I have installed 8 x 30 watt 12v led floods in my garden which are powered directly from a leisure battery but they don't work??

[SeawolfGB]

I have installed 8 of these around the garden (they only have a positive and negative wire) through a 12v pir and then directly to a 110amp leisure battery, but they do not light up. I am charging the leisure battery via a 100w solar panel. The lights will only be on for 5 or 10 minutes at a time when the dog triggers the pir. Is there something else missing from my setup? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks Nick

 

[pcaouolte]

Simplify the problem: Does one of them work when connected directly to the battery? Do all of them work if you remove the PIR from the circuit?

 

[SeawolfGB]

Good point. i will try without the pir and report back. Cheers

 

[scbk]

8 x 30 watt led floodlights - is it a football pitch?!

Assuming that's the real watts, not Chinese watts.

 

[SeawolfGB]

There aren't many that are not from China LOL

 

[JohnD]

you have tried reversing the polarity?

 

[SeawolfGB]

interesting thought? No I haven't. I will add it to the list of things to try though! Without the PIR in the mix obviously! Cheers, Nick

 

[bernardgreen]

you have tried reversing the polarity?

which could result in damaging the lamps. Especially ones where the manufacturer saved money by not fitting protection against accidental polarity error.

 

[JohnD]

a diode damaged by wrong polarity?

 

[bernardgreen]

a diode damaged by wrong polarity?

That is possible if the reversed voltage is greater than the diode's rated reverse voltage.

It is very likely that there is a driver circuit between the raw 12 volt DC supply and the LED element(s) This driver could be damaged / destroyed

 

[mattylad]

What is the distance from the battery to the lamps?
Which then brings about what voltage are you measuring at each lamp?

What size (and type) cable did you use?

Can you try the battery at each lamp to confirm they individually work.

 

[bernardgreen]

One assumes that these are 12 Volt lamps and not 230 Volt lamps.

Seen that three times.

 

[SeawolfGB]

Hi All. Thanks for the replies so far. Here is what I know so far...Ok Here goes with the full description… twin core 25 amp cable (30M) long to the last flood. Connected in parallel to 8 x 30 watt dc led small flood lights. I have no drivers in this setup for the leds as I thought these were for converting voltage which I don't need to do! Then through a standard outdoor 12v dc PIR and into an illuminated rocker switch for ON/OFF with a 25 amp inline fuse down to a 110amp leisure battery that is trickle charged by a 100 watt solar panel. I have taken onboard the comment about the PIR which I now believe is the weak link as it works out at a running amperage of 60 amps. I don’t know if I can find a 12v one with high enough wattage to have enough amps for my setup? Any ideas welcome. Thanks, Nick

 

[martygturner]

make and model of light... and if possible a link to where you bought them.

 

[Alec_t]

a standard outdoor 12v dc PIR

Is that really capable of switching at least 20A of DC?