78 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
Executable File
78 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
Executable File
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## LED Lighting
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Feb 2014: LED strips have been added to the underside of each shelf by
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[Gatohaus](User:Gatohaus "wikilink")
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([talk](User_talk:Gatohaus "wikilink")). These are SMD 5050 strips, 5m
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long, 300 LEDs each that draw 1.2A per meter at 12v. Note they have been
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trimmed nearly a foot each to fit. Total maximum wattage for the 10
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strips currently in place is 10 x 72w = 720w. Output is around 800-900
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lumens per meter. (~40k lumens) A good balance between light and heat
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(longevity) seems to be in the 3 to 4A per strip range.
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The location of the strips was chosen: to be somewhat protected, to
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light the shelf adequately, to avoid as much glare as possible, and to
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provide significant spillage into the surrounding area.
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Feb 2014: **Expect a few of the strips to fall down.** Some are still
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partially attached by their adhesive tape which won't really fail until
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they're warm for a while. When they do fail, reattach them with a hot
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glue gun. That seems (fingers crossed) to be permanent.
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### <u>Lessons Learned</u>
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#### Strip Choice
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SMD 3528's were also tested (the strip remains in use on the shelves).
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The 5050's were the same price (~\$12) at about the same efficiency but
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allow for a higher maximum brightness (and greater power draw of
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course).
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#### Adhering the strips
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The tape adhesive that comes on the strips works very poorly on OSB
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(shelving material used). They'll hold while the lights are off, but
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once they warm up the adhesive begins to fail. I tried 3M's "77" spray..
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an embarrassing failure. It too loses adhesion when warmed.
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Trying mechanical attachments, typically a nail or staple with a plastic
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brace, the type used to hold cables in place, proved troublesome. The
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OSB is hard enough that significant force is required with a hammer to
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drive the nails in. Over a span of 50m of LEDs it seems likely that
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misses would occur probably smashing some of the LED components.
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In the end a simple hot glue gun seems to have worked.
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#### Wiring & Power
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In hindsight it would have been better to mount the strips with more of
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the connecting leads sticking out at the end. The leads can easily be
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replaced if needed, they're just surface mounted.
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<s>I used a PC's ATX power supply which has 2 x 12v at 15A.</s> (I
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managed to damage this ps somehow.) I don't know how efficient it is but
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after spending several hours hunting for options in our collection of
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stuff, this seemed the best choice. Perhaps it can be replaced at some
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point. I'm giving one of the 15A sources to the lower 3 shelves, and the
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other to the top two shelves. This means the upper ones will be
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brighter, but the spill over will help illuminate the surrounding area.
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Temporarily (which tends to become permanent) there is another ATX ps
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plus a couple of in-line wall warts in place of the ATX mentioned above.
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This ATX has 12v at 21A and the two wall warts have 5A and 2.5A at 12v.
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Not quite the distribution I'd like, but it works.
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**Well... almost works...** After being on for half an hour or so the
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21A ATX takes a nap. Exhaust air feels cool, but it's probably too much
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of a load. So I added *another* computer power supply (~5A) to help out.
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Seems to be stable. Need help either repairing the original ATX supply
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or finding something else.
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### <u>Things to Improve</u>
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In general I'm not exactly proud of the wiring. It's solid and safe, but
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not quite pretty. If someone wishes to redo this work, please do!
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[Category:BasementShelves](Category:BasementShelves "wikilink") |