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submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Smokeydope@lemmy.world to c/casualconversation@lemm.ee

I have an offgrid solar system and have been wanting to do improve on lighting situation for a while. Got tired of dealing with rechargeable led lanterns burning out and 5v usb bulbs providing just enough.. So, I Made my own offgrid lighting fixture with replaceable led a26 bulbs. I started with a cheap single bulb hanging fixture, cut off the ac outlet end, wired on a 12v car plug, and screwed in a 1-to-3 a26 bulb adapter to get multiple bulbs parallel on the same fixture.

It plugs into my 12v solar system through a car cigarette port plug. I would like to get it on a dimmer at some point but this is sooo nice already. One of the few things I missed was the luxury of good home lighting. It took awhile to figure out a solution that worked.

I was thinking instead of a dimmer switch, maybe power it with a manually adjustable usbc-pd cord. The bulbs are 12-24v. I'm not sure if adjusting the voltage would make it brighter like how I'm expecting though? Is it 6w no matter if 12 or 24v? Might be a fun experiment. Theoretically it's currently consuming 18w to give me afequite home lighting which is about the same as a laptop on at idle. Very nice!

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[-] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Are you doing some sort of dc/ac inversion? Why not use standard rv or boat 12v lighting?

[-] Smokeydope@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Its 12v dc from batteries straight to the bulbs. They are meant for 12v-24v dc in. Ive never been in boat or rv so I don't know what kind of lighting they use. The 12v e26 led bulbs say they are for RVs and boats so IDK what the difference is. I did what I wanted to do with the voltage and connectors I was familiar with. My other homes had e26 bulbs so why not this one just for 12v? This way I can use the fixture with Car battery or jumper pack battery with a cig plug connection.

this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025
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