Fitting LED Strip lights in Van

[Iron Giant]

Well I have only met @Iron Giant and I can confirm most of the time he is wasted

Once upon a time maybe, not these days getting as old as you or at least feel 12 years older than I am ?

 

[Iron Giant]

What Is Dew Point?

Learn what dew point is in meteorology. See its use in weather and predicting human comfort. Learn how it relates to humidity and pressure.

sciencenotes.org

I thought everyone knew the difference from Dew point and condensation. ?

From what I read in this article it's got bugger all to do with the issues caused inside a window cleaning van, toward the end of this Summer I had moisture on the van roof before I insulated the overnight temp wasn't that cold, our vans roofs are very thin so that cold damp air will react with the small amount of moisture and difference in temperature inside the van it's got nowt really do with the article you posted or about cavities in a house because the inside of window cleaning vans are almost like their own microclimate but then so are peoples cars they only get the windscreen fogging up because their interiors are insulated,

Your van roof and everyone elses' will be laden with moisture throughout the cooler months hot water system or not, prevention is better otherwise other issues will develop like freezing equipment as we go into the winter and mould.

 

[Deleted member 12462]

Just bought the same lights as ched, very bright. I have volt meters set up for both batteries and the one I have the led lights on is dropping from 12.6 to 12.3 when I switch them on seems a bit high of a drop to me. Just wired a switch in so that there not on constant and just when it's dark.

 

[ched999uk]

Just bought the same lights as ched, very bright. I have volt meters set up for both batteries and the one I have the led lights on is dropping from 12.6 to 12.3 when I switch them on seems a bit high of a drop to me. Just wired a switch in so that there not on constant and just when it's dark.

That's very interesting, thanks for posting that. The 5m strip is about 18watts I think so 1.5 amps draw from battery.

Mine are wired to the rear interior light so come on and off automatically when I open any of the rear doors, they can be switched off from the interior light.
I was going to test my leisure battery this weekend as I had noticed that the voltage was a little lower than normal at the end of a day. I hadn't even thought about the led's current draw till you mentioned it! Normally my battery is 12.5v at the end of the day (not rested) when I check via controller before powering it off at the end of the last job of the day. This week it's been 12.3v or 12.2v, hence I was going to do some testing today but now you have mentioned you have a lower battery voltage it might just be that.
Then again I have had my leisure battery for 20months and it was in the van when I bought it, it had sat for 6 months doing nothing at a garage, plus how ever long before that it had been in use, it could be about 3 years old as that's how old the system is I think.

I will check and test all the connections today just to make sure there isn't an issue. Cheers

 

[Deleted member 12462]

That's very interesting, thanks for posting that. The 5m strip is about 18watts I think so 1.5 amps draw from battery.

Mine are wired to the rear interior light so come on and off automatically when I open any of the rear doors, they can be switched off from the interior light.
I was going to test my leisure battery this weekend as I had noticed that the voltage was a little lower than normal at the end of a day. I hadn't even thought about the led's current draw till you mentioned it! Normally my battery is 12.5v at the end of the day (not rested) when I check via controller before powering it off at the end of the last job of the day. This week it's been 12.3v or 12.2v, hence I was going to do some testing today but now you have mentioned you have a lower battery voltage it might just be that.
Then again I have had my leisure battery for 20months and it was in the van when I bought it, it had sat for 6 months doing nothing at a garage, plus how ever long before that it had been in use, it could be about 3 years old as that's how old the system is I think.

I will check and test all the connections today just to make sure there isn't an issue. Cheers

So I've been charging both leisure battery's today I left the led on the battery I wasn't charging it dropped again but stayed at 12.3 v for four hours I then turned it off and it has gone back to 12.5 v so it could just be the Chinese volt meters I've got there only to give a rough idea.

 

[ched999uk]

So I've been charging both leisure battery's today I left the led on the battery I wasn't charging it dropped again but stayed at 12.3 v for four hours I then turned it off and it has gone back to 12.5 v so it could just be the Chinese volt meters I've got there only to give a rough idea.

Thankyou for posting about your voltage drop it has helped me no end!!!!!!!
I have just been out testing stuff in the van and found my problem! Last week I had a fuse trip in the garage but didn't know what had caused the problem. I reset the trip and it was all fine, so I stupidly thought it must have been a nuisance trip!

So during my testing today the voltage was 12.3v with leds on or off, didn't make much difference. So I plugged in my battery charger and the voltage didn't change - strange I thought! So on further investigation my Numax 10A fit and forget battery charger has failed! No light on it nothing - so I guess I know what caused the fuse to trip! Just checked and it's just a 1 year guarantee, so I need a new charger!

So this could have caused me a bit problem this week, I thought my battery might have been failing but no it was the charger that had failed!
So thanks @marlowswindows for mentioning his voltage drop.

Morale of the story, if battery voltage looks different to normal check the whole system! Alternatively if the circuit board trips find out why!!!

 

[Deleted member 12462]

I only have the voltage resders in the van to one see that split charger works and to make sure I'm never running below 12.1 link of item below

Amazon volt meter

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Thankyou for posting about your voltage drop it has helped me no end!!!!!!!
I have just been out testing stuff in the van and found my problem! Last week I had a fuse trip in the garage but didn't know what had caused the problem. I reset the trip and it was all fine, so I stupidly thought it must have been a nuisance trip!

So during my testing today the voltage was 12.3v with leds on or off, didn't make much difference. So I plugged in my battery charger and the voltage didn't change - strange I thought! So on further investigation my Numax 10A fit and forget battery charger has failed! No light on it nothing - so I guess I know what caused the fuse to trip! Just checked and it's just a 1 year guarantee, so I need a new charger!

So this could have caused me a bit problem this week, I thought my battery might have been failing but no it was the charger that had failed!
So thanks @marlowswindows for mentioning his voltage drop.

Morale of the story, if battery voltage looks different to normal check the whole system! Alternatively if the circuit board trips find out why!!!

We usually buy a 20a battery charger, don't know why though.

 

[ched999uk]

We usually buy a 20a battery charger, don't know why though.

Probably as you have 2 batteries I think? You normally should charge at a max of 10% of the Amp Hours capacity, so 220AH = 20 Amp charge.

 

[Iron Giant]

Probably as you have 2 batteries I think? You normally should charge at a max of 10% of the Amp Hours capacity, so 220AH = 20 Amp charge.

Interesting as I now have a 65ah or 75ah battery on my new system I'll have to have a look at the charger

 

[steve garwood]

We usually buy a 20a battery charger, don't know why though.

Using the royal ‘we’ now are we? ?

 

[Rizzo7]

I bought a pair of 30cm stickyback LED flexi-strips with white 5050 LEDs from a Chinese seller on EBay for a couple of quid and put them in the boot of my car.
The light output is amazing and I'm very pleased indeed
Only fly in the ointment is the sticky isn't very sticky (it claims to be 3M tape, but y'know - China...) and stuck to the shiny plastic in the boot they kept falling off. A dab of white spirit later and some double sided carpet tape and they seem to be holding on.