RE: Automatable lighting (LED?) for my loft?

["Paul Gale" <groups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Gerry,

Thanks for that. I've built up all the boards and was planning to install
t=
hem in the garden but as the loft conversion came along, that's on hold
for=
a bit!

The biggest problem with the lighting in the loft is that most of the
walls=
are at 45 Deg! Not many places to put traditional lighting - maybe one or =
two of the 'strung' LV lighting systems though. I wonder if I could modify
=
one of these?

My thoughts so far with the LED stuff was to have a series of longish
'bar'=
fixtures with diffusers to give a uniform wash along a length of wall. May=
be a whole load of RGB LED's at quite short spacing to achieve this - what
=
do you think? Can a whole group of lower power LED's be driven in parallel
=
from a single output? I guess I'd need an amplifier to do this? I'm
thinkin=
g maybe a meter long fixture with 30-40 Led's even?

Is this how the colour kinetix type systems work?

Lots to think about!

Thanks,

Paul.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
> Gerry Duprey
> Sent: 18 August 2006 16:41
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Automatable lighting (LED?) for my loft?
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> Howdy Paul,
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> > http://www.siliconpixel.com/gallery/main.php/v/loft/loft1.jpg.html
> >
> > Just trying to understand what=92s out there and what might work
well a=
nd
> look really cool =96 possibly some LED uplighting around the edges?
> Automatable of course! I do have a number of Gerry=92s RGB LED boards
tha=
t
> I=92ve still not used =96 so that could be a good controller, but not
sur=
e of
> fixings etc =96 and these are point LED=92s rather than built into
strips=
=85
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> I've had a lot of luck with taking fixtures I liked the look of,
gutting
> them
> and installing LEDs instead.  If you are looking for a lot of light in
a
> small
> package, the ProLight 3 watt RGBLED is a really good unit.  You have
to
> provide some heat sinking (a 1"x4" strip of aluminum will
work, bent into
> whatever shape or a shorter section physically connected to a metal
case)
> and
> you need to put a power driver (board each 1.2 AMPs with all colors
on),
> but
> it puts out a fair amount of light (60+ lumens) and is not too
expensive.
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> Note: I do have power-driver PCBs coming in soon (like today or
Monday)
> that
> are about 1" square and can drive LEDs that need up to 1amp per
color
> (these
> need about .375 amps per color).  Just FYI on that.
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> Uplighting is interesting, but with LEDs like these, you'll want
either
> shields over them or focusing lenses so folks aren't looking into them
> (bright
> enough to leave you seeing spots for hours).
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> I believe you could easily fit LEDs into typical ceiling eyeball
lights.
> Some
> of the 5 watt white LEDs are bright enough for room lighting and the
> 10watt
> ones coming out are practically too bright.  You can just put them on
an
> xformer or stick something like an mRGBLED controller (via an amp) to
> allow
> adjusting the dim level (just use one channel on the controller)
remotely=
.
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> If low volt wiring is a problem, lately I've been playing with the 150
> meter
> range RF devices from SparkFun.  They are very inexpensive and they
would
> work
> well with the RGBLED stuff (you could put a receiver at each RGBLED
board
> and
> as long as the boards are assigned their own board ID, each will be
> independently controllable even though all their receivers are on a
commo=
n
> frequency).  With that, you can bottle up a small power supply, RF
> receiver,
> mRGBLED board and driver and LED into a pretty small package that can
be
> wired
> into the mains and not need any extra wiring to control.
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> I've also been playing with bullet lights for task lighting around my
> desk/workspace.  They are a little tougher to refit (because they are
> small),
> but I like the small side, small intrusion into the room and ability
to
> easily
> move them around.  I've also used a few MR16 LED replacements and plan
on
> modifying them for a particularly interesting fixture I have in my
office=
.
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> Not sure if that's a lot of help -- I'm pretty much only good at
lighting
> for
> american arts and crafts architecture -- but a few ideas at least.
> --
> Gerry Duprey
> Ann Arbor, MI 48103
> http://www.cdp1802.org
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> Yahoo! Groups Links
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