LED lighting

[mo2]

On MTV cribs I saw a flat where there was led lighting going all around just above the skirting which lit the walls. It didn't look too impressive, until he changed the colour of the lights making the room look totally different. I want to do a similar thing in one of the rooms in my house

I know this is a big project and hope to do it in a year or so I was just wondering how I would go about it

I quite new to this kind of electronics and this level of DIY so I have a lot of questions

First of all, the most important question What kind of lights would I use - I have seen 12v spot bulbs on Ebay that fit into a regular spotlight, but that would mean having spotlights all round the room - transformers galore - right?

How would I get the the electricity where I want it - would I be able to spur off a socket(which would mean a lot less plaster removal ) or would I connect it to the lighting circuit.

SO picture it - a red led bulb - green led bulb - a blue led bulb going all the way round. That would be three rings which I would connect to three switches so that when switch 1 is on all the reds are on, when switch2 is on all the blues are on etc etc


How much time and money would I need to put in this project(The room is quite big)

EDIT - When I have determined what kind of bulbs/fitments to use, there will be the issue of mounting it all on the wall - luckily every wall is a brick wall

 

[RF Lighting]

Take a look at this site Click Here

It is all good quality gear. You will need to connect the LEDs to a proper controller rather than just three switches. This will also allow you to produce the whole spectrum (or near enough) with just the three LED colours.

Be warned this technology is still relatively new and your project will more than likely cost well into the thousands . (that is why it is on cribs, and not in every home in the land!)

 

[mo2]

huh, there's no prices on that page, but yes that makes sense, I don't really need the whole spectrum, just those three colours will do,,I assume that's much easier to install than my way, but will my way work or is that the only way

edit - what is 50mm MR16 down light housing

thx
mo

 

[breezer]

I don't really need the whole spectrum, just those three colours will do

guess what buy 3 colours (red, green & blue) you get another 16 million free

i am being serious

with the 3 colours you can make almost any colour you wish, but as was mentioned its not that easy becaause you can not dim an led, you can however pulse it so fast that it appears dim and by mixing the colours you get 16,000,000 hues but that is why it costs so much, the technologhy to pulse the leds that fast.

you may want to look in your local b & q as they have a kit of 4 colour changing leds (thats 6 micro leds,in each of 4 "lights" ) they cost around £50, i have a set they change via a controller, but you will need a couple og kits to light a room.

you may also want to see this

 

[mo2]

I don't really need the whole spectrum, just those three colours will do

guess what buy 3 colours (red, green & blue) you get another 16 million free

i am being serious

with the 3 colours you can make almost any colour you wish, but as was mentioned its not that easy becaause you can not dim an led, you can however pulse it so fast that it appears dim and by mixing the colours you get 16,000,000 hues but that is why it costs so much, the technologhy to pulse the leds that fast.

you may want to look in your local b & q as they have a kit of 4 colour changing leds (thats 6 micro leds,in each of 4 "lights" ) they cost around £50, i have a set they change via a controller, but you will need a couple og kits to light a room.

you may also want to search on here about colouredleds (last night's posts)

The three colours are what I want most - because instead of having a controller that will make one bulb or whatever set of leds - I was thinking a red bulb a ble and a green seperate like the way I saw it, is this cheaper or am I still looking at the same cost? rgb are all the colours I want unless there's only a small price difference#

I hope I am making sense because i'm confusing myself

regards
mo
=============================
please see forum rule 6

just to make sure you notice

 

[Pensdown]

I don’t know if you have considered fibre optic lighting. You can often achieve a similar effect for a lot less money although the running costs are higher. The light source is normally something like a 70w metal halide lamp in a light box to which the fibre optic harness connects. The light source feeds a number of light fittings, about 12 for decorative purposes and 6 for task/display lighting.

You can also fit a colour wheel in the light box. This can be made with any colours of your choice and the lights can change colour either manually or automatically to create the effect you want.

One of the advantages is that because there is no lamp or electrics in the light fitting it can be completely built in or submersed in water.

This link may give you some ideas.

http://www.universal-fibre-optics.com/

 

[plugwash]

becaause you can not dim an led

a change in current most certainly will dim an LED.

pulsing is usually simpler to implement though, much as we use phase cutters rather than resistive dimmers for mains lighting.

 

[mo2]

I don’t know if you have considered fibre optic lighting. You can often achieve a similar effect for a lot less money although the running costs are higher. The light source is normally something like a 70w metal halide lamp in a light box to which the fibre optic harness connects. The light source feeds a number of light fittings, about 12 for decorative purposes and 6 for task/display lighting.

You can also fit a colour wheel in the light box. This can be made with any colours of your choice and the lights can change colour either manually or automatically to create the effect you want.

One of the advantages is that because there is no lamp or electrics in the light fitting it can be completely built in or submersed in water.

This link may give you some ideas.

http://www.universal-fibre-optics.com/[/QUOTE]


wow - interesting, seems a little complicated though

 

[breezer]

becaause you can not dim an led

a change in current most certainly will dim an LED.

pulsing is usually simpler to implement though, much as we use phase cutters rather than resistive dimmers for mains lighting.

think you will find they pulse it, though if you say so i will bow to your knowledge on that one, but those i have seen they pulse it (but i have never really checked the ones i have so again you may be right on that one)

 

[plugwash]

they do pulse it just as we phase cut our mains lights because its easier to do that than it is to actually vary the voltage.

and no the circuitry to do the pulsing is not that expensive.

 

[breezer]

I hope I am making sense because i'm confusing myself

so i see.

for the 2nd time

if you mix rg&b you can make over 16 million colours, so yur 3 lighs, be it leds or lamps will still have the possbility of 16million colours, have a look at the link read all of it and watch the clip i posted, yes its quick but you will see its done with 3 colours.

also have a close look at a tv set, i mean eyeball to screen close you will see millions of rg & b dots

(one day i will press the spell check button)

 

[Pensdown]

wow - interesting, seems a little complicated though

Sorry, thats just my wording..they really are very very simple to install

 

[breezer]

wow - interesting, seems a little complicated though

Sorry, thats just my wording..they really are very very simple to install

ahem. i never said that

mo2 did

I don’t know if you have considered fibre optic lighting. You can often achieve a similar effect for a lot less money although the running costs are higher. The light source is normally something like a 70w metal halide lamp in a light box to which the fibre optic harness connects. The light source feeds a number of light fittings, about 12 for decorative purposes and 6 for task/display lighting.

You can also fit a colour wheel in the light box. This can be made with any colours of your choice and the lights can change colour either manually or automatically to create the effect you want.

One of the advantages is that because there is no lamp or electrics in the light fitting it can be completely built in or submersed in water.

This link may give you some ideas.

http://www.universal-fibre-optics.com/[/QUOTE]


wow - interesting, seems a little complicated though

 

[Pensdown]

It's been another long day.....

 

[riveralt]

It's been another long day.....

Its been another long FIVE years actually.