Re: LED lighting

["Andy Laurence" <andy@xxxxxxx>]

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Dave McLaughlin" <dave@v...> wrote:
> From: Andy Laurence [mailto:andy@xxxxxxx...]
> >That sounds very cool!  These switches hide behind panels?!  I'd
be
> >worried about grubby finger marks where the switch is hidden.  I
for
> >one notice the grubby finger marks where people fumble in the dark
> >around certain switches in my house.
>
> I was looking to fit it in an area where dark colours are, such as
the
> worktop of the dark wood surround on the base of the cupboard units.

Simple solution!

> >That's a great idea, you just need to think about what it looks
like
> >on the bottom.  One thing I wasn't 100% happy about with my
install
> >was the angle of the lights.  They light up the rear half of the
work
> >surface extremely well, but the front half is less well lit.
Angling
> >the lights towards the front of the work surface would be useful.
> >This could easily be done using your method by simply planing the
> >wood at an angle.  It was a little tricky with the cabinets!
>
> I may go with the idea that Rodney Hall has give me in another email
> of using some ally strip from B&Q etc.
> One thing I was maybe going to do is to use a PCB for all the LED
> fitting. By making a standard size PCB of say 15mm x 300mm, I could
> make them linkable and allow more to be connected together. A recent
> idea was to put a CAN bus controller on each one so that I would
> have independent control of each module etc, with only a simple 4
> wire interconnect.

Sounds good.  I would say that you're much better off with a small
PCB on the back of the LED.  I fitted my LEDs directly into the
cabinets, so I had the soldering iron inside the cabinets, kneeling
on the worktop.  Soldering the wires on solidly enough that they
didn't come disconnected easily was hard.  In fact, 4 lights went out
at the weekend as one of the cables was knocked.

> >Sounds like a great idea.  One thing to think about is how you get
> >the wires from the power source to the wood holding the lights.  I
> >ran power from the socket above the cabinets through one of the
> >cabinets to the LEDs below.
>
> My cabinets are fitted slightly away from the wall. The top bar is
> fixed to the wall, but by drilling down through this, I can drop
> cables down the back. This is what I did for the touch screen
> computer I have fitted already.

Excellent!

> >I'd be inclined to find more powerful LEDs if I were to do it
again.
> >I used 8cd units, but I'd rather have used the 20cd units I've
found
> >at http://www.ervan-int.com/cgi-bin/products.pl?
> >category=ledlamps_lamps to the point that I'm considering
replacing
> >them, and will definitely use the more powerful ones for the next
> >project.  Question is, will that be the loft, garden, shed, or
inside
> >the cupboards?  I've thought about doing the same to light the
inside
> >of the cupboards.  Might look quite good.
>
> I have been checking around looking for something much more
powerful.
> The Luxeon ones look great but the price is very high. I may buy
one
> or two to give them a try though.

Yes, they are quite pricy, but very powerful.  I like the idea of the
little 5mm LEDs.  Personal taste, I suppose.

> I like the idea of some in the cupboards with a hidden magnetic
switch
> to detect when the door is opened and switch the LED's on. mmmm

Question is ... who'll do it first?  ;-)

Cheers,
Andy
--
http://ha.andylaurence.co.uk
http://projects.andylaurence.co.uk