[geeks] LED home lighting project

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Replies to two posts here...

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 @ 17:07 -0800, Phil Stracchino said:

> I believe you can obtain white LEDs from Radio Shack; I'm not sure
> whether you can buy them in bulk there yet.  You certainly ought to be
> able to find places where you can.  

Locally RS is about the only place, and they are a bit expensive.

I don't mind buying pre-made fixtures either, I just need them to be
small.

I've built a few small things, but getting good focus wasn't working
out.

> Anywhere in the 3v to 5v range is probably fine; read the specs
> on the device.  Wire your LEDs in parallel to a common bus; put a
> current-limiting resistor in series with each LED.  

That's pretty much the idea... I would probably just mount the power
supply in whatever cabinet was being lit, or at least nearby.

That's what is so nice about LEDs and cold cathodes: you can get away
with very small wiring that is easy to hide and install.

> excessively brittle.  For small light modules such as you're likely to
> be building, it would probably work just fine.

Almost... I really don't like the "row of LEDs affect".  I rather have
more uniform light sources.

I could probably get that with some sort of diffuser though.

I have a light in my car that is perfect for several spots at home, but
its battery powered, and I hate to buy a bunch of those at $7 each and
then cut them up to power with my DC bus.

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 @ 18:14 -0800, Gregory Leblanc said:

> > The traditional home lighting stuff is too bulky, and I don't like
> > things like the "light strings".
> 
> Traditional stuff being MR-11 and MR-16 fixtures?  

Never seen one before.

(google google google)

Ah, nice... but way too big for what I'm doing.

I'll keep it in mind for another project though.

> > The only things I have found small enough and bright enough, have been
> > things like automotive spot lamps for clipping in the car, or various
> > light decorations for computers.
> 
> What are you figuring on "bright enough"?  

It doesn't have to be that much, but most of the stuff I've found
locally is either the wrong physical format, or too dim.

The brightness of a keychain light would be fine in several areas, since
my idea is to have the lights fairly close to the target object.  I'm
looking for ways to light small areas, not large areas.

For example, a computer keyboard, small desk area without the clutter of
a desklamp, the front of my A/V equipment, etc.

I generally keep lights off at home, and it is annoying to have to turn
on a bright overhead light just to change CDs, etc.

And yes, part of it is because it looks cool.

> I do lighting with LEDs a fairly large amount, and know a lot about the
> range of LEDs.  For this application, though, it sounds like you want
> lighting that is more diffuse than directed.  

A bit of both actually.

> The best deal there is
> actually some breed of florescent, 

Oh hell no.  I *hate* flourescent lights.

> probably some small cold cathode devices.

Those aren't quite so bad.  I've been looking at them too.  

> I don't have a really good picture of what you're talking about,
> though, so I could be completely off-base.  

Not completely, and the information is still useful.

Picture a room with low lighting, and the annoying black spots where you
have things like A/V equipment, and areas where you'd like useful accent
lighting.  I hate to put in bulky lamps and ugly stuff.  Hidden, or at
least small and unobtrustive is the key.

Other uses will be things which might well work with track lighting.
I'll look at the MR-11/16 stuff.

Thanks.


-- 
shannon "AT" widomaker.com -- ["We have nothing to prove" -- Alan Dawkins]