A couple of really odd questions...

[Ishkabibble]

Both are related to Natasha, and I thought I'd float them before the denizens of the forum...

First. I have been approached by an old friend of mine (yes, we're both old, and we've been friends for half our lives) to join his local rec-league softball team. Seems they now have a "Senior Division" and he would like me to be a member of his team. I was a decent first baseman many years ago, and my friend remembers. Problem is, I don't really have a good way to transport my gear on Natasha. I might invest in one of those duffel-type gear bags, but this leaves one major problem. How in the everlovin' holy bejeebers am I going to transport two bats on a scooter? Does anyone have any experience with that? Any ideas at all?

The second question is a little more mundane, but rather odd in its own way. I am going to be fiddling with LED strips here in the near future, and while I don't mind walking out to my car to check whether the things light up via my car battery, I would like to have a way to bench-test them right at the bench.

Could I take a 1v DC adapter and use it to check the lights?

What I have in mind, is this:

power 1.jpg (5.69 KiB) Viewed 1873 times

I have several of these laying around from old printers, old cordless phones, and the like.

I thought I’d snip off the little round connector plug thingies, and use some of that metal glue wire (the kind that comes in a little coil, and you have to melt with that pointed electric pencil thing) to stick on a couple of those little metal squeeze clips, so that I can pinch the ends of the wires from the LED strips to make them light up when I bench test them.

I wanted to find out if what I’ve done will light up before I go too much farther and start another fire. Those times when things go “poof” with a flash of light and puffs of magic smoke are kind of rough on my nerves, and I don't know if this idea would work. My major concern is that I don't know how to tell with a multi-meter which is positive and which is negative of the pair of little wires that go into the round plug thing. Does anyone know how to check that?

Would one of those power supply things work for my purposes? Again, Does anyone have any experience with that? Any ideas at all?

[gn2]

Baseball bats shouldn't be a problem, I've carried 12 foot two section fishing rods.
Get all the gear in the duffel bag and lay it on the rear seat and luggage rack along the length of the scooter then bungee it down.
A ratchet strap passed under the seat should do the job at the front and some bungees onto the rack.
You do have a rack?
If not, time to get one

Electrics hmmm, magic smoke, i've seen lots of that...

[WhiteNoise]

Re: hauling bat(s)? My very first thought being tossed out:
A large poster tube? Would that house it?

[Jge64]

The easiest way to get 12 V power on your workshop desk is to buy a small mc battery and just keep it charged. I actually use the 12v battery out of an old accord for my bench 12v.

[you you]

Both are related to Natasha, and I thought I'd float them before the denizens of the forum...

First. I have been approached by an old friend of mine (yes, we're both old, and we've been friends for half our lives) to join his local rec-league softball team. Seems they now have a "Senior Division" and he would like me to be a member of his team. I was a decent first baseman many years ago, and my friend remembers. Problem is, I don't really have a good way to transport my gear on Natasha. I might invest in one of those duffel-type gear bags, but this leaves one major problem. How in the everlovin' holy bejeebers am I going to transport two bats on a scooter? Does anyone have any experience with that? Any ideas at all?

The second question is a little more mundane, but rather odd in its own way. I am going to be fiddling with LED strips here in the near future, and while I don't mind walking out to my car to check whether the things light up via my car battery, I would like to have a way to bench-test them right at the bench.

Could I take a 1v DC adapter and use it to check the lights?

What I have in mind, is this:

power 1.jpg

I have several of these laying around from old printers, old cordless phones, and the like.

I thought I’d snip off the little round connector plug thingies, and use some of that metal glue wire (the kind that comes in a little coil, and you have to melt with that pointed electric pencil thing) to stick on a couple of those little metal squeeze clips, so that I can pinch the ends of the wires from the LED strips to make them light up when I bench test them.

I wanted to find out if what I’ve done will light up before I go too much farther and start another fire. Those times when things go “poof” with a flash of light and puffs of magic smoke are kind of rough on my nerves, and I don't know if this idea would work. My major concern is that I don't know how to tell with a multi-meter which is positive and which is negative of the pair of little wires that go into the round plug thing. Does anyone know how to check that?

Would one of those power supply things work for my purposes? Again, Does anyone have any experience with that? Any ideas at all?

Don't see why not. Try it

[chicaboo]

If you're testing LEDs for scooter lighting you need a DC converter with adjustable amperes, that AC wall adapter probably won't work.
The PCX is 12V/6A from the battery, not sure what the alternator bumps the amps up to. But a small battery like the guys said sounds easiest.

[Ishkabibble]

Okay, who's going to buy the small battery for me? They start somewhere around $70 US.

These power converters are all free. Like I said, I have about 20 of them laying around.

If they convert 110v AC to 12v DC, why wouldn't they work?

[Ishkabibble]

Re: hauling bat(s)? My very first thought being tossed out:
A large poster tube? Would that house it?

That might just work.

The question is, how would one attach it to Natasha?

The reason I ask this is, a few days ago I had to drive to work. Raining like the dickens. Left my bumbershoot in class, and one of my colleagues picked it up for me, and held it in her office. Saturday, she brought it by (We do weekend classes) and I had to ride home with it partially under my leg, with the pointy end up under where the key goes, and the handle part sticking out under my leg at the back. Most uncomfortable ride home ever. Hence, how does one carry two bats?

Bungee-ing the gear bag down, along with ratchet straps is a really great idea. Figure out a way to add in the poster tubes, and I think I have it made.

I wonder if there isn't a better way though.

[DAB]

Okay, who's going to buy the small battery for me? They start somewhere around $70 US.

These power converters are all free. Like I said, I have about 20 of them laying around.

If they convert 110v AC to 12v DC, why wouldn't they work?

They will work but the amps on the transformer should be greater than used by the LEDs

[iceman]

What wattage are the lights? W=VA so if your supply is 12vdc 1A the leds should at max be 12W's (and a small supply like that may not last long if run near or just above the rating - it may be amp limited but may just give up).

[Jge64]

$70 for a batt?

Nah, MC batts starting at $20 on amazon....

[Ishkabibble]

$70 for a batt?

Nah, MC batts starting at $20 on amazon....

Okay, so you're going to buy the battery for me. Do you need my shipping address?

[Ishkabibble]

What wattage are the lights? W=VA so if your supply is 12vdc 1A the leds should at max be 12W's (and a small supply like that may not last long if run near or just above the rating - it may be amp limited but may just give up).

Electrical mumbo-jumbo.

If I knew any of those things, or knew where to find them, or even what any of them meant, I wouldn't have to ask the question I asked. All I know about electricity is that you touch the leads to a battery or other power source, and the light comes on. If it doesn't, your battery is dead or the lights are connected wrong. Switch the leads to the other wires and try again. If they don't come on, the battery is dead. All the other minutiae are details that mean nothing to me.

The only thing I'm going to use these power converter things for is to touch the leads from the led strips to the leads from the converter thing, to see if the strips light up. For maybe 1.5 to 2 seconds at most. It isn't like I'm going to be powering them up for a few hours.

When the first replies came back, I went out to the storage building and rooted through some boxes, and came up with two of them. There are about 20 more in the box, all tangled up. There are even a few (four or five) of the kind that power laptops. I have no idea what "ratings" there are on those.

The two I have say this:

#1: Input - 110-120v 60Hz - 6.5W Output: 6-14v DC - 350mA

#2: Input 110v 60Hz - 45mA Output: 3.5-6v DC 200mA

Even I can see that the second one is only putting out 3.5 to 6 volts. Which means it isn't suitable, because it isn't strong enough. And that is the absolute limit of my knowledge.

I suppose I am going to have to go out there tomorrow, root through the entire box, and isolate all of the ones that put out 12-15 volts.

As far as identifying the wattage, I don't think anyone can do that, because there is absolutely no marking of any kind on these lights. They were handed to me without any box, envelope, or packaging. "Hey, I got these but don't want to put em on my bike because I'm about to sell it. You want em?" was the extent of the conversation. I don't know anything else.

[you you]

Time to stop thinking and start doing.......

[chicaboo]

#1: Input - 110-120v 60Hz - 6.5W Output: 6-14v DC - 350mA

#2: Input 110v 60Hz - 45mA Output: 3.5-6v DC 200mA

Out of those two, #1 should work for the small wedge/W5W/T10 LED bulbs which are often in the low mA range.
DON'T use the laptop power bricks, as they will put out way too much power and sizzle your LED lights.
If you're trying to test a light bank or a large LED light strip, #1 won't cook them, but it may not have enough guts, either.

[honkerman]

I use a 9V battery to check circuits. It has worked for me so far.

[WhiteNoise]

Baseball bats shouldn't be a problem, I've carried 12 foot two section fishing rods.
Get all the gear in the duffel bag and lay it on the rear seat and luggage rack along the length of the scooter then bungee it down.
A ratchet strap passed under the seat should do the job at the front and some bungees onto the rack.
You do have a rack?
If not, time to get one

Ish, that sounds good to me. Do you have a rack? Do you have a long duffle bag or can you borrow one for awhile? Maybe a thrift store nearby has duffle bags for cheap? If you have required items (rack, long duffle bag (waterproof preferably) and straps), then there's your solution
Run the bag longwise (front to back) on top of the passenger seat and the rear rack. Run straps all around the bag under seat and elsewhere and tighten securely.

I guess you could do similar with the bat(s) inside the long poster (storage/mailing) tubes.
Lie the tubes down the same way on the scoot and strap them down tightly.

How's that sound?

[Oyabun]

Ahem...
LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. They are special semiconductors, which when the proper polarity voltage is connected to them, drop some of the energy as visible light. As long as voltage is enough for them to "open" they will light up. They work completely different from bulbs in a sense of they have no internal resistance in one direction and seem to be as a circuit break connected with tbe other polarity. Therefore brightness is not adjusted with voltage, but current. In case your leds are designed to be used in an automotive application, just feed them with 12 volt and you're good. The built-in current regulator (most of the cases an el cheapo inline resistance) will take care of the rest.

[Mel46]

Are you ready for my input on testing led lights yet?...I have installed about a dozen sets of led lights so far, so I know what I am doing, but each person chooses his own path. A STANDARD, OF THE SHELF 9 volt battery works fine. You don't need anything special. I made my own attachment for the connections. I went to Radio Shack and purchased a small bag of alligator clips. Then I measured two pieces of wire, one red and one black. I attached a set of clips to each side of each wire. Now I can use those wires with a 9 volt battery to test any circuit, including the standard circuits on the bike, aside from the headlight. It even works for holding the volt meter leads to each circuit. It should work fine for your needs.

Honkerman had it right.

[Mel46]

038ae3a1-8c83-4d56-8fa0-68ea8c18604b_1.bae5532907b4cdf8c8fd545715ba991f.jpeg (4.39 KiB) Viewed 1747 times

This works too. Supposedly sold at Walmart.
http://www.walmart.com/c/kp/baseball-team-backpacks