help, a/c to d/c 12v LED

[Premier]

currently have a outdoor 120w 12 volt AC transformer, like to hook up some 12 v DC LED Strings to it, any idea of which ( if any ) rectifier would do the trick?

 

[Premier]

currently have a outdoor 120w 12 volt AC transformer, like to hook up some 12 v DC LED Strings to it, any idea of which ( if any ) rectifier would do the trick? the rope light is 100' long, 12v DC and 38 watts

[Don]

Multiple threads merged into one.

[Ebuechner]

a reflector alone won't do what you need. you also need to filter the power if you're going to control these lights. all said and done there are plenty of 12 volt DC power supplies for LEDs that will do very well at a low cost

[Premier]

not going to do anything with the lights other than a simple "ON" after the show and "OFF" at dawn, the transformer has a built in clock so it can do this. I am just wondering if it is economical to run them this way,

[Ebuechner]

in a case like that you could probably use a full wave bridge rectifier. so long as you're not trying to do any sort of control with it. you can buy them from Mouser. I personally buy whole bunch to turn my light strings into full wave lights. there are many to choose from just make sure your voltage and amperage are covered. voltage shouldn't be an issue just watch how many amps are going to draw

[Max-Paul]

Holy do do, I can not believe some of the advice you are getting. Actually you dont need to add a thing. REMEMBER folks these are light emitting DIODES. If this is a string of LEDs, they all have to be pointing in the same direction if you will allow me to explain it like that. Now the statement about controlling them if you would. You surely do not want to have a filter installed. Those who have been around for awhile remember that some LED strings had filter caps installed and they caught on fire.

 

Now personally I prefer the look of non-flickering full wave strings. So in this case you want to install a full wave bridge rectifier. What was this thing about a reflector?

[Ebuechner]

sorry about that I was using my phone I did mean rectifier and my phone changed it to reflector. and as far as a filter goes I was speaking of a clean DC power source such as an LED power supply. without knowing exactly what lights he is intending on using and how they would react to AC current I was being cautious. if it was me I would just buy and LED power supply to get the most from my lights. he used the term light string and rope light rope lights generally don't use resistors they use a combination of parallel and series circuits. at this point I'm assuming he's going to be using a single color light not some color changing string.

[Max-Paul]

 rope lights generally don't use resistors they use a combination of parallel and series circuit

 

Interesting. All of my rope lights, be it either icans or LEDs have had resistors in the circuits. So between the two of us we have seen rope lights with and without. So, looks like there is no fast cut rules about this. I also have a string of those color changing LEDs. Usually fades from one color to another. And these require a controller to the best of my knowledge.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Max-Paul