OT: A couple of lighting tips.

farss wrote on 8/4/2007, 12:00 AM
First one is something I heard mention of a while ago but couldn't find until today. Ikea's Dioder! 4 strips of white LEDs and a tiny power supply although you could rig them to run off a 12V battery. Not very bright and a rather nasty bluish white LED color but for a tiny bit of light inside a bookcase and the like not bad. Very lightweight so Blutack will do to hold them up. Unfortunately a little overpriced at AUD 69, I'd guess USD 50.

The other thing was something I saw for sale on eBay. A putty knife with a 5/8" baby pin bolted to the handle. Seemed like a waste of a good putty knife until I realised it could be a very useful bit of kit. Jam the putty knife into the top of a door, under books in a book shelf or into a window frame and you've got a no fuss way to mount a small light. A broad knife might be even better and if you do put a ding in the clients wall the knife will come in handy anyway.

Bob.

Comments

ushere wrote on 8/4/2007, 12:52 AM
my goodness bob, and there you are talking about a set of primes for your 2k...

overpriced, but a great idea

one of the studios i used to work at had a gaffer who was always jury-rigging something or other. he would have loved the putty knife!!!

i still love the photo lamp in the chinese globe on a pole for travelling soft light....

it's saturday bob, go to the pub, that's an order....

leslie
Coursedesign wrote on 8/4/2007, 10:54 AM
The putty knife with a 5/8" baby pin has been around forever (50+ years), many uses like you indicated.

Thanks for the Ikea Dioder tip, wonder if that could be used in a car...
GlennChan wrote on 8/4/2007, 11:12 AM
How does that compare to the 48 LED camping light?
richard-courtney wrote on 8/4/2007, 4:33 PM
I have a light with those "white" LEDs and found ROSCO 1/4 CTO gel makes them
a bit warmer.

I am getting quite fond of LEDs because they are cool (to the touch and neat)
and power requirements are almost nothing.
farss wrote on 8/4/2007, 5:44 PM
Maybe this will help a little to understand what these things are.

I'm also getting some samples of surface mount LEDs, these things have no lens so the dispersion is very good, you can fit lots of them close to one another but I don't think the CRI is going to be anything outstanding. However for kickers, hard to beat.

Bob.
richard-courtney wrote on 8/4/2007, 8:18 PM
The dioders look like what we have in the states as "rope lights".

Those surface mounts would be great on a flex circuit "or painted traces" as
you could use a rounded surface to control the dispersion.
Let us know how they work out.