Canuke
Enlightened
I spent part of the Christmas holidays visiting family in Canada around Niagara Falls, and found something interesting (besides the apparent EXPLOSION of hotels in the last five years).
First, is that LED Christmas lights are a bigger hit north of the border than here, so far (California). The blue ones were the biggest hit by far, likely due to the fact that incans just can't do blue at that purity and brightness without fading... there was a bed & breakfast on River Road that was just covered in pure blue. According to my family, LED's took off after the big power blackout of 2003 raised conservation awareness.
The biggest display was the Festival of Lights in Niagara Falls Canada, where all the trees around the falls are now done in LED's. (The Rainbow Center on the U.S. side has also updated their rainbow display to LED's, and looks TONS better for the purer colors!) Interestingly, for those curious about such things, all the trees done in green used 505nm traffic light green rather than 525nm (compared directly to adjacent traffic lights, which follow the same specs as in the U.S.) There are still some incandescents, but these are confined almost entirely to the older ropelight displays.
Speaking of ropelights, what really caught my eye was a colorful LED ropelight display, in front of what I think is the oldest church in Niagara Falls. Not only was it beautifully sculpted, but it was using a rectified power supply (I can tell by eye).
So, does anyone know of any commercially produced AC rectifiers? I built one as a proof-of-concept for myself, but it's rather unwieldy, and I've not figured out how to make a cheap, compact and safely enclosed version.
It seems to me that with the expansion of the LED Christmas light market, there exists an opportunity to make a lot of cash selling $5 adapter units which double their brightness and get rid of the flicker... I'd do it myself, but manufacturing isn't my thing.
First, is that LED Christmas lights are a bigger hit north of the border than here, so far (California). The blue ones were the biggest hit by far, likely due to the fact that incans just can't do blue at that purity and brightness without fading... there was a bed & breakfast on River Road that was just covered in pure blue. According to my family, LED's took off after the big power blackout of 2003 raised conservation awareness.
The biggest display was the Festival of Lights in Niagara Falls Canada, where all the trees around the falls are now done in LED's. (The Rainbow Center on the U.S. side has also updated their rainbow display to LED's, and looks TONS better for the purer colors!) Interestingly, for those curious about such things, all the trees done in green used 505nm traffic light green rather than 525nm (compared directly to adjacent traffic lights, which follow the same specs as in the U.S.) There are still some incandescents, but these are confined almost entirely to the older ropelight displays.
Speaking of ropelights, what really caught my eye was a colorful LED ropelight display, in front of what I think is the oldest church in Niagara Falls. Not only was it beautifully sculpted, but it was using a rectified power supply (I can tell by eye).
So, does anyone know of any commercially produced AC rectifiers? I built one as a proof-of-concept for myself, but it's rather unwieldy, and I've not figured out how to make a cheap, compact and safely enclosed version.
It seems to me that with the expansion of the LED Christmas light market, there exists an opportunity to make a lot of cash selling $5 adapter units which double their brightness and get rid of the flicker... I'd do it myself, but manufacturing isn't my thing.
