This little project served two purposes. I have for a long time wanted to do some fiberoptic work which may, in time, turn into a small business opportunity. This was my first foray into that world. At the same time, and after some research, I realized that there has to be a cheaper way to generate the light needed for the fiber. Enter LEDs and many thanks to CPF and the membership here.
So, I spent about an hour last night soldering, drilling and glueing to prove to myself that I knew what I was doing. The LED is a Cree XR-E R2. The driver is an 800ma CC with an input range of 5-12. The power supply is a 5v 800ma charger for an LG phone. I mounted the LED in a metal electrical box with a mixture of arctic silver and JB weld (its what I had on hand). I figured the box would work as a heat sink for testing purposes. The fiber was bought from www.fiberopticproducts.com and is their 25 strand .75mm Endglow fiber pack. I drilled several holes in a spare piece of MDF and glued the fibers from the back. On a couple holes I doubled and trippled the fibers for a larger star effect.
The soldering wasn't too bad. I'm greatful to my former employer for passing on this valueble skill. I was ecstatic when I first plugged in the power supply and didn't see any smoke, and was equally happy to see how bright the LED is. The box gets warm after several minutes on, but by no means hot. The power supply heats up some, but again not hot. To get an idea of what the finished product may look like when correctly installed in teh ceiling, I hung the board in my utility room and snapped some pics.
The LED at 800ma is definately too bright for this purpose, but again this is proof of concept, not an end product. My idea with the electrical box was to put the driver inside with the LED, and I can still do this, but may switch the orientation so the LED is on the long side instead, then I could fit 3 leds and create allow for more fibers per box. I do not have a temp probe setup, so I can not say if the box is working effectively as a heat sink. As mentioned, I suspect it will work well enough for testing.
Enough talking, here's the pictures:
So, I spent about an hour last night soldering, drilling and glueing to prove to myself that I knew what I was doing. The LED is a Cree XR-E R2. The driver is an 800ma CC with an input range of 5-12. The power supply is a 5v 800ma charger for an LG phone. I mounted the LED in a metal electrical box with a mixture of arctic silver and JB weld (its what I had on hand). I figured the box would work as a heat sink for testing purposes. The fiber was bought from www.fiberopticproducts.com and is their 25 strand .75mm Endglow fiber pack. I drilled several holes in a spare piece of MDF and glued the fibers from the back. On a couple holes I doubled and trippled the fibers for a larger star effect.
The soldering wasn't too bad. I'm greatful to my former employer for passing on this valueble skill. I was ecstatic when I first plugged in the power supply and didn't see any smoke, and was equally happy to see how bright the LED is. The box gets warm after several minutes on, but by no means hot. The power supply heats up some, but again not hot. To get an idea of what the finished product may look like when correctly installed in teh ceiling, I hung the board in my utility room and snapped some pics.
The LED at 800ma is definately too bright for this purpose, but again this is proof of concept, not an end product. My idea with the electrical box was to put the driver inside with the LED, and I can still do this, but may switch the orientation so the LED is on the long side instead, then I could fit 3 leds and create allow for more fibers per box. I do not have a temp probe setup, so I can not say if the box is working effectively as a heat sink. As mentioned, I suspect it will work well enough for testing.
Enough talking, here's the pictures:
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