LED Strip lighting in a bedroom?

yop

Folks

Just putting finishing touches to my sons bedroom and he needs night light.
For some reason I thought a few meters of LED strip lighting would be safe, cheap to run and ambient.
Was looking on here below, but its a maze!

http://www.lightrabbit.ie/strip-lights-led.html

I will be plugging it into a standard socket and gluing it along a strip of wall along a dormer section where it meets the roof and 4 ft rising wall.

I suppose I want to know would you think I am nuts first off considering it, and if not, then what would be a safe setup.

Many thanks

Stoner

Get out of here yop, we only talk to you in September.
Nobody answer this guy, he's from Mayo.

Stoner

How much do you need, do you really want colour change, you need to hide the source to see the colour change.

I've about 5M of a sample if you want it. I've had this stuff on the top of kitchen units the colors mix by the time they hit the ceiling.

You can put a 3Amp fuse in the plug top. You'd really want to make the socket was switched or you got one of those neon plug tops with the built in switch.

yop

Stoner wrote: »

How much do you need, do you really want colour change, you need to hide the source to see the colour change.

I've about 5M of a sample if you want it. I've had this stuff on the top of kitchen units the colors mix by the time they hit the ceiling.

You can put a 3Amp fuse in the plug top. You'd really want to make the socket was switched or you got one of those neon plug tops with the built in switch.

Color change isn't required no to be honest with you. I was thinking either white/yellow or blue. Its just as a night light but maybe he can use it to do a bit of reading when he gets older or for me when I read him a story at night, about Mayo beating Dublin in AI finals and all that

I'd pay you for it header no bother. There is double socket along under where the bed runs so was going to plug it in there.

Thanks for the offer, appreciate it, even if you are a Dub

Stoner

Robus do a nice one in warm white, 4*500mm so 2M total comes with connectors and bends if you wanted to take it around a corner.
Edmondson sell them
PM sent on the other thing

I use the RGB versions of those off direct 12v through a switch-mode LED driver with a 6 channel DMX controller for colour and intensity mixing.
Domestic use you'd need a 12v > 24v transformer to run the driver.
Some drivers allow you to colour mix from presets others by remote. You can hard-wire specific colours to give red, blue, green, yellow, magenta, marine and white to the transformer outputs without a driver.
They're very finicky and fragile unless you get the resin coated ones or decent trunking. Gaudy too if you can see the source.
Recommended max 5 meter run per driver.
Brightness is relative to setting. If you use them as up-lighters with sources hidden you will need a bright ceiling or similar to reflect against.

If you forgo the driver, the transformer will most likely have to be 12v as the driver acts as a regulator. Check compatibility of transformer and LEDs

hufpc8w3adnk65

Check out Lidl they have a few strips of led's with switch transformer and plug all ready too go. They even have 3M tape in the kit too hold up the lights

MrMac has a fair point rope light is fairly plug and play. All you need is a socket and a few cable clips. Usually just one static colour though.

Just a thought on colour. The colour temperature of most LED's is still pretty ghastly and cold. Given that you are lighting a living space I'd try to keep it warm so aim for reds or ambers. You'll find with rope light the white is too cold, yellow too silly, green too sickly, blue too dark and cold and pink/magnetas feminine. The red rope-light tends to amber and is bright enough-ish and will get more amber with prolonged use as the gel fades.
The RGB strip light white is a cold pinkish hue, again amber I find is best but difficult to create without a driver (100% red + 30% green). The theory behind primary RGB LED is that you can mix any colour, the reality I find is about 17 colours.

Strip light wiring diagram.JPG

These are the elements of a controllable strip light set up.
Leds in trunking near.jpg
LED Drivers.jpg
6 channel non programmable lighting desk with master fader.jpg

Cutting Point.jpg

If you inadvertently reverse polarity on the driver you will kill it. The LEDs being diodes are more forgiving and will just not work with the wrong polarity.

My LED's have a positive buss bar, others have a negative buss.

3 pin dmx lead, Cat 5 lead, 4 core 12v cable strip.jpg
DMX to Cat5 Wiring Code.jpg
DMX to Cat 5 Lead.jpg

Signal must go from the DMX controller to the driver and daisy-chain to the next driver(s).
You will probably have to make a data cable as it's an unusual lead.
Driver to driver is usually normal broadband cable sometimes phone cable depending on the driver.

Drivers must be addressed to receive signal using dip switches.

So controller can be configured to;

Channel 1; Red - led strip one.
Channel 2; Blue - led strip one.
Channel 3; Green - led strip one.
Channel 4; Red - led strip two.
Channel 5; Blue - led strip two.
Channel 6; Green- led strip two.

or same addresses to give;

Channel 1; Red - All led strips .
Channel 2; Blue - All led strips.
Channel 3; Green - All led strips.

You can get crimp on ribbon connections to go from the driver to the LED strips, these are easiest. I soldered mine, and there's no room to be messy.

Taking my drivers as an example. Each need a 5amp 12v supply. So one 10A transformer with parrallel outputs or two isolated 5A transformers would work.
It'd be easier to find two double insulated 5A transformers than a 10A. Most common large transformers are single insulated as they require ventilation.

ted1

I got a 5m roll of eBay for 15 quid delivered. Includes the driver and remote. Then just got an old 12v charger and connected it to the driver. Sorted, no need for any over engineering

One thing to note is that LED strips are more or less directional and make sure you mount then facing the direction you want.

The strips I got are sticky back and I stuck them to the walk behind a king bench. Ended up mounting a batten so that they face up instead if out. The room looks great