LED light bars for lighting ice rink....your thoughts?

[gogojuice]

Just been looking into led lights for my Kubota bx.. and it got me thinking.

Right now I use a couple of 500w outdoor light stands. The kind you get at homedepot to light the ice rink.

I'm wondering if I could get rid of these costly lights and replace them with LED light bars.
I'm trying to light a 30x60' rink for the kids to play on at night.

Would it be better to go with a larger size light bar... or space out a few smaller ones?

 

[slappie]

I think you could get away with 2 bars, one on each end. They are insanely bright. I've got a 20" on my jeep, a 12" on my 4 wheeler as well as a 36" bar behind the grille on my Yukon. I love them.

You can get them on amazon or ebay all day long for $100 or so depending on length. I'd get the 50". Make sure to get the ones with CREE LEDs. They are the best in my experience. You can buy the USA made Rigid brand for $800 each and they do have better optics (more focused, etc.) but you don't need that in this application. The ebay or amazon bars will work just fine.

They are 12 volt powered so you would need to figure out some sort of power supply to take the 110 to 12 volt or you could run them off a car battery and have a 110V charger plugged in at all times. Probably the easiest way.

Good luck. Great idea.

 

[aeblank]

I would think 110V LED fixtures would make more sense.

This comes to mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spC80BlopM0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJCjFk8Bl0g

 

[gogojuice]

Those 110v are pretty expensive and really don't give you that many lums.

Is there a way to convert the 12volt to 110volt with out using a battery?

 

[k0ua]

Those 110v are pretty expensive and really don't give you that many lums.

Is there a way to convert the 12volt to 110volt with out using a battery?

Sure, a simple power supply. Figure the continuous current, size the power supply accordingly making sure not to exceed the supply's continuous rating or better yet giving yourself some more margin. Example, if the LED pulls 10 amps think about a 15 to 20 amp supply, as many supplies are not made for continuous service. They are often used to power two way radio equipment, which is intermittent service.

 

[k0ua]

But some things you need to think about are how are going to mount those lights to not blind the players but providing adequate overall lighting? Up high? How long will the power leads be? What size wiring, how many power supplies will need? All things to consider.

 

[gogojuice]

I'm not sure on any of those answers at the moment. I was just hoping that I could replace the power hungry work lights that I have been using. There 500watts each and I have 4 of them running for hours at a time.

My thought was to put them down the sides of the rink, space them out. and aim them down. I was thinking a small pole about 4-5 feet high angled down.

 

[aeblank]

Sure, a simple power supply. Figure the continuous current, size the power supply accordingly making sure not to exceed the supply's continuous rating or better yet giving yourself some more margin.

Get pricing on this BEFORE you order the 12 volt ones / rule out the 120 volt ones.
PSUs are expensive.

 

[Apsterbobed]

We just installed some 400 watt LED high bay lights, they put out 45,000 lumens. Depending on the size of the rink a few of those would light it up nicely. I didn't get the exact price but they were about $1100 each, but can you really put a price on putting together a proper rink if you expect the kids to make it to the NHL. I agree that the cheep light bar sounds like a great idea but definitely make sure you compare the price of the 12v LED with everything needed to run if from 120v to the 120v LED. You might be surprised. If it was me I would dig up or get an old car battery (used or maybe borrowed from the lawnmower or other summer toys) and the cheepest trickle charger you can find, because if you can make the power supply for next to nothing then the 12v light bars are a steel. I don't know if you have Mardens (a surplus and salvage store) but I got a trickle charger for $12 last fall. Just make sure you use #12 awg or larger if you want to run any distance from the battery to prevent any VD.

 

[k0ua]

Just m

ake sure you use #12 awg or larger if you want to run any distance from the battery to prevent any VD.

And just to be clear here, he means Voltage Drop