Under the counter 6 LED lights 2 for $12 at Costco

katx

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 30, 2005
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125
Costco has these very nice looking under the counter battery operated (3 AAA) lights. The lights head swivel and there are to light levels. The LEDs are very bright but not Luxeon.

Not wanting to mess with changing batteries all the time I thought maybe I could hardwire them. So I found a power source rated at 3.7 VDC and tried to light up the leds. They would not work. Anyone knows where I went wrong?
 

LED_Thrift

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 30, 2005
Messages
1,874
Location
Northern NJ, USA
One Guess: Maybe the power source was not putting out the full 3.7v and the fixture runs best at the full 4.5v that three AAAs provide, and there was not enough voltage to light them. If you have a voltmeter you could check it.

I joined Costco last week and saw them, but my wife was with me and she gave me that look :(

I was going to wait till I heard something [good] about them first. Can they run on partially depleted cells?
 

katx

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 30, 2005
Messages
125
Here is a bit more info:

1. Wanting to test how long the light would go with three fresh alkalines, I turned the light on "low". 6 hours later it was still going with almost full intensity.

2. The 3.7 VDC transformer that I used would actually give 5.7 VDC with no load. And I did get it to work with the light. However, now the light at high was as dim as the low with the batteries.

3. I then decided to connect the light to a 12 VDC transformer (I had nothing in between) and I think I fried the light (it took only a few seconds). Now the light is at say 5% light level all the time and the switch does not work any more. :-(

4. I think I am happy with the 3.7 VDC transformer and I would hardwire this and use it in a curio.
 
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