Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

Howdy all!

Saw the posting from last week about making a home made pond light from a car
headlamp and thought I;d give it a whirl! However, my question is- what the
heck do I 'plug' it into to light up? I assume a low voltage transformer that
you use for garden lights but my momma told me never to assume ! grin So,
anyone have any ideas? And if it is a garden trnasformer, how many watts should
I get? I'm planning on getting a few garden lights so I need to know how large
of a transformer to get to power them all. ( It seems that most headlights are
about 45-60 watts and the garden lights I am looking at are 18watts , if that
makes any difference to transformer)

ANY IDEAS WOULD BE GREAT!

Mick!

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

Mick,

When I bought my yard transformer, 12 volt, it was rated for so many watts.
The yard transformer is the way to go for the headlamp. Just add up the
total wattage of all the lights and then buy a transformer that will supply
that. If the load is larger than the capacity of the transformer, then the
voltage will go down and the lights will burn dimly, and the transformer
will not last.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Mick709" wrote in message
...
Howdy all!

Saw the posting from last week about making a home made pond light from a
car
headlamp and thought I;d give it a whirl! However, my question is- what
the
heck do I 'plug' it into to light up? I assume a low voltage transformer
that
you use for garden lights but my momma told me never to assume ! grin
So,
anyone have any ideas? And if it is a garden trnasformer, how many watts
should
I get? I'm planning on getting a few garden lights so I need to know how
large
of a transformer to get to power them all. ( It seems that most headlights
are
about 45-60 watts and the garden lights I am looking at are 18watts , if
that
makes any difference to transformer)

ANY IDEAS WOULD BE GREAT!

Mick!

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

Mick, it's really easy to make a pond light out of a headlight, it will take
you an evening to make it, plus a day or two for the caulking to cure. You
can buy aquarium calking at orchard supply & hardware, or most petstores. Do
not use regular kitchen/bath/window calking, most of that specifically says
not for marine or aquarium use.

Before you begin the project, to see what kind of garden lighting system you
have. If you have a low wattage transformer from Intermatic or Malibu, it's
usually not grounded, The grounded transformers are rated at 300watts or
higher, for their product line. Next add up the wattage of all the bulbs
connected to the transformer, it should be less then the rating of the
transformer. Once all that's done, follow the directions below, and you're
done.

I purchased a sealed beam, Sylvania H4656, which is a combination of high
and low beam in 1 unit. A high beam only would have been desirable, but I
couldn't find any that had prongs that were convenient to solder the wires
to.

If you look at the back of the bulb you will see 3 prongs

high low
O O
O
ground

A side view of one of the prongs, looked like this.
--------\
O |
--------/

Connect 1 wire to the ground, and 1 wire to the high beam prong. The solder
didn't bond very well, to the prongs, so I found it easier to thread the
wire through the whole in the prong, and wrap it back around itself, and
solder the wire.

Cover all prongs with aquarium caulking to prevent corrosion. Note: Do not
use kitchen/bath/window caulking, most of that stuff isn't safe to use in
ponds. Let it cure in the sun for 2-3 days, then wash it off. Aquarium
caulking can be purchased at most pet stores, but is cheaper at Orchard
Supply & Hardware.

I haven't decided yet, if I'm going to embed this setup in a concrete block,
or if I'm going to just rest a rock on top of it. otherwise it will just
float in the pond on the surface.

Right now it's just resting on top of my waterfall, awaiting me to decide
where I want to place it.

http://www.boredom.org/~manek/garden/pond_april_2003/

Sameer

"Mick709" wrote in message
...
Howdy all!

Saw the posting from last week about making a home made pond light from a
car
headlamp and thought I;d give it a whirl! However, my question is- what
the
heck do I 'plug' it into to light up? I assume a low voltage transformer
that
you use for garden lights but my momma told me never to assume ! grin
So,
anyone have any ideas? And if it is a garden trnasformer, how many watts
should
I get? I'm planning on getting a few garden lights so I need to know how
large
of a transformer to get to power them all. ( It seems that most headlights
are
about 45-60 watts and the garden lights I am looking at are 18watts , if
that
makes any difference to transformer)

ANY IDEAS WOULD BE GREAT!

Mick!

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

Very nicely done, Sameer! You did a good job with the rockworks. Question on
the light, however: you said to wire one to the ground and the other to the
HIGH beam? Not the LOW? Doesn't that put out too much light?

Lee

"Snooze" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
Mick, it's really easy to make a pond light out of a headlight, it will
take
you an evening to make it, plus a day or two for the caulking to cure. You
can buy aquarium calking at orchard supply & hardware, or most petstores.
Do
not use regular kitchen/bath/window calking, most of that specifically
says
not for marine or aquarium use.

Before you begin the project, to see what kind of garden lighting system
you
have. If you have a low wattage transformer from Intermatic or Malibu,
it's
usually not grounded, The grounded transformers are rated at 300watts or
higher, for their product line. Next add up the wattage of all the bulbs
connected to the transformer, it should be less then the rating of the
transformer. Once all that's done, follow the directions below, and you're
done.

I purchased a sealed beam, Sylvania H4656, which is a combination of high
and low beam in 1 unit. A high beam only would have been desirable, but I
couldn't find any that had prongs that were convenient to solder the wires
to.

If you look at the back of the bulb you will see 3 prongs

high low
O O
O
ground

A side view of one of the prongs, looked like this.
--------\
O |
--------/

Connect 1 wire to the ground, and 1 wire to the high beam prong. The
solder
didn't bond very well, to the prongs, so I found it easier to thread the
wire through the whole in the prong, and wrap it back around itself, and
solder the wire.

Cover all prongs with aquarium caulking to prevent corrosion. Note: Do not
use kitchen/bath/window caulking, most of that stuff isn't safe to use in
ponds. Let it cure in the sun for 2-3 days, then wash it off. Aquarium
caulking can be purchased at most pet stores, but is cheaper at Orchard
Supply & Hardware.

I haven't decided yet, if I'm going to embed this setup in a concrete
block,
or if I'm going to just rest a rock on top of it. otherwise it will just
float in the pond on the surface.

Right now it's just resting on top of my waterfall, awaiting me to decide
where I want to place it.

http://www.boredom.org/~manek/garden/pond_april_2003/

Sameer

"Mick709" wrote in message
...
Howdy all!

Saw the posting from last week about making a home made pond light from
a
car
headlamp and thought I;d give it a whirl! However, my question is- what
the
heck do I 'plug' it into to light up? I assume a low voltage transformer
that
you use for garden lights but my momma told me never to assume ! grin
So,
anyone have any ideas? And if it is a garden trnasformer, how many watts
should
I get? I'm planning on getting a few garden lights so I need to know how
large
of a transformer to get to power them all. ( It seems that most
headlights
are
about 45-60 watts and the garden lights I am looking at are 18watts , if
that
makes any difference to transformer)

ANY IDEAS WOULD BE GREAT!

Mick!

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

"Lee Brouillet" wrote in message
...
Very nicely done, Sameer! You did a good job with the rockworks. Question
on
the light, however: you said to wire one to the ground and the other to
the
HIGH beam? Not the LOW? Doesn't that put out too much light?

Lee


I unfortunately can't take credit for the rock work, that was there when we
bought the house.

As for the lights, if you connect it to the low beam, then the light will be
very dim, to the level of a bedroom nightlight, at least with this
particular lamp. Using the high beam produces a desirable level of light.

Sameer

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

"Lee Brouillet" wrote in message ...
Very nicely done, Sameer! You did a good job with the rockworks. Question on
the light, however: you said to wire one to the ground and the other to the
HIGH beam? Not the LOW? Doesn't that put out too much light?

AFAIK, high and low beam are equal in optical brightness (and
electrical power). The main difference between them is the physical
location of the filaments within the reflector, so as to direct the
beam straight forward (high) or downwards (low). For garden/pond
application, you could probably power *both* filaments if you wanted
that much light. (Disclaimer: I'm a EE, not an auto mechanic, and the
above might vary between brands of bulb or automobile.)

Lee

"Snooze" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
Mick, it's really easy to make a pond light out of a headlight, it will
take
you an evening to make it, plus a day or two for the caulking to cure. You
can buy aquarium calking at orchard supply & hardware, or most petstores.

Using a sealed-beam headlight is a neat idea; I'll have to try it.
I've got two 20W underwater lights, and also some spots shining down
into the water. However, the latter have proved quite unreliable, and
have to be carefully aimed to avoid dazzle. Fixing them has been on
my To Do list for a year now. BUT this spring our local HD was
selling 5-packs of the solar-charged LED lights for CAN$45, so we
grabbed a box. I now think I will replace all the dry-land lights
with these, which will free up spare capacity on the transformer for a
third underwater light, using your idea.

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

"Steve Watson" wrote in message
om...

AFAIK, high and low beam are equal in optical brightness (and
electrical power). The main difference between them is the physical
location of the filaments within the reflector, so as to direct the
beam straight forward (high) or downwards (low). For garden/pond
application, you could probably power *both* filaments if you wanted
that much light. (Disclaimer: I'm a EE, not an auto mechanic, and the
above might vary between brands of bulb or automobile.)


Unfortunately the contacts are covered in caulk and is submerged, so I can't
test the resistance, but aside from the location of lamp within the
reflector. I would bet that the high beam bulb has a lower resistance then
the low beam bulb, allowing it to consume more watts.

Sameer

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

I am interested in making these. Does anyone have any diagrams and further
information that can help me??


Thanks,

Sacha

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

"MISSYMAGICGIRL" wrote in message ...
I am interested in making these. Does anyone have any diagrams and further
information that can help me??



Read this entire thread, specifically search for the post with the following message id.

Message-ID: ink.net

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e....earthlink.net

If you have any questions after reading that, give us a holler

--
Sameer

change the two in my email address to a 2, when replying

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

Link doen't work.

Sacha



In article ink.net, "Snooze"
writes:

Subject: Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
From: "Snooze"
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 21:23:42 GMT

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0012_01C309A4.2EE12760
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

"MISSYMAGICGIRL" wrote in message =
...
I am interested in making these. Does anyone have any diagrams and =
further
information that can help me??
=20
=20

Read this entire thread, specifically search for the post with the =
following message id.

Message-ID: ink.net

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=3...UTF-8&selm=3D=
UL4pa.36734%244P1.3282790%40newsread2.prod.itd.ea rthlink.net

If you have any questions after reading that, give us a holler

--=20
Sameer

change the two in my email address to a 2, when replying
------=_NextPart_000_0012_01C309A4.2EE12760
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

HEADSTYLE/STYLE/HEADDIV"MISSYMAGICGIRL"
"miss wrote
in=20message
FONT=20face=3DArial=20size=3D2news:200304231509 05.18769.00000158@mb-m24
..aol.comFON=T=20face=3DArial
size=3D2.../DIVDIV I am interested in making these. =Does anyone=20have
any diagrams and further information that can help =me??=20
/DIVDIVRead this entire thread, specifically =search for=20the post with
the following message id./DIVDIV /DIVDIVMessage-ID:
A=20href=3D"mailto:UL4pa.36734$4P1.3282790@news read2.prod.itd.earthlink
..net"=FONT=20face=3DArial=20size=3D2UL4pa.3673
rod.itd.earthlink.net=/AFONT=20face=3DArial
size=3D2/DIVDIVA=20href=3D"http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=3Den
&lr=3D&ie=3DUTF-8&=amp;oe=3DUTF-8&selm=3DUL4pa.36734%244P1.3282790%40newsr
ead2.prod.itd.=earthlink.net"http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=3Den&lr=3
D&ie=3D=UTF-8&oe=3DUTF-8&am
p;selm=3DUL4pa.36734%244P1.3282790%40newsread2.pr o=d.itd.earthlink.net/D
IVDIV
/DIVDIVIf you have any questions after reading =that, give=20us a
holler/DIVDIV-- Sameer/DIVDIV /DIVDIVchange the two in my email
address to a 2, when=20replying/DIV

------=_NextPart_000_0012_01C309A4.2EE12760--














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From: "Snooze"
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Subject: Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
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Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

"MISSYMAGICGIRL" wrote in message
...
Link doen't work.

Sacha


Guess your news reader doesn't like htmlized posts, this should be all 1
line, so you may need to do 2 separate cut-n-pastes into your webbrowser.

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...lm=UL4pa.36734
%244P1.3282790%40newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net

Or if you're lucky, try this link, it's one of the url shortening sites, but
they delete short-cut-urls after a period of time.

http://smlnk.com/?SI4L1XFX


Sameer

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

In article ink.net, "Snooze"
writes:

http://smlnk.com/?SI4L1XFX

Now it works. Thanks.


Sacha

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

On Thu, 24 Apr 2003, Snooze wrote:

Guess your news reader doesn't like htmlized posts, this should be all 1
line, so you may need to do 2 separate cut-n-pastes into your webbrowser.

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...lm=UL4pa.36734
%244P1.3282790%40newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net

Or if you're lucky, try this link, it's one of the url shortening sites, but
they delete short-cut-urls after a period of time.

http://smlnk.com/?SI4L1XFX

Sameer

An enormous improvement! Personally, I like http://tinyurl.com
They have even shorter URLs, the URL links directly to the target site,
and they say they never expire!

Dave

Power supply ? for automibile headlight pond light
 

"Dave Bell" wrote in message
...

An enormous improvement! Personally, I like http://tinyurl.com
They have even shorter URLs, the URL links directly to the target site,
and they say they never expire!


I liked the now defunct site, http://fcol.org, because a buddy of mine ran
it, and ran an irc chat robot, you could just message, and it would reply
back shortened url. Now someone runs a similar service for http://smlnk.com
which is the only reason i use either of them.

Sameer