LED Desk or Workbench Light

Make a simple LED light for your desk, workbench, or living area.

Step 1: Get Your Act Together!

Sorry, this doesn't have more pictures of assembly, I made it and then thought about making a instructable.
The LEDs are from China.( sorry I hate to order from China too but I cant afford an other country)I got mine from eBay. They were about $10.00 for a roll 16.5 ft. long. http://m.ebay.com/itm/5M-300Leds-5630-White-Super-Bright-LED-Strip-SMD-Light-Waterproof-12V-DC-US-/381536427503.
Parts:
1. LEDs. Your need about 5 or 6 feet depending on the size of board you use. Its up to you what size you want.
2. The Board. I had a piece of 3/4 inch plywood lying around so I used it. It really can be any size you want depending on how many LEDs you have.
3. 12volt power converter. You can get these from good will pretty easily.

Step 2: Put Your LEDs On!

The LEDs have adhesives backing on them, but if you want to use double sided tape that's fine to. I thought I'd have to use some but the adhesive backing held. Even after it heated up it still held. I put five strips on because that's all I had left from another project. I wanted to put more on, but ran out.

Step 3: Solder Then Together.

The soldering isn't to bad, I just hooked them up in parallel. VERY IMPORTANT!!!Make sure to keep the polarity straight!!!!!

There is a way that seems right unto a man but the ends thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12

Step 4: Your Done!!

Because of the wood you can mount it almost any way. I zip tied mine up above my workbench.

The results were great!! It doubled the light on my workbench. I've included before and after pictures of my bench.

Comments

[adbacker]

Looks great! (esp compared to the $40 to purchase a pre-made led shop light..!) I've been thinking about making vs. buying and I think you just made my mind up for me!

Couple questions:

--did you use the entire roll on the light you made?

--did you cut the light strip into sections..? How was that done? Is it a simple "snip here at the marked spot and solder" or something more involved?

Thanks!

[Leviathan17]

good glad this helped. If you build one this size than you will have more than enough. One roll had about 16 and 1/2 feet on them. I wanted to put more on but ran out. ( used most of them on another project) I cut them at a spot that had exposed copper. I just cut it a little shorter than the board at the nearest copper spot.
If you need more help and pictures check out my other instructable (LED barn/shop/garage light) or let me know

[Leviathan17]

its barn/garage/ shop light

[foxwoodfarm]

How doe the light output compare to 4' florescent lights?

[Leviathan17]

I would say definitely better. I don't know how many lumens my light puts out compared to the fluorescent lights. This light only has 5 strips so it could be brighter if I add more. I'm working on a LED shop/barn/garage light with the same design. Only this one has 18 3ft strips on it. I'm going to release that project very soon.

[vags]

why in parallel?

[Leviathan17]

that's just the way I did it. Its really up to you how you want to do it.

[peabody1929]

I believe you wired the 5 strips in parallel from the photo.

[Leviathan17]

thank you again for catching that. I got it fixed now

[Leviathan17]

Thank you sir. I get the two mixed up. Ill correct that.