available that already have some sort of covering. I just wanted to be able to set it up just the way I wanted. In a lot of applications, there would be no need at all for the tube. In my case I wanted it to be pretty rugged. In a caravan, you could just slip the circuit board with the LEDs out, screw the mounting strip in place and then slip the circuit board back in.

Originally Posted by vnx205

There may be some LED strips available that already have some sort of covering. I just wanted to be able to set it up just the way I wanted. In a lot of applications, there would be no need at all for the tube. In my case I wanted it to be pretty rugged. In a caravan, you could just slip the circuit board with the LEDs out, screw the mounting strip in place and then slip the circuit board back in.

I was thinking for cleaning. I want to put under cupboard above sink which is beside the stove. I am sure it will get cooking grime and would be hard to clean. In a tube it would be easy.

Dave.

Some of those led strips come in a flexible plastic waterproff sleeve, like this one for under $10:

1M WaterProof 3528 SMD Warm White LED Strip 60p LEDs | eBay

That is a good point about the cleaning.

I chose the strip I did instead of the one bee utey linked to because I thought 72 LEDs in 500mm suited me better than 60 LEDs in 1 metre. I also thought the acrylic tube might be clearer than whatever plastic was used in that flexible one. I didn't want the light diminished by translucent rather than transparent plastic. I also wanted to be able to set it up so that it didn't have cables permanently attached. I had the idea that they might be vulnerable as the light would be handled a lot, so I wanted a socket fitted to plug into. That wouldn't be a problem in a caravan

There seem to be a lot of LED light strips about now. Maybe with a bit of searching, you could find something that would be better in the caravan. I'm still convinced that my choice is the best one for my camper, but it might not b exactly what you need.

These photos might help. They are, in order:
1 The whole 500mm strip.
2 The neat end (apart from the glue that I forgot to clean off). You might get an idea of the clarity of the acrylic tube from this shot.
3 The less neat end because I forgot the length of the strip when I bought the tube.
4 Comparison with a 240 volt globe which I expect is 60 or 75 watts. The car interior light is on but doesn't register. The illuminated roof above the LEDs is probably between 1.8 and 2 metres above the LEDs. I know the shot is dark. That is what happens when the camera can see the light source. It is the difference between the light cast by the 240 volt globe and the LEDs that is important.
5 Another comparison. Notice the LEDs cast a shadow on the wall that is already lit by the 240 volt globe even though the LEDs are about the same distance from the wall as the overhead 240 volt globe.

The LEDs are pretty bright.