Posted on Sunday, June 08, 2008 6:47 PM
SInce I started living in this house, I've been mucking about with all sorts of ideas for lighting. Especially in my living room, which doubles as my home theatre, it's very nice to have the lighting in that room on a remote control.
So, a year ago, I finished some things I have been working on and put them together to create a multi-switch with infra-red remote to create some atmosphere when I'm in that room.
Also very convenient when you're watching a movie, and you have to go potty; no stumbling for switches, just press the button on the remote next to you.
This is what that system looks like:
It works fine; the relays basically switch the mains voltage to a bunch of extension cords which have the various lights plugged in.
I'm aware of the fact that I could make a circuit which dims the lights instead of switching them, but since my entire house is fitted with energy efficient lights (only two incandescent lamps on the premesis, both outside), I can't dim them.
I don't need to dim those anyway, as they are only 3 to 11 watt, and provide the right atmosphere for the occasion.
Now, IKEA has started carrying LED-lighting.
A bit dim at the beginning, but they have been improving ever since, and the LEDs are of the warm-white kind instead of the cold blue-ish light they once were, so I bought a few sets and implemented them into my living room.
It's a fairly simple system; the white ones are 12v 0.5 to 0.7 Watts per light strip or -disc, and are connected through a simple, off-the-shelf connector.
Here is a LED-disc with its connector.
The power supplies provided are simple switched power supplies, capable of handling up to 5 Watts of lights.
The relay board and the IR receiver is also fed with 12v, so basically I'm generating 12v to feed the relays, who feed 230v to the LED power supplies, who feed 12v to the LEDs. Sounds redundant to me, so I've been working on version 2 of the remote control system, which has a more powerful 12v supply, so that I can feed the LEDs directly instead of switching another power supply.
Here is one of the satellite boxes which will switch the LED strips in my CD-rack and my equipment rack.
Eight connectors in two groups of four and a ninth at the back totalling to three groups, which can be patched together at the main distribution box which I yet have to build.
I had an old 12v power supply which provides 2 Amps, more than capable of feeding the eight strips in my CD-rack and the 3 strips in the equipment rack, with room for more.
I'm still kind of in the air about the regular lights, but I think I'll build separate switch boxes for those, containing just a relay and a small surge suppressor.
Cheers, K.