DIY Outdoor LED
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@PedroC88 Yes, you're right, but this project only works if I can find good, cheap LEDs in the first place, and some clever and seemly way to mount them. I'm not even close to an actual circuit, drivers or the sensor network. I have some bad experiences buying LEDs of different sorts on Ebay and the esthetics are very important. Not to mention that things don't fail after a couple of weeks. The actual electronics will have to come later.
I guess what I'm looking for right now:
- A specific recommendation for LED (i.e. "CREE XM-L" or whatever)
- Whether buying them from Ebay is reliable or a recipe for disaster (i.e. are the LEDs genuine and is the CRI any good).
- Some way to mount the LEDs in the ceiling (a case), and disperse the light that doesn't look horrible (including whether you'd need more of a heat sink).
@bjornhallberg said:
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In that case I don't think this the right place, as the site is mostly intended to help you controlling sensors and actuators using (mainly) Arduinos. The only thing I can tell you is that buying through ebay (though I prefer Amazon) is usually reliable, provided you can return the purchased, defective item within 30 days of purchase. In my case, since I live outside U.S., that's usually an inconvenience due to local taxes.
When you're done with that, if you still need help with automating the operation of your LEDs array, let us know.
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I'd recommend to buy all leds that you plan to use in a single shot because leds will have slightly different colors even when buying quality ones. If you have a look in the datasheets of e.g. osram leds you see that there are more than 20 different colors (shades of white). If you buy 1000 of leds you are able to choose exaxtly matching colors. But we as normal people are dependent on the distributor. That means you should get closely matching colors if you buy your leds in a single shot... at least the ones you will see at the same time.
best regards -
They never mention CRI so I figure that they'd have to be the worst of the bunch, no better than 65 or 70. But perhaps it doesn't matter for the purpose?
I think a good CRI is important for the kitchen, with a low CRI you have the chance that food does not look that attractive anymore. A low CRI most of the times translates in poor red colors but I think that is not soon a problem for the front of the house.
For much more background see A close look at the Color Rendering Index (CRI, or Ra).
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I have done something like this on my shed, to light up the pathway running beside the it.
I bought 20 1W LED's on aliexpress http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-10x-1W-High-Brightness-LED-Flood-Light-Lamp-Bulb-90-100Lm-Warm-White-3-2/32223688453.html (they can be found cheaper a piece if you buy more)
Only diffence is, that I get the 12v power from a car battery, but it's still 12v. (battery charged by solarcells) The 4 serial connected LED's used to light the pathway connects to 12v via a relayswitch controlled by a arduino mini pro. Which again is controllede via openhab MQTT.
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I am trying to do something similar but I plan to embed controller in each one of these nodes along with motion and ambient light sensor.
So far the most cost effective seems to be to take one of these and modify it for 12V and add mySensor circuit to it.
How do I power MYS board with 12V?
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I am trying to do something similar but I plan to embed controller in each one of these nodes along with motion and ambient light sensor.
So far the most cost effective seems to be to take one of these and modify it for 12V and add mySensor circuit to it.
How do I power MYS board with 12V?
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So, the LEDs I ordered from Ebay got lost in shipping. What are the odds. Happened maybe two times out of 250 Ebay orders. I've been refunded of course but I now doubt I will continue down this track. Thinking of going back to 230V and relays instead + some cheap fixtures from IKEA.
@activemind Not a bad idea with the flood light housing, seeing as it is so difficult to find outdoor housings. I just hope they used stainless screws and bolts.
The Arduino Pro Mini could theoretically accept 12V on the RAW pin. If that is a good idea and a long term solution I don't know. Buck converters are pretty cheap and have worked with the Pro Mini and Radio Module when I've tested them. But I'm sure if I had looked at them using an oscilloscope I would feel different.
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I have a few nodes of Pro Minis that I power with 12VDC on the RAW pin. Have not had any trouble so far but I use high quality 12VDC power supplies that do not exceed that 12V. Exceeding 12VDC will burn the regulator on your Pro Mini. To be safe you could always add another regulator between the 12V supply and the raw pin.
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@bjornhallberg - I looked at Ikea stuff but its too hard to modify. I did have 2 of the flood lights come in...they are 110V version, plan on disassembing one tonite. I will the pics up.
What I am thinking is take these housing and modify the LED if need be and stick one of these MySensor circuit in there. I think all can be done for < $20.
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@korttoma - Good to know that 12V should be fine because as I posted above, I plan on using the above housing and modify it for 12V DC operation. I have a server grade high amp 12V DC power supply that I plan on using for all these lights and it would be good if I could use the same 12V for powering mySensor node as the LEDs.
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I can't say the same as @korttoma --- I burned some pro minis (in fact, cheap clones) by applying 12V at RAW pin. I think the on-board regulator of my clones has 12V as absolute maximum. And I had to learn it in the hard way... ;-)
After i to put a 78L05 between 12V and Arduino's VCC pin (as well as a 78L33 between 12V and radio), everything worked pretty well.
Home Assistant / Vera Plus UI7
ESP8266 GW + mySensors 2.3.2
Alexa / Google Home -
I can't say the same as @korttoma --- I burned some pro minis (in fact, cheap clones) by applying 12V at RAW pin. I think the on-board regulator of my clones has 12V as absolute maximum. And I had to learn it in the hard way... ;-)
After i to put a 78L05 between 12V and Arduino's VCC pin (as well as a 78L33 between 12V and radio), everything worked pretty well.
@rvendrame yeah, that is how I would recommend to do also. An additional regulators are worth it, just to be safe.
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Bringing back and old thread from the dead as I have some time now to spend on this.
Did some more research on Amazon and ended up ordering these LED lights
Planning on using MYS board to control these.
http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/207/my-sensorboard-mys-1-0beta
I have 2 questions:
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These are 12V and MyS board can take 12V input too. So I can power them off using the same 12V wire. Shall I use a relay to control these lights ? Couldnt find the current draw but I plan on measuring it once I get them in.
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Should I try to embed the myS board in the light case or look into an external waterproof plastic box? These are going to be outdoors.
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Bringing back and old thread from the dead as I have some time now to spend on this.
Did some more research on Amazon and ended up ordering these LED lights
Planning on using MYS board to control these.
http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/207/my-sensorboard-mys-1-0beta
I have 2 questions:
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These are 12V and MyS board can take 12V input too. So I can power them off using the same 12V wire. Shall I use a relay to control these lights ? Couldnt find the current draw but I plan on measuring it once I get them in.
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Should I try to embed the myS board in the light case or look into an external waterproof plastic box? These are going to be outdoors.
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@activemind said:
- These are 12V and MyS board can take 12V input too. So I can power them off using the same 12V wire. Shall I use a relay to control these lights ? Couldnt find the current draw but I plan on measuring it once I get them in.
They are rated for 5W. 12V/5W=2,4A
Edit: NO, 5W/12V=0.42A. My bad.
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Bringing back and old thread from the dead as I have some time now to spend on this.
Did some more research on Amazon and ended up ordering these LED lights
Planning on using MYS board to control these.
http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/207/my-sensorboard-mys-1-0beta
I have 2 questions:
-
These are 12V and MyS board can take 12V input too. So I can power them off using the same 12V wire. Shall I use a relay to control these lights ? Couldnt find the current draw but I plan on measuring it once I get them in.
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Should I try to embed the myS board in the light case or look into an external waterproof plastic box? These are going to be outdoors.
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@activemind said:
- Should I try to embed the myS board in the light case or look into an external waterproof plastic box? These are going to be outdoors.
The case seems to be made if aluminum. That will probably block radio signals. So if you're planning to use radio, go for a plastic box.
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Thanks for the feeback. You make good points. I will plan for an external waterproof box for all mysensors circuitry.
Does using a FET sound good or shall I use a relay?
Something like this should be pretty inexpensive..
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Or something like this would be better:
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There is no information on which mosfet in the ebay listing. I would one that has a name/number so the data sheet can be looked up. The MySensors store recommends IRLZ44N.
Downside with mosfet: can become hot, might need a heat sink
Upside with mosfet: can be used to dim the lightsBy the way, how are you planning to get the power to the units? 12V from your house into the garden? In that case you might get problems if your garden is large, transferring power over long distances with low voltage is hard.
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Will the FET get hot even with 2.4A when its rated for much more?
I am thinking of building one node and trying it out to see if there is any fallout. This will be for my landscape lights so its not like it will be running 24/7.
The plan IS to run a 14/2 wire running 12V. I could do 12/2 if the voltage drop is too bad. My runs should not be obscenely long...I guess I will have to just try and see what the drop is.
Thanks again for all your feedback.
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Will the FET get hot even with 2.4A when its rated for much more?
I am thinking of building one node and trying it out to see if there is any fallout. This will be for my landscape lights so its not like it will be running 24/7.
The plan IS to run a 14/2 wire running 12V. I could do 12/2 if the voltage drop is too bad. My runs should not be obscenely long...I guess I will have to just try and see what the drop is.
Thanks again for all your feedback.
-AM
@activemind said:
Will the FET get hot even with 2.4A when its rated for much more?
Probably not. As long as you check the rating you should be fine.
The plan IS to run a 14/2 wire running 12V. I could do 12/2 if the voltage drop is too bad. My runs should not be obscenely long...I guess I will have to just try and see what the drop is.
14 AWG has a resistance of 0.00829 ohm per meter (source). Assuming you have 15m from the outlet to the light, the resistance in the cable will be 0.2487 ohm (0.00829 * 15 * 2). At 2.4A that will result in a voltage drop of 2.4 * 0.2487=0,60V. That shouldn't be a problem.
If the distance from the outlet to the lights is longer, and you want to connect multiple lights without running multiple cables, the calculation doesn't look very good. Let's say the cable needs to be 30m and you want 5 lights, then we have a cable resistance of 0.00829 * 30 * 2=0.5 ohm and a voltage drop of 2.4 * 5 * 0.5=6V :exclamation:
12 AWG will give you 0.00521 * 30 * 2=0.3126 ohm and 2.4 * 5 * 0.3126=3,75V voltage drop which also might be too much. -
I would put my distance around 20m so that should be okay but I DO plan on putting multiple of these on a single run hence larger current!
I really dont want to do multiple runs.
Two options:
- I need to see how bright the light is with < 12V ?
- Use some regulator to bump up the voltage at the location. I will be building a seperate box anyways to house the FET and MySensors circuitry, so maybe put a regulator there?
What do you think?
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