Camping Light

Welcome to my very first instructible.

Im going to be taking my family on our first ever camping trip, (which we are looking ford to), after looking at list of advised camping equipment, i started my hunt for the trip, but i could not find a light i wanted so being a big fan of instructable i thought this would be the perfect opportunity to enter a comp.

i wanted a remote control light, as im thinking its going to be dark ar night!! and i dont want to be walking into things,

i wanted it to be dimmable as well

and also 12v to 230v

Please know that i all ready made the light before i posted my instrucable sorry.

First off you need a place to work so i chose my shed. out the way, last time i used the kitchen girl friend was not happy. (the man cave)

Tools needed.

Soldering iron, and soldering wire,

Different screw drivers,

Hot glue gun and sticks,

Tester,

and what ever else you may need to use as i dont remember everything lol

Parts

LED kit and ir with remote from ebay (plus extra remote if needed)

One or two broken outdoor waterproof lights,

3 core cable and singles

plug top

wood or plastic

Dc adapter 12v

And way of joining lights together

So we have some what of a list of parts and tools but im pretty sure i've missed some, so please dont tell me off.

First off we are going to need the outdoor lights preparing for the new led's.

In my case take them down from the ceiling and rip out all the insides out and save for future use,

How i done my light was rip out all the insides and cut the ends off each light and join them together, for the top of the light using a thin strip of metal i drilled holes in the metal and the light cover riveted them together making a good sturdy joint, and for the bottom i used some wood covering the hole bottom of the base of the light scrwing the wood from the other side of the base, and used hot glue to cover the line down the now middle of the light and sanded down so its smooth

To help give some height to the LED's inside the light i used a old laptop screen cover as these have a sort tin foil glued to the inside of the cover to help keep the screen cool so this is a bonus for the LEDs.

After making sure it all fits together, i decided to spray the middle metal strip and base with some silver spray paint i had lying around to help finish it off.

For my next step i started fixing the LEDs strips to the back plate (laptop cover) i also used kapton tape along the end where the connections are to stop the contact between the connection and the LED cooling tin foil, soldering each connection keeping the

R - G - B and the +12v

constant, then after finishing the connections i put hot glue over the connections to give more insulation, on the strip of LEDs you get a 4 prong connection keep this on the and have it where you plan having the IR receiver, drill a hole where you plan to poke the IR receiver through, keep this hole close to your 4 prong connection to make life easier,

you should be ok to keep the IR inside the light if not then move to a safe place outside the light.

Find yourself a good 12v adapter i took mine apart and soldered on a DC adaptor that would fit the IR controller, and a new 3 core cable, 0.75 mm will be fine, i cut off the the earth as there is nothing to connect to as this will be classed as double insulated item, my adapter is 1.5 mA, look around on google for what mA adaptor yours should be,drill a little hole on the back to poke out the cable, i used orange cable so its easier to see and i had some laying around lol and then fixed a 3 amp plug top the cable, i also screwed a cable clamp down to stop the cable from being pulled out of the light, then i fixed the LED array to the light and connected it all up and then poked the IR through the hole, then made sure everything was securely fixed down then fix the top down.

Make sure to fix down the 12v block down so it dont rattle around.

Make some way of hanging your light in the tent, i used cable eyelets and crimped some orange rope in a cross to hang from, i also like this idea as it is usfull to hold the cable when not in use.

Test your light out, play about with your remote as the last thing you want is getting to your site and finding out your light don't work, try out all the colors as you never know if there are any loose connections or any soldering that's been missed.

So the idea for this instructable is that you can turn on the light in the middle of the night without having to try and find the switch or can be left on a dim setting all night for the kids, i hope you enjoyed reading my instructable, im going in for the comp so please vote for me, as i've said this is my first so please if you have any criticisms share them with me or any other steps i should add please tell me, try not to have a big party as there are many setting on this device to play with don't want to be chucked off site because of me.

Please be careful while making this project, as we all know that electricity can be very dangerous, ! 230v can kill !