12v LED cabin lights

[Silverado6x6]

To really make the best usage of say an emergency light is to use a dc/dc converter, the lower the battery voltage the more it draws from the battery, these are relatively common in the better brands of LED flashlights now, what it does is say you have a single 3 volt lithium battery like I have in my Surefire, the converter ups the voltage to 3.6 volts at 40mA, when the battery gets weaker it compensates and still maintains the same voltage for the LED, a regular bulb as the voltage decreases DRAWS more current, and LED's works the opposite, the lesser the voltage the less current it draws.
what you have in the end is a flashlight that practically will never get dim, it will suck every last bit of voltage from a battery and keep that LED lit.

I'm saying this BECAUSE, yes you can wire simple LEDs with either individual resistors or wire them in series to a boats/RV battery system and its a moot point because you have that huge massive battery. A really good compact $150 flashlight like mine I can turn it on 20 times a day for a minute at a time for inspection work and I replace the single 3volt lithium battery on average once every 4 months. Its a Surefire. LEDs is great, shockproof, explosion proof, cold for the most part though the new hi output ones do get really hot and the best part is that the LED draws so much less than a regular bulb, can be turn on/off a million times and if LEFT ON continuously will only dim 20% after 100,000 hours (11.3 years).

goodnite.

[Alan Wheeler]

So Wheels, riddle me this:
You say "You must regulate current. "

Yes correct. Yes there is a forward operating voltage threshold. But after the LED begin conducting, it is all about current. It is what happens to the electron to produce a Photon that requires the current to make more electrons produce more photons. Some LED's can have an operating voltage as high as 3.5V Especially the torch type whit light versions. So operating from a battery unregulated is quite possible.

[bstreep]

OK, I know, I'm harping on this...

So I check the link on the LEDs you have. It takes pretty much ALL TEN LEDs to put out the same light as a single Rebel. That's 10X as much soldering, 10X as much room, 10X as much mounting. The price? $13 with shipping. Versus $7 for a Rebel.

The other thing I don't like is the built in or added resistors. Resistors are just electricity wasters.