Introduction

In our 2005 haunt providing 120V AC power to the various lights and props requiring it became a fairly large problem. Extension cords and wire suitable for 120 volts is fairly expansive. Providing enough circuits to prevent overload was always a major concern. And, of course, there is always the danger associated with working with 120V AC.

We had a few LED lights operating quite successfully in 2005 and made the decision that for 2006 we would move, to the greatest extent possible, to all low voltage LED lighting. The plan is to use one large modified computer power supply (salvaged from a dead Compaq Proliant 4500 server) to power all the LED lights. 12V DC will be run to a central distribution point in each room of the haunt (fused and switched) and from there to the lights. But first we needed to figure out what to use for the various lights we need. Which include spotlights (white and colored), wide spread low ambient lights, simulated candle and torch flame and UV lighting.

We decided to tackle the LED spotlights first because it seemed the simplest and there is some information and how-tos for accomplishing this already available and even some commercially available items.

The criteria we set out for the lights was the following in the order of importance:

We first considered buying our spotlights from Black Owl Productions. They look good, are most likely quite effective (we never tried them) and seem reasonably easy to use. But in most cases the mounting bracket would need to be altered for our use (most of our spotlights are hanging from the bottom of overhead floor joists). Also at an average cost of $8.50 each they don't really meet the inexpensive criteria (we currently use about 12 spotlights in our haunt and graveyard so even if the current spotlights can be replaced with LED spotlights on a one to one basis - not really likely - the cost of these lights would be over $100 plus shipping). This is not to disparage the efforts and products of Black Owl Productions at all. (we haven't even tried them) I salute anyone who makes an effort to satisfy the needs of the small home haunt market. The spotlights just didn't appear to meet our needs. Besides by purchasing the lights we give up the fun of DIY.

Next we looked at the information and how-tos available online. Wolfstone provides a wealth of information on many subjects relating to home haunting including using LEDs. HalloweenWiki has some useful information. But the most relevant to our search is the excellent how-to provided by Ugly Joe on HalloweenForum.com.

We made a couple of lights following his directions and they worked great. The were certainly effective and simple to use. They looked great and were reasonably cheap per unit. Our only problem was that they were a bit involved to construct. Not overly difficult but we wanted to see if we could simplify it even further.

So after some experimentation, and giving up some aesthetics for simplicity, the following is what we came up with. We constructed 12 of these units in a few hours and calculated that the cost per unit was less than $2 each. If you would like to duplicate our take on LED spotlights we recommend you first read through the entire how-to guide and then follow the steps while building.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to email us at ledlights@cindybob.com. When we solve our other LED lighting needs we will add further how-to guides.

Tip: If you are making a number of lights, it is quicker to complete each step for all the units before moving to the next.