Help on a Star Wars room project for a terminally ill child - LED acrylic poster

Hey all - 1st post, long time browser (from Backpacker.com forums).

I am working on a project to convert a terminally ill child's bedroom into a Star Wars room. One of my ideas is to have an acrylic laser etched into three dimensional posters that will be lit up using LEDs. I was originally going to use electrolumeniscent tape but it is rather expensive so I'd like to just hide LEDs in the channel of the frame and light it that way.

I specifically need two frames that will be 18" x 24" and I would drill holes into it and then run the wiring inside the frame. I was taking a wild guess at about 8-10 LEDs but don't actually have a clue how many I would need to light up the frame. I also have no idea on the electrical requirements for this project but I do have a soldering iron.

I have two acrylic panels, one blue acrylic and the other red. I would like to use corrosponding LED colors to enhance the colors.

Can someone tell me how many LEDs, what kind (be specific because I say again...I am clueless), and what I need for a power source? If I should be asking something else, feel free to tell me.

Here's the project I'm working on: http://www.backpacker.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=852107219;t=9991150062

I'm unable to help with the questions you've got but did visit BP forum. Tell the Little Man to stay strong.

Transaction ID 9R631014MR974793E

I don't have anything to offer in that area either, but made a donation. I can't imagine how painful this must be for his family to see him go through this.

You should be able to power this with a DC wall wart as a power supply, and the rest of the wiring is simple.

http://ledcalc.com/
LED resistor calculator that should help you in figuring out how to wire them. I'd suspect maybe more then 8-10 LEDs but cant be sure for how bright you want it to be. But more LEDs should help it be more evenly lit, and you dont have to run them at full power.


http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/multilayer-animation/index_eng may be relevant too.

Would it be a "copout" to purchase a 12" LED strip and then use the calculator to figure out which wall wart to use?

CKOD said:

You should be able to power this with a DC wall wart as a power supply, and the rest of the wiring is simple.

http://ledcalc.com/
LED resistor calculator that should help you in figuring out how to wire them. I'd suspect maybe more then 8-10 LEDs but cant be sure for how bright you want it to be. But more LEDs should help it be more evenly lit, and you dont have to run them at full power.


http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/multilayer-animation/index_eng may be relevant too.

Click to expand...

These might be an easier and neater option, the colors should be appropriate too. These should be available in the US easily http://pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=209_5

Edit: They do seem to use leds for these signs so maybe ccfl isn't bright enough? Maybe the narrow angle of the led output works better. Maybe even call these guys and ask what works best for them? https://sites.google.com/a/illsigns.com/illsigns/

The led strips are often ready to go with 12v power. The thing I'm not sure about is whether the dispersion angle is important, it may be that the led strips use wider dispersion surface mount leds.

With the led wiring, you will need groups of leds in series, that's - to +, the number of leds in each group will depend on your power supply and the voltage drop of each led. Then you will need a resistor for each group to limit the current. Different color leds will have different voltage drop. ~2.5v to 3v is common, so you might get 3 leds per group with a 12v supply.

Is it safe to mix and match blue, red, and white led light strips on one power source if they are all 12 volt? Daisychain them?

The LED strips all have resistors already, and if they are meant to run off 12v (most/a lot are) then you can run multiple in parallel off one power source. And with the size of the sign youre going for would probably be a good option over individual LEDs.

Well, the page linked in your first post won't load for me, but if lasers is what you're going for I may have an idea for you. You should take a look at EL Wire. It's only a little over $1 a foot on average, and if lasers is the look you want, it'll be hard to beat it. It runs off of an AC current not dc, so an inverter may be necessary.

http://www.elwirepros.com/el-wire-by-the-foot-32.html

Some Examples:

That ELWire looks really cool but I'm struggling to find an application for it in the room. The server link at the top is back up so if you want to look at the sketches and let me know of an area they might come in handy I'd appreciate it. I'm really trying to keep the room "clean" in design so it has to make sense to the room if you know what I mean. I've already got quite a few effects including electrolumeniscent tape, fiber optics, LED strip lights, LED neon tube light, magnetics, and black light effects.