Doesn't count as a WIP as there is no wood involved but I thought I may as well take some pictures as I rework our garden lights.
they are 10 Watt 12V capsule lamps and I had to run doubled 2.5mm twin and earth cable along the garden just to get them evenly lit as the current draw for 20 of them means a lot of voltage drop by the time you get to the end one. the lights have small drain holes in the bottom the perfect size for ants to get in. i had one that was full of soil and ants but still working!
As you can see they are decaying. This one has more ground spike left than most.
Cleaner than many of them
Cut the spike off with an angle grinder as too rusted to unscrew
On the left you can see the new mounting - a disc of 8mm polycarbonate screwed to the underside and a bent bit of aluminium screwed to that as a new groundspike. The rest of the picture is plastic lids into which i am glueing the lampholders having drilled cable holes.
I bought 20 sample pots (and 20 lampholders) from ebay. the plastic pots are waterproof enclosures for the LED lamp. I riveted a polycarbonate square to the base. the square is sized to clip into the top outer part of the light fitting.
The LED capsule before pushing it into the top.
The first reconditioned light. 19 more to do.
Making a circle out of 8mm polycarb was a pain. It dawned on me it doesn't need to be circular so the rest will be squares.
The LED 'corn' lamps came from china via ebay. I bought some a year ago and fitted them in a few lights as direct replacements exposed to damp and they are still working. in a nice dry pot they should last indefinitely. 10 watt replaced with 4 Watt but twice the brightness.
they are 10 Watt 12V capsule lamps and I had to run doubled 2.5mm twin and earth cable along the garden just to get them evenly lit as the current draw for 20 of them means a lot of voltage drop by the time you get to the end one. the lights have small drain holes in the bottom the perfect size for ants to get in. i had one that was full of soil and ants but still working!
As you can see they are decaying. This one has more ground spike left than most.
Cleaner than many of them
Cut the spike off with an angle grinder as too rusted to unscrew
On the left you can see the new mounting - a disc of 8mm polycarbonate screwed to the underside and a bent bit of aluminium screwed to that as a new groundspike. The rest of the picture is plastic lids into which i am glueing the lampholders having drilled cable holes.
I bought 20 sample pots (and 20 lampholders) from ebay. the plastic pots are waterproof enclosures for the LED lamp. I riveted a polycarbonate square to the base. the square is sized to clip into the top outer part of the light fitting.
The LED capsule before pushing it into the top.
The first reconditioned light. 19 more to do.
Making a circle out of 8mm polycarb was a pain. It dawned on me it doesn't need to be circular so the rest will be squares.
The LED 'corn' lamps came from china via ebay. I bought some a year ago and fitted them in a few lights as direct replacements exposed to damp and they are still working. in a nice dry pot they should last indefinitely. 10 watt replaced with 4 Watt but twice the brightness.
