Lipo for LED Light Strip

[RMJ22]

Recently took an interest in LED lights and am wanting to light up my charge station. Found some cheap LED lights on eBay and they came with this really cool remote that changes the colors of the lights and moves them in different patterns. I have a couple concerns. . .mainly I don't trust the Chinese AC adapter/power supply since its not UL listed and therefore I don't really want to use it unsupervised in my home. What is the professional opinion on the lights themselves? Am I just being unnecessarily cautious with this stuff? Does anyone have a good source of LED lighting products that sells reliably safe merchandise?

Anyhow, I got to thinking about my first LED lighting project a few years back when I purchased a kit from Xerogear (?) for my 450 night heli. It was really pretty neat and was powered by a small lipo. My thinking, given my concerns about safety, that I'd be better off simply powering my LEDs with a lipo when I want to illuminate the station. The trouble is, I don't remember how big the lipo was and don't really know how to rig it up.

The adapter is 12V - DC 2A. Can someone please recommend a lipo I can use for this setup? If I used a 3S 11.1V 850mAh lipo would that be a bad idea? How do I know how many amps the battery puts out?

Any assistance would be most appreciated.

[RMJ22]

For anyone following the post. . .I answered part of my own question. Found the lipo I was referring to and plugged it up to the lights. Works great! It is a 3S 11.1V 450 mAh. Right now I have a 3S 11.1V 800 mAh 35C lipo powering the lights and they are working perfectly. Still would like an expert opinion on the safety questions if anyone would like to chime in though.

[RMJ22]

Update for anyone following the thread. . .I found the transformer I was looking for that works great for my lights. Its UL Listed and is a Class 2 transformer, model: 48D-12-850. Output is 12VDC 850mA. I finally have a solution that I feel comfortable with.

[RedOctobyr]

Only my personal view, doesn't make it right. But I'd feel safer using an AC->DC adapter, as opposed to a LiPo.

A little adapter can't put out much current. And worst case, your house circuit breaker will still try to protect you. Whereas a LiPo could short somehow and catch on fire. Or simply be discharged much too low, damaging it.

You can also get adjustable DC-DC switching voltage regulators, if you wanted to step down your PS output voltage to something suitable for LEDs. Available got a few dollars on eBay.

Sent using Tapatalk.

[RMJ22]

Thanks for your reply, RedOctobyr. I agree on not wanting to use the lipo - plus you'd have to monitor how long the lights have been burning and if you don't intervene in time the lipo gets destroyed. Do you know if I tied this http://www.ebay.com/itm/131399571798...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT between the power supply and LEDs if it would safely serve the purpose? Its a 24V to 12V step down.

[RedOctobyr]

Sorry for the delay, I didn't notice your reply.

That looks like it would work.

What I was referring to above is something like this, apparently called an LM2596:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pcs-LM2596-...item20e2d0d947

Up to 2A output with no heatsink, takes up to 40V in, output is adjustable from 1.3V-35V. It can only step the voltage down, it can't take 24V in and give you 26V out.

But it's small and cheap, and might also let you adjust the LED brightness, if that was helpful.

There are other regulators like these as well, some rated for more current, some have voltage displays, etc.