# Blue led lights



## Beemer (Mar 5, 2012)

I have had the B&Q blue led lights for too many months now, so one sunny day (last saturday) I fitted all 10 of them to the 'van on one side, purely to give ambient lighting when the awning is attached :cheers: and because they are very low wattage, should mean I could leave them on during the evening.


 

The lights are remotely operated by key fob.


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## Firefox (Mar 5, 2012)

This is brilliant, definitely where it's at!

I also have some boy racer interior mod blue LED floods which I am using in a few places to illuminate glasses, dashboard etc 

But I would like some external ones like yours too!


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## whitevanwoman (Mar 5, 2012)

I've just been chatting to a lorry driver in my IT class about blue lights and he says they are illegal but that the police don't bother too much because so many truckers have them on their wagons, and it's not worth the paperwork to pull someone up for them.

And I think blue and green leds use more elec than red and white because on my battery fairy lights the blue and green lights stop working much sooner than the red which last for ages, so presumably as the battery power is reduced, there isn't enough power left for the blue and green, but enough for the red and white.


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## Somelier (Mar 5, 2012)

Oh no, not more light pollution!!!:lol-053:


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## Firefox (Mar 5, 2012)

I think blue used to be legal if they didn't flash but on checking, it does now appear that blue anywhere is illegal, even if they only operated off-road, just fitting them can technically get a £30 fixed penalty.

In that case I am going to have to settle for purple :lol-053:


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## runnach (Mar 6, 2012)

For gods sake dont become part of a travelling fair.......we have every colour going and known to man kind ....

Bit of a bugger though when we change venue and bulbs require replacing .........a combination of clumsy pull down and dodgy roads 

Channa


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## Just the Driver (Mar 6, 2012)

*Blue LED's*

The reality is that you are not going to be chugging down the motorway with your blue fairy light on. No sane person (that includes Police, Vosa or any other official) is going to be at all interested in your low voltage bolt ons. Believe me when I say that they have better things to do !!!:idea-007: The only reason I may not fit them to my mobile shed is that they may attract even MORE midges !!!:mad1:


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## Beemer (Mar 6, 2012)

Just the Driver said:


> The reality is that you are not going to be chugging down the motorway with your blue fairy lights on.



This is so true..... er,...maybe...
I have fitted them for ambient lighting for the evenings, and because I can!


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## Bigpeetee (Mar 7, 2012)

whitevanwoman said:


> I've just been chatting to a lorry driver in my IT class about blue lights and he says they are illegal but that the police don't bother too much because so many truckers have them on their wagons, and it's not worth the paperwork to pull someone up for them.
> 
> And I think blue and green leds use more elec than red and white because on my battery fairy lights the blue and green lights stop working much sooner than the red which last for ages, so presumably as the battery power is reduced, there isn't enough power left for the blue and green, but enough for the red and white.



Some Blue and Aqua Green LED's need a higher voltage to work, approx 3.8v against 2v. So as many just use a resistor to reduce the voltage from 12v and there are often 3 LED's in series the total voltage needed to light the Blue LED's is approx 11.4v whereas the voltage needed to light the reds, yellows etc is approx 6v, so as your batt goes down the blues and aqua greens will die first.

The usual fairy lights use 3x 1.5v batteries =4.5v so it's easy to see that as the voltage drops to 4v there isn't enough to light the led's. Anyway, don't you just have them for Christmas only?? or are they set up in the van to add to the party atmosphere!!


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## whitevanwoman (Mar 7, 2012)

Bigpeetee said:


> Some Blue and Aqua Green LED's need a higher voltage to work, approx 3.8v against 2v. So as many just use a resistor to reduce the voltage from 12v and there are often 3 LED's in series the total voltage needed to light the Blue LED's is approx 11.4v whereas the voltage needed to light the reds, yellows etc is approx 6v, so as your batt goes down the blues and aqua greens will die first.
> 
> The usual fairy lights use 3x 1.5v batteries =4.5v so it's easy to see that as the voltage drops to 4v there isn't enough to light the led's. Anyway, don't you just have them for Christmas only?? or are they set up in the van to add to the party atmosphere!!



Aha, thank you for the easy to understand explanation. 

Fairy lights are for life, not just for Christmas


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## al n sal (Mar 7, 2012)

View attachment 4670
we used blue above inside the SLD door, and red between the sill and sliding step. for when we have the awning out, or for when wilding in the wilds just give a little light,
both were both cheap Chinese led strips....

al


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## Beemer (Mar 7, 2012)

al n sal said:


> View attachment 4670
> we used blue above inside the SLD door, and red between the sill and sliding step. for when we have the awning out, or for when wilding in the wilds just give a little light,
> both were both cheap Chinese led strips....
> 
> al



Yes, I think the next install will be a different colour on the steps.


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## Beemer (Mar 8, 2012)

Bigpeetee said:


> Some Blue and Aqua Green LED's need a higher voltage to work, approx 3.8v against 2v. So as many just use a resistor to reduce the voltage from 12v and there are often 3 LED's in series the total voltage needed to light the Blue LED's is approx 11.4v whereas the voltage needed to light the reds, yellows etc is approx 6v, so as your batt goes down the blues and aqua greens will die first.
> 
> The usual fairy lights use 3x 1.5v batteries =4.5v so it's easy to see that as the voltage drops to 4v there isn't enough to light the led's. Anyway, don't you just have them for Christmas only?? or are they set up in the van to add to the party atmosphere!!



This is interesting, because above my cd/radio in the rear of the 'van I connected some blue and red leds to the speaker connections and they flash to the music.  The more bass, the more they flash!!!


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