I have a project that I wanted to do for a longest time. However it's been a very long time since I took physics and I don't really remember anything about optics at all. So I wanted to check with people who work with LEDs to see if my project is even possible (or worth time/money spent on it).
I would like to put a sunlight collector on the roof of my house, be it a parabolic collector, or just a simple lens, then user fiberoptics to direct the light to the basement, put a small, mirror-covered junction boxes with LED lights inside of them, and then use more fiberoptics to deliver the light to the recessed lights.
I would like to do this in two steps. First, since I'm going to be building rooms in the basement, I would like to do those junction boxes and fiberoptics to the recessed light. At some point later, I would do the light collector on the roof and fiber down to the junction boxes.
I understand that fiberoptics are still very expensive, and this project isn't going to save me any money, even on the long run. But it would be very cool to have natural day-light in the basement, and it would also be cool to have LED lights that are centralized and use the same wires/fibers to light the rooms during the evening, or even to add more lights if it's cloudy outside. I approximate that the whole project is going to cost me somewhere in the area of 1.5-2K to do, and I'm willing to pay that, if what I'm trying to do makes any sense, and will actually output good light.
Now I would like to ask knowledgeable people to explain to me a few things about the first part of my project. As far as I understand, even the glass fiberoptics looses a lot of light. And the longer the cable is, the more light is going to be lost. More then that, the more I bent the cable, the more light I'm going to lose. If I'm going to do, say, 6 strips of fiberoptic cable, 100 fibers each from the junction box to the recessed fixtures, how powerful should the LED lights be to light up the room (about 20'x40'). I have 6 recessed lights in my living room, which is about the same size and each light is somewhere around 900 lumen. Does it mean that LED source should be 6 times 900 times percentage that is lost in the fiberoptics? (I'd like it to be as bright in the basement as it is in my living room).
I can't find any calculations on the internet that would help me figure out the required power of the LED source. I'm also having a lot of trouble finding the rate of loss of the fiberoptics as well.
And help would be very appreciated. I don't expect anyone to do all calculations for me, but at least point me in the direction where I can read up on this and education myself, please!
I would like to put a sunlight collector on the roof of my house, be it a parabolic collector, or just a simple lens, then user fiberoptics to direct the light to the basement, put a small, mirror-covered junction boxes with LED lights inside of them, and then use more fiberoptics to deliver the light to the recessed lights.
I would like to do this in two steps. First, since I'm going to be building rooms in the basement, I would like to do those junction boxes and fiberoptics to the recessed light. At some point later, I would do the light collector on the roof and fiber down to the junction boxes.
I understand that fiberoptics are still very expensive, and this project isn't going to save me any money, even on the long run. But it would be very cool to have natural day-light in the basement, and it would also be cool to have LED lights that are centralized and use the same wires/fibers to light the rooms during the evening, or even to add more lights if it's cloudy outside. I approximate that the whole project is going to cost me somewhere in the area of 1.5-2K to do, and I'm willing to pay that, if what I'm trying to do makes any sense, and will actually output good light.
Now I would like to ask knowledgeable people to explain to me a few things about the first part of my project. As far as I understand, even the glass fiberoptics looses a lot of light. And the longer the cable is, the more light is going to be lost. More then that, the more I bent the cable, the more light I'm going to lose. If I'm going to do, say, 6 strips of fiberoptic cable, 100 fibers each from the junction box to the recessed fixtures, how powerful should the LED lights be to light up the room (about 20'x40'). I have 6 recessed lights in my living room, which is about the same size and each light is somewhere around 900 lumen. Does it mean that LED source should be 6 times 900 times percentage that is lost in the fiberoptics? (I'd like it to be as bright in the basement as it is in my living room).
I can't find any calculations on the internet that would help me figure out the required power of the LED source. I'm also having a lot of trouble finding the rate of loss of the fiberoptics as well.
And help would be very appreciated. I don't expect anyone to do all calculations for me, but at least point me in the direction where I can read up on this and education myself, please!
