Robust Enclosure for LED light

In my previous post I discussed about PVC pipes enclosing electronics.

Here is an example of a painted PVC enclosure consisting of 2 end caps

Based on the size of the electronics to enclose, one could experiment with the size of PVC pipe. Here I have used 63 cm wide PVC with end caps spray painted black.

They are the perfect DIY solution to weatherproof your electronics.

Even a Resort in Coorg agreed with me 🙂

Yes, the lights that you see are all supported by PVC Pipes 🙂 and they are not painted and look great.. I have zoomed one for you below

And no they are not temporary solutions, the base foundation is on concrete mixture, made to last the life of PVC pipe

This made me wonder, okay, for electronics we have the the perfect enclosure, but what about an LED light I would like to weatherproof?

The PVC end cap seems to perfectly fit a round LED panel. As seen below

Fitment is one thing, but protecting from the elements of nature– tough, when I want light to emanate from an opaque PVC pipe 🙂

I knew I needed something to be transparent and also kind of weather proof. I searched google for transparent PVC pipe, and found that its a thing!! However the price of a transparent one is about 4 times as expensive and less common in the hardware shops.

That’s when it dawned on me that I could use a test tube that we used in chemistry lab for enclosing the LEDs 🙂 . 4V LED strips are kind of available inexpensively and would easily fit into the test tube. Lets combine Electricity with chemistry:)

I quickly searched amazon and found plastic test tubes. Perfect even for a single Li ion battery powered LEDs. An elegant solution

Here are few snapshots of few solutions for the same

On further exploring the idea, it struck me that one could use 20 INR used Mountain dew(soft drink) bottle for the same 🙂

The following are the sub steps involved in making the above Assembled LED light

• Firstly drill the end cap with a drill machine to allow perfect fit of PG7 IP68 Gland

• Secondly create filament type surround lighting using 4 V Led Strips soldered together on a single side perf board as seen in the below video

• Thirdly Solder and assemble and connect to a power source outputting 4 V 3W. Here is the assembled version of the same

Here is me making a filament type surround lighting using 4 V Led Strips soldered together on a single side perf board.

One added benefit to the greenish yellow tint of the above used soft drink bottle is a warmer glow to cool white LEDs.

This is an extremely rugged and low cost lighting solution and I plan to use them to my upcoming camping expeditions coupled with a rugged solar powered lithium battery charging solution.

please let me know how important are following features in a portable LED light

These would help me prioritize development of the same

Stay tuned for the rugged Low cost DIY Solar Li ion Charging solution!!!