Homemade LED cabinet Lighting - Leap of Faith

[Anthony3]

Hi all,

I am near completion of homemade 11' built in shelving. Now heres my idea. I would like to put in LED lighting for spot lighting momento's and the like.

Now heres my dream to wire the underside of the shelves like a childs race car track with exposed low voltage wiring. My plan is to be able to position the LED's where I see fit and change them remove them as necessary.

The limitations I understand is the amount LED's I can have with relation to the wal wart or ac/dc transformer that I use.

My original thought was to have each LED "puck" composed of 3 std 5mm white LEDs in series connected to a driver (the one that uses LM317T). My thougts were to secure them to a non conductive magnet that would stick to the exposed wiring.

1st question, is my idea safe.
2nd will my concept work.
3rd how can you help me make it better


Thanks
Anthony

 

[Tekno_Cowboy]

:welcome:

The first suggestion I'll make is to use higher quality LED's than 5mm's. I have yet to see a nice tint coming out of a 5mm LED.

I'd recommend using some S42180 SSC LED's. You should be able to get them from Mouser.com soon. The light out of them should still be a bit whiter than your main lighting, but shouldn't look cold. You'd only need 1 per fixture.

I think you'd be better off keeping the wiring and the track separate. make the lights so that they can be moved freely on the track, and then hook up the wires. You should be able to find some flat wire to keep it from standing out.

 

[blasterman]

This thread maybe belongs in the fixed lighting forum :nana:

My original thought was to have each LED "puck" composed of 3 std 5mm white LEDs in series connected to a driver

As above, you aren't going to find too much 'love' around here when it comes to fixed lighting and 5mm LEDs. I mean, you can install them and they'll likely work, but longevity/color consistency is a serious issue. Given the proven track record and increasing availability of 1-3watt LEDs I really, really wish you'd go that route.

What a lot of us are doing, and will likely work just as good for your project, is use aluminum bar that you can get at any home improvement store. Here's a thread showing how simple it is.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=213766

You can affix the stars with a tiny bit of superglue, or a small screw. This way you can move them around if you need to.

The limitations I understand is the amount LED's I can have with relation to the wal wart or ac/dc transformer that I use.

Much easier just to use a dedicated LED supply. This Xitanium for instance (if I do the math right) should be able to drive about a dozen Neutral/Warm-White Crees (or the the Seouls mentioned above) at 350mA with as much reliability (or more) as any commercial fixture.

http://ledsupply.com/xi-led120a0700c24f.php

Easy project....we'll be happy to help.

 

[Dances with Flashlight]

This is a great project. I may be about the only one around these parts who appreciates the little 5mm's - for some lighting they just might be ideal. Many, of course, have a bluish tint which looks great on china/ceramics. If comparatively dim point sources fit the bill, 5mm's may be ideal. However, there's no doubt about the efficiency and comparative brightness of P4's and Crees, and you can shop around for most any tint you want. P4's might give a bit more flood.

Good luck - Post some pics.

 

[Anthony3]

Thank Tekno cowboy/blasterman

I agree Tekno Cowboy that 5mm Led is not the way to go now and I like the 1 LED per fixture. Possibly 350mA, however would that be to bright to shine down from the bottom of one shelf shining on object on the bottom of the other?


Blasterman- with your suggestion using the Xitanium they would have mostly have to run in series with a few strings in parallel. Which would eliminate my idea of running two exposed lines like a toy race track (pitty). I suppose I would need a power supply that was capable of pushing a couple of amps at a low voltage.

thanks for both your suggestions :twothumbs

I do appreciate any more suggestions:thinking:

 

[Tekno_Cowboy]

I'm using a Q3-5A Cree with a home brew heat sink and diffuser, and it's pushed at 350mA. Here's a picture, I'll let you decide:



Looking at it now, on my screen the picture looks about 1/3 stop under exposed :sigh:

 

[blasterman]

I suppose I would need a power supply that was capable of pushing a couple of amps at a low voltage.

I see what you're trying to do, and essentially it sounds like you want to run each LED in parallel, which is going to be really hard with a simple circuit. Only way I can see it working is if you run a current regulator on each LED and use a very high current power supply, like a computer PSU. It's certainly workable in that fashion and will allow you to run a simple plug -n- play track, but it's a lot of added cost and complexity for a straight parallel config.

As or brightness and other concerns, I would get a Cree or Seoul, a 350mA driver, and play around with it. This is really the best way to get a visual for what you need and what these LEDs can do.

 

[65535]

Get a simple switch mode 12V powersupply and make little LED pucks that have your led array or led with reflector and a small regulator that drops 12V to you source voltage.