Thank you, Thank you for filling in a lot of intuited logical gaps I’ve had researching LED’s the last 10 days and whether or not to try some for in home lighting. Pre-kinder nerd level. The plan is to begin with workshop area using an old florescent 4’ casing. 1st I’ll have to voltage regulate from 120V (Idaho) to 12 or thereabouts V per P.Dokter under cabinet lighting presentation. Then, do you still use/recommend the FemtoBuck LED driver or is there an update on that as Pete Dokter said his began to flicker after 1½ yrs using only 1/2 the miliamps. Do you have any best voltage regulator you recommend? E.G. the LM317 12V voltage regulator…is that just to stablize 12 V but not downsize from 110V as in Spark => smoke?
Could I put 2 of these 4’ old florescent strips or unit LED’s on one voltage regulator and I’m guessing two (one for ea. 4’ casing) of the FembtoBucks? Don’t need really intense lighting but would like it to last more than 1.5 yrs. Seriously, I’d have to hire a nerd to “change the bulb” or again purchase the updated technology (drivers that really fix LED flicker)?
Am also thinking to invent a decent heat shield, probably cu++ (like flatten a 1’ cu++ tube a bit and put plenty of 1/4" holes in it, or, per standard heat shield design hacksaw crosswise into it), as esthetics won’t matter much. Thoughts? What gage wire do I use from Femtobuck or whatever you recommend, to the LED? And, please, which LED would you recommend? How do I choose which LED–SMD, COB, MCOB, MCCOB?
Would the higher powered tools that take amp surge when starting up affect the health of the LED system? Your bldg. has some solar; some LED lighting? some amp surging tools? and how do your LED systems hold up?
Then, how in nerd world do they create an enclosed LED bulb of 100W (±equivalent lumen) without heatshield, fan, Driver, and so on?
Hello, and thanks for posting!
The plan is to begin with workshop area using an old florescent 4’ casing.
OK, there are a few way to do this. You certainly could use some [3 watt LEDs and a [FemtoBuck, but there may be a better solution for your situation.
The FemtoBuck is good for driving a small number of very bright high power LEDs from a DC power source and would be ideal in a situation like a kitchen where spots of bright light would work well. If you’re intending on replacing florescent tube lights, you might be better off using a large number of low power LEDs in a strip as those will better reproduce the even pattern of light coming from a tube light.
We don’t carry a LED strip that is white and doesn’t require some sort of micro-controller to use but we do carry a RGB LED strip that is capable of producing white light. Our [5 meter bare RGB LED strip can produce white light if you turn all the colors on at the same time and can be cut to length to fit whatever fixture you want to put them in. You do need a considerable amount of current at 12 volts DC to run these though. (About 18 amps @ 12 volts for the entire 5 meter strip.) The RGB strip gives you the ability to pick whatever color you want the LEDs to produce, but if you’re just lighting a garage, you’re probably going to want to go with plain old white. We don’t carry them, but you can get plain white LED strips from some hardware stores and online on Amazon.
1st I’ll have to voltage regulate from 120V (Idaho) to 12 or thereabouts V per P.Dokter under cabinet lighting presentation. Then, do you still use/recommend the FemtoBuck LED driver or is there an update on that as Pete Dokter said his began to flicker after 1½ yrs using only 1/2 the miliamps.
A power source like our [Mean Well Switching Power Supply is what you’re going to need. That will run about 10 feet of our RGB LED strip, or a longer strip of white only LEDs. I don’t know what caused Pete Dokters LEDs to flicker but I suspect a failing power supply was to blame. A simple LM317 voltage regulator isn’t going to cut it for this much power so you need a dedicated power supply.
For your project, I’d recommend going with a [plain white 12 volt LED strip and a 12 volt power supply. Regular old 18 gauge lamp cord would work for wire. I’ve used the same type of LED strips in my kitchen and they have lasted for 7 years now. I did have to replace the power supply after about 5.5 years of use, but those are not that expensive.](Amazon.com)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14099)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12022)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13716)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13104)