Patent ID: 8491155

Claim:
A solid state lighting system, comprising: a controller configured to receive an AC power signal, the controller further configured to selectively rectify the AC power signal to select a blackout lighting mode; a plurality of solid state lighting strands coupled to the controller in a daisy-chained arrangement and configured to be mounted in a shelter, each solid state lighting strand including: an AC/DC multi-wire cord including cooperative male and female connectors disposed at opposing ends thereof and coupled to one another by first and second AC wires and an AC ground wire extending through the AC/DC multi-wire cord; a power supply coupled in-line with the multi-wire cord between the male and female connectors and electrically coupled to the AC wires, the power supply configured to generate a DC voltage from an AC voltage received over the AC wires, and the power supply further configured to detect rectification of the AC power signal by the controller to select the blackout lighting mode; a plurality of solid state light fixtures coupled to the multi-wire cord and configured to hang from the multi-wire cord and project light in a downward direction when the AC/DC multi-wire cord is suspended in a generally horizontal orientation in the shelter, each solid state light fixture including a set of white Light Emitting Diodes (LED's) and a set of blue LED's disposed on a circuit board, the circuit board including first and second opposing surfaces and a plurality of apertures extending between the first and second surfaces, and wherein each of the LED's in the sets of white and blue LED's is mounted to the first surface of the circuit board and oriented in an inverted orientation to project light through a respective aperture from among the plurality of apertures in the circuit board; and a plurality of DC wires disposed within the multi-wire cord and electrically coupling the power supply to each of the solid state light fixtures to power each light fixture with the DC voltage generated by the power supply; wherein the power supply is configured to energize the set of white LED's in each solid state light fixture when the AC power signal is not rectified by the controller, and to energize the set of blue LED's in each solid state light fixture when the AC power signal is rectified by the controller.