Nature doing it’s thing I guess, so no one to be mad at for it.
Nice nook they have for their computer and stuff. That LED strip really makes that space more livable. Also really starting to like overhead lights for desks. My BenQ Lightbar saved my eyes (and sanity in a way).
Yeah it’s a nice nook, I tried to keep the cables tidy…to a point. The lighting is so much better now, and the LED’s were quite cheap - only a plug in sort.
A space too too clean and organized is probably not getting used, that’s how I see it.
Exactly! They’re also very cheap to run for long times and energy saving is getting more and more important as time goes by. Not just because all the big companies are trying to greenwash us, but because it’s at least something.
P.S. aren’t they gonna get hot over time and unglue from the “ceiling”? Maybe an alluminum channel would make them last longer.
I’ve had decent luck, but out in my garage in the Florida heat some of them will die at full voltage. Then again I had more sections die from abuse (DIY droplight) than heat. One cool trick I learned is to undervolt them. After I tripped over a new bike in my garage and broke a bunch of bones last year, I set up 12V LEDs on a 9V wall wart running24/7. Not nearly as hot, but bright enough to see so I don’t break my stupid face again. Or at least I can’t blame the lack of lighting next time!
Another cool trick I saw involved using incandescent lights as resistors to drop the voltage for LEDs. I have played around with torpedo dome lights out of old cars to dim the lights a bit for less heat and longer life. Obviously if you start drawing several watts on a 10 watt bulb then the bulb will start to glow, but for smaller LED sections it works out well. I was trying it out with my cheap PWM solar charge controller, along with an inductor and some capacitors to stop the lights from flickering when the charge controller was pulse charging the batteries. It went from very annoying to barely detectable.
There’s a bunch of interesting stuff about messing with LED’s on bigclivedotcom’s YouTube channel. His stuff on the Dubai Lights and modifying dollar store bulbs to last longer and be more efficient is really informative if you are in to that stuff.
That’s really smart, I never thought of that. I love me some bright warm lights so I would’ve never done that.
A variable voltage power supply wouldn’t be a better solution? If I’m not mistaken those don’t use resistors to drop the voltage but literally increase or reduce the windings of the secondary stage through the switch.
Saw both videos. He’s a clever lad! Thanks for the recommendation.
If it’s possible to tinker with it and electricity runs through it I’m sure interested.
It depends on what you mean by “better”. My solar LED trick used stuff I had on hand, so everything but the LEDs and a bit of solder had been salvaged. In that case, I was maybe drawing 1 watt for emergency lighting in a shed. I also had way more panel (144W) than I needed for experimentation. The other lights I used a wall wart because it was left over from some long defunct device. I have a bench power supply for testing things like fans and LEDs at different voltages, but I usually resort to reusing stuff on hand instead of spending money, so I break out the box of old wall warts.
If you wanted to run an entire 5 foot strip, and you wanted different light intensity, then a variable voltage, constant current power supply would be ideal. Much like the Dubai lamps, you can use more LEDs at lower voltage to get to the amount of lumens you want. The inefficiency of using more parts if offset by the better lumens per watt and substantially longer life span. For me in particular, the extra service life in hot environments and not adding heat to those areas are really important considerations. Once i get healed up I’m planning on sharing more of this kind of stuff in the DIY Corner.
I was just referring to reducing voltage running through a stip of LEDs in general, not in your specific case. It was clear that you did some thinkering with things you had on hand. I needed to better word my post.
Exactly. To be honest I’m really impressed that even at 5W my BenQ Screenbar can put out some serious light. I can’t imagine how much more powerful would be if it was designed to run at 9 or 12V!
I tend to go about things in odd ways, and generally limit the scope of my projects, so I usually focus on one aspect and do my best to expand on it as much as possible without spending money. For most people it wouldn’t make sense to do things the way I go about it, but particularly with DIY projects, better is in the eye of the beholder.
My Abrasive World Order nature causes me to have a knee-jerk reaction sometimes. In this case I found it particularly amusing that you could do something like upgrade the lighting in a car with LEDs and use the old incandescent bulb in a less obvious way to augment the usage of the LEDs. Or make them better
Quite right. I’ve seen some obsessively clean houses in my day job, I tend to wonder if people are enjoying the living part of life.
Yep! My parents lecky bill has gone up like everyone else’s, so this should help a little bit and I’m hoping to add more around the house (though properly wired in to light switches).
Yeah, the heat was a concern, I did say not to use them for 24 hours just to let the adhesive fully stick. In some ways it’s not an ideal location, but there aren’t many LED’s on that strip so we’ll see! An aluminium channel would certainly help.
Cheers
If I could, I would have taken a pic of the fish, they’re only a few inches long - not those offensively expensive Koi carp that are thousands each
