Gooseneck lamp

I'm not quite sure if this topic fits in here, or Homemade and Modified lights. If need be, feel free to move it appropriately.

I'm a DJ and looking to make a gooseneck lamp to illuminate my equipment in low-light environments. The lamp would be similar to those made by the Littlite Co.. The difference with mine, though, will be a multi-color set-up.

I'm planning on using some existing LED holders (at least I think they're holders) that I have, pictured below. I have 2, but don't think I'll need to use both for one lamp. I may make two, though.

Now, it's been a LONG time since I've bought individual LED's, and when I did, I thought that 3,000 mcd was a lot, at the time. After doing some searching on eBay, I'm seeing some that are up in the 10k, 40k, and even 60k mcd range! Specifically, from this seller: Wilycon LED Store. Has anyone dealt with this seller before? ...or, perhaps someone here has something similar or even better than those listed? I'd be more than willing to purchase from a well-known user here, rather than eBay. I want the brightest possible white and/or red LED's that I can get, without breaking the bank.

Now, the difference between mine and those Littlites is that I want to be able to switch from super-bright white LED to Red, for low-light applications. The holder that I have can hold 7, I believe, so, I'm thinking of alternating white/red/white/red/white/red/white. I'm not lighting up anything more than a 24"x24" area, and expect the gooseneck to have the light sitting at about 18" over the area.

Have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think. Anyone with the LED's that I'm looking for, feel free to contact me direct, or through the thread, for other folks to see.



The current gooseneck lamps that are already out there and available... just one color, though.





The holders that I have. Like I said, should hold 7 1/4" LEDs.



Thanks for the input!

- joe

there is a seller in hong kong that was similar, has better feedback LCK or something. i have delt with them.
probably the same basic products.

if you can at all possible, put the new "high powered" luxeon type leds in. they really DO last for Years, and the light will be very usefull.
they will be a little more like incadescents, a bunch of little leds are going to have a hard time being as bright as DJs incadescent lights on thier boards.

you would need 2 things to use the very High powered leds, a way to get the heat off them, or run them very low. and the correct voltage, or a driver or a resister , so you control the level of current.

does your system, have a 12V source , to run the lights?

On the OTHER hand, there are much brighter 5mm leds now, but when looking into MCD ratings, they can also be very Spotty, like a small circle on what your trying to read. instead of flooding your whole board.
and
if you arrange a bunch of them small ones in a series connection you will easier get closer to a high voltage like 12v.

is the small pic of the goosneck the ACTUAL starting base you have to work with? is it plastic or metal? do you think it would dissapate heat if you could mount a high powered "star" in there?

if you dont have a base YET, there is some awesome premade snake type lights using Lok-line with nice heads and high powered leds in them. not so cheap, but might be cheaper than overpriced DJ stuff. and never as cheap as do it yourself, but look GREAT.

what you have looks Real nice, and putting some good FLOOD 30-50* white leds along with some potent reds would be totally ok, i am not trying to desuade you, you just said the last thing you saw was weasily ones. and now they have ones that would light your board to READ by.

for an example of the MCD stuff, some of the ratings at e-bay are at overdrive, and cheap china leds work great for a long time at SPEC or a bit over, not overdrive. and some of the ones running 100ma want to have heat dissipation already too.

MCD is a RATING that is based on the brightness of a single center SPOT, a 3000 at 50degrees could be putting out as much light as a 20000 at only 5*.
the "lumens" type of rating, is the overall light it can put out, not the spot.

so when you read MCD ratings, you could be comparing apples and oranges, and could get a most useless light for a LAMP, ok for a flashlight, bad for a lamp /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

it LOOKS like you have 5mm leds there, are they about 5mm, or about 10mm, because 10mm ones can be driven much higher, and they also have some nice bright 8mm.