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I have been working on my 12VDC low voltage home lighting system.
The key components are:
12VDC AC/DC brlck power supply.
Relay control box. Everything goes through this box. Power in, sunrise/sunset sensor, motion sensor and output distribution cables.
Sunrise/Sunset sensor. This gives me a closed contact when it gets dark. The closed contact is used to drive the relays to switch power to the output distribution lines. One line goes to power the front porch lights and the other main cable will feed the rest of the house of LED based lights.
CAT5 cable. This twisted pair cable cost less than 2 or 4 wire sheath wiring and as such I bought a box of 1000 feet of it at Fry's.
Purpose: Install moonlight level lighting in key dark spots of the house using tri-cluster'd 3mm and 1W Luxeon McCans where more light is needed.
While I have many LED night lights in key areas it is still too dark to walk from room to room without having to turn on the lights just to get to the next room. The kitchen is a good example. Just to pass through the kitchen to get to the family room and from there is door to the garage I have to turn on the kitchen light. Of course when I get to the other side I don't have another switch to turn it off. To be totally power miser I suppose I could then turn on the family room light, back track and turn off the kitchen light and then proceed to the garage and then backtrack to turn off the family room.
That's just too unrealistic and I just leave the lights on since backtracking would be a total waste of time.
I checked and found with one Arc AAA pointed up to the ceiling 12" down from almost any wall would provide a dim but navigatable flood similar as if there was a full moon. Since a large area is lit and not just a spot here and there it is quite easy to see and navigate. I tried the Arc AAA in various rooms and was quite surprised how well this worked in the hallway, kitchen and bathrooms. I think I'll even put one of these in each of my closets too.
Since the Arc AA is a single 5mm slightly overdriven LED I figure three 3mms should do as well if not better in these key situations.
I found one 1W on the porch pointing upward provided enough lighting to light up the key hole. Currently only the streelight across the street provides little if any when your body is standing between the keyhole and the light. It's impossible to see the keyhole currently.
Here some of the components I bought and will be installing.
Far left are the brass balls that take the rubber tri-cluster disk and three 3mm LEDs. Next to them are the 9 star housings. The rubber disk that goes in these accepts 9 3mm LEDs. Down the middle are the threaded tubes that screw into the brass balls giving them a threaded stalk to screw into the brass wall plates.
Center tray is all brass balls and the relay control box I made last week.
Upper right tray. The black box is the sunrise/sunset sensor kit. The brass wall plates that the brass balls mount to and some brass tri-clusters.
As I move along I will post additional pictures. Hopefully, I will get time to take the same exposure before and after pictures as I get it working. I'm taking a break right now since the attic is too hot to continue working up there.
I have been working on my 12VDC low voltage home lighting system.
The key components are:
12VDC AC/DC brlck power supply.
Relay control box. Everything goes through this box. Power in, sunrise/sunset sensor, motion sensor and output distribution cables.
Sunrise/Sunset sensor. This gives me a closed contact when it gets dark. The closed contact is used to drive the relays to switch power to the output distribution lines. One line goes to power the front porch lights and the other main cable will feed the rest of the house of LED based lights.
CAT5 cable. This twisted pair cable cost less than 2 or 4 wire sheath wiring and as such I bought a box of 1000 feet of it at Fry's.
Purpose: Install moonlight level lighting in key dark spots of the house using tri-cluster'd 3mm and 1W Luxeon McCans where more light is needed.
While I have many LED night lights in key areas it is still too dark to walk from room to room without having to turn on the lights just to get to the next room. The kitchen is a good example. Just to pass through the kitchen to get to the family room and from there is door to the garage I have to turn on the kitchen light. Of course when I get to the other side I don't have another switch to turn it off. To be totally power miser I suppose I could then turn on the family room light, back track and turn off the kitchen light and then proceed to the garage and then backtrack to turn off the family room.
That's just too unrealistic and I just leave the lights on since backtracking would be a total waste of time.
I checked and found with one Arc AAA pointed up to the ceiling 12" down from almost any wall would provide a dim but navigatable flood similar as if there was a full moon. Since a large area is lit and not just a spot here and there it is quite easy to see and navigate. I tried the Arc AAA in various rooms and was quite surprised how well this worked in the hallway, kitchen and bathrooms. I think I'll even put one of these in each of my closets too.
Since the Arc AA is a single 5mm slightly overdriven LED I figure three 3mms should do as well if not better in these key situations.
I found one 1W on the porch pointing upward provided enough lighting to light up the key hole. Currently only the streelight across the street provides little if any when your body is standing between the keyhole and the light. It's impossible to see the keyhole currently.
Here some of the components I bought and will be installing.
Far left are the brass balls that take the rubber tri-cluster disk and three 3mm LEDs. Next to them are the 9 star housings. The rubber disk that goes in these accepts 9 3mm LEDs. Down the middle are the threaded tubes that screw into the brass balls giving them a threaded stalk to screw into the brass wall plates.
Center tray is all brass balls and the relay control box I made last week.
Upper right tray. The black box is the sunrise/sunset sensor kit. The brass wall plates that the brass balls mount to and some brass tri-clusters.
As I move along I will post additional pictures. Hopefully, I will get time to take the same exposure before and after pictures as I get it working. I'm taking a break right now since the attic is too hot to continue working up there.
