Finally an LED-lit room at home.

[ddrueding]

Finally managed to do an entire room at home with LEDs.

Specifically:

These LED tape lights (under the bed and above the acoustic panels) and these LED Floods (for the cans).

Now the question: At the moment, I'm powering the LED tape with this power supply (non-dimmable). What I need is one that can be dimmed from this Insteon lamp dimmer to have it integrated with the lighting automation system. Any ideas?


Doing photography of lighting is too difficult for me, but I did take a picture comparing the 5000k lighting in that room compared to the typical halogen in the main room. Your eyes are really good at automatically white-balancing your surroundings, but when you have both actual white light and yellow light in front of you...it is pretty obvious. The trim in the bedroom is exactly the same color (Home Depot "Ultra Pure White") as the main room. I'll do the main room when some of the bulbs start to burn out; there are 18 cans in there and those bulbs are $38 each!

 

[jtr1962]

The specs for those LED tapes say they use 12 volts and 2 amps. As you probably know, LEDs are constant current devices so we should focus on the current draw at 12 volts (it may well be 2 amps but I would measure it to be sure). Once you establish the drive current, there are LED ballasts which are dimmable using a standard lamp dimmer, such as the ones on your chandelier. I just need more info on the exact voltage and current of the LED tapes.

Yeah, yellow light looks really bad once you have another room with whiter light. I long ago standardized on 5000K for most rooms, although I only have a few LEDs. Next project is to convert the outdoor 300 watt halogen floodlights to LED. I already bought a bunch of neutral white Rebels for exactly that purpose. I just need to find the time.

 

[mubs]

Cool. And what it that on the counter top? A puddy tat with the tail hanging down?

 

[ddrueding]

Cool. And what it that on the counter top? A puddy tat with the tail hanging down?

Nope. No cats at the house yet. Just a bag with the lid open.

 

[ddrueding]

The specs for those LED tapes say they use 12 volts and 2 amps. As you probably know, LEDs are constant current devices so we should focus on the current draw at 12 volts (it may well be 2 amps but I would measure it to be sure). Once you establish the drive current, there are LED ballasts which are dimmable using a standard lamp dimmer, such as the ones on your chandelier. I just need more info on the exact voltage and current of the LED tapes.

I'd assume the easiest way to measure that is with a modified cord between the supply and the tape? It has pre-wired barrel connectors, so I'd need to get an extension and open up the wiring?

Yeah, yellow light looks really bad once you have another room with whiter light. I long ago standardized on 5000K for most rooms, although I only have a few LEDs. Next project is to convert the outdoor 300 watt halogen floodlights to LED. I already bought a bunch of neutral white Rebels for exactly that purpose. I just need to find the time.

The outside of the house has these all the way around. Not dimmable at all, but that is OK out there. I will be bugging you about a new outdoor uplight design I'm working on.

 

[jtr1962]

I'd assume the easiest way to measure that is with a modified cord between the supply and the tape? It has pre-wired barrel connectors, so I'd need to get an extension and open up the wiring?

Yes. You need to measure the DC current going to the LED string with a multimeter. In order to do that you need to open the wire going to the LEDs somewhere. You can also measure the voltage of the power supply, although this isn't that critical. The main thing is the current. Most LED ballasts are constant current sources, so we need to know the magnitude of the current to find a compatible ballast.

The outside of the house has these all the way around. Not dimmable at all, but that is OK out there. I will be bugging you about a new outdoor uplight design I'm working on.

Let me know when you get to the point of needing my help. I'm not terribly busy with work stuff at the moment. Just doing a lot of house cleaning and maintenance but an LED project would be a nice diversion.