LEDs behind glass

[blasterman]

This was a neat project I did for a local Nightclub I've been helping out with some lighting upgrades. The lighting effect was unique and simple to build, so I thought I'd pass it on.

They have a couple island style bars with lots of shelves open in front and back, and we wanted a more modern, brighter look. Originally I just going to fire down some intense spots, but then I saw this ripple glass at a local craft store, and got the idea.

Not much to it. I built some wood standing frames, ordered the glass cut, and ran the LEDs on alu bars about a foot behind the glass facing up. It's a 1:1 mix of blue Crees and neutral white Rebels at 350mA. It was actually far too bright at 3watts each and the picture only looks dim because I want to hold the highlight detail. The effect looks both high tech, but organic at the same time because the glass is such an irregular texture.

I'm pretty sure this is the same glass, except mine isn't iridized.

 

[tsask]

beautiful! great pic. This is the future! glassblock etc with LEDs.
what type of power source- voltage conveter?

 

[jeffosborne]

Thanks for sharing this, blasterman! Very impressive. If I use this idea and make a similar arrangement, will I owe you some money?

Cheers,
Jeff O.

 

[blasterman]

No money - just admiration :thumbsup:

This was easy to power with a couple 700mA Xitaniums. LED's are split to run 350mA because it's way too bright at 3watts each.

Also, the further behind you put the LEDs from the glass the cooler it looks. Because this is also an optical effect, the 'look' tends to change as you walk around the room.

I'm in the process of building a lamp box with this glass, about 10" square and two feet high with the LEDs at the bottom. It looks really neat, but building a box with this glass is absurdly difficult.

If you have a studio or living room with an open floor plan you could put the glass on top of the room partition, and use neutral and warm whites for superb ambient light. Blue though emphasizes a 'water' look. A bunch of violet LEDs would be interesting as well.