LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

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CJH
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

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ghost123uk wrote: Note to anyone else buying similar = The wire from the controller to the strip is very short (~6 inches). This means you are limited as the where you fit the controller.

Can anyone tell me what type of remote these use? Is it infrared, meaning I'll need line-of-sight to the controller, or radio frequency, meaning the controller box can be concealed? What sort of range do they have?
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

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They look like infrared to me.

I have three types and they all have the same receiver - a black plastic part about the size of a transistor.
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Re: LED

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Titus A Duxass wrote:
CovKid wrote:Although the instructions with mine recommended that you didn't extend beyong 5 metres. It may be that their long term future is not quite so bright at longer lengths. :wink:

The life span does not concern me, they will have a low usage profile as they are going to be mood lighting in the coving in home cinema.

I have been running three 5 metre lengths linked in series off one controller for 2 days at full brightness, nothing is getting overly warm and nothing has gone pop as of yet.

I will be fitting them into the coving this weekend.
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

Post by ghost123uk »

@ CJH = deffo infra red.

My one, when pressing the dim button, changes the channel on my new deckless stereo head unit :evil:
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

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Thanks both - I'd better plan the installation a bit more carefully then.

Titus A Duxass wrote:They look like infrared to me.

I have three types and they all have the same receiver - a black plastic part about the size of a transistor.

I'm assuming the receiver is built into the controller box - is that right? I wonder if it's feasible to pull it out and put it on the end of a longer wire, so that the receiver could be located somewhere more convenient. I'm handy enough with a soldering iron, but I wouldn't have a clue as to whether this sort of component would stand being on a long wire, away from the circuit board.

ghost123uk wrote:@ CJH = deffo infra red.

My one, when pressing the dim button, changes the channel on my new deckless stereo head unit :evil:

And presumably vice versa?
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

Post by Titus A Duxass »

CJH wrote: I'm assuming the receiver is built into the controller box - is that right? I wonder if it's feasible to pull it out and put it on the end of a longer wire, so that the receiver could be located somewhere more convenient. I'm handy enough with a soldering iron, but I wouldn't have a clue as to whether this sort of component would stand being on a long wire, away from the circuit board.

Yes perfectly feasible. On the ones that I have 1 has a controller board that is wrapped in heatshrink so that would have to be cut away.
But the other 2 have a small box with a base that is not welded in so can be removed to gain access to the PCB.

Alternatively you could just put an extension in the middle of the sensor cable run (4 wires).
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

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Titus A Duxass wrote: Alternatively you could just put an extension in the middle of the sensor cable run (4 wires).

Thanks Titus

The sensor cable is the cable from the controller box to the light strip? Yes, I was planning to do that anyway, since I'd like to hide the controller box away (maybe in the wardrobe, near the Zig), and run the light strip around the pop top. But that would mean the remote won't work unless I open the wardrobe door and point the remote inside! I'm considering extending the IR receiver up into the pop top too, but in such a way that it would also receive a signal if I'm sat downstairs.

Fitting a 5m LED strip in the pop top was one of the first jobs I did when I bought the van last summer, but I haven't put them back in since replacing the canvas. I went for the cool white LEDs, but they won't go well with the warm white LED downlighters I've got in the downstairs area, so I might as well go the whole hog and get some of these fancy multi-colour dimmable ones upstairs. Can the colour be adjusted to give a good approximation to 'warm white' LEDs?
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

Post by Titus A Duxass »

Both the sensor cable and the LED strip cable come out of the controller box on mine.

You will not get warm white though.

The really cheap one that I have gives an opal white (a combination of red, blue & green), the slightly more expensive one gives a more defined white but again it's a combination of the three primary colours (but this time with brighter LEDs).

The IR sensor is about 5 mm in diameter so could be placed in a drill hole to "see" through the wardrobe.
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

Post by ghost123uk »

I bought a 1 meter extension lead from Ebay (link) to go between the actual light strip and the controller so I could "re-site" the white box. (the first lead I got was faulty and had to be replaced). My control box has a short (3") lead with the IR receiver on the end of it, so it would be easy to add some cable to that (and it shouldn't be a problem up to 2 or 3 feet). Remember though it will be polarity conscious.

Re my stereo head unit responding to the LED remote control = no, funnily enough it does not do it visa versa :?
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

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Thanks again - ok, I didn't realise that the sensor was already on the end of a cable. That definitely makes it doable, but I'd want to place the sensor where the upstairs occupants could control the lights.

When you talk about your 'really cheap' one, does the remote look like the one in this advert for instance? Another thing I'm not sure about is whether the individual LEDs are just a single colour (so one red, then one green, then one blue) or whether each LED 'dot' on the tape is actually a cluster of three colours. If the former, then you'd clearly see each colour separately, but if the latter then the colours will merge better. Are there none with white LEDs as well as the RGB LEDs?
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

Post by ghost123uk »

What I am looking for is summat I can put over the LED strip to diffuse it and make it aesthetically more pleasing.

Summat like a strip of semi opaque ~1" diameter "half pipe", (like a "U" section), to glue over the strip (which I have glued to a nice wooden batten above the sink/cooker area).

I have been on the look out at B&Q etc for ages but no luck so far.

Any thoughts folks ?
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

Post by Titus A Duxass »

CJH wrote:Thanks again - ok, I didn't realise that the sensor was already on the end of a cable. That definitely makes it doable, but I'd want to place the sensor where the upstairs occupants could control the lights.

When you talk about your 'really cheap' one, does the remote look like the one in this advert for instance? Another thing I'm not sure about is whether the individual LEDs are just a single colour (so one red, then one green, then one blue) or whether each LED 'dot' on the tape is actually a cluster of three colours. If the former, then you'd clearly see each colour separately, but if the latter then the colours will merge better. Are there none with white LEDs as well as the RGB LEDs?

I have one of those but my really cheap one has fewer buttons on the remote.
http://www.ebay.de/itm/261404460597?ssP ... 1497.l2649

On the one that you show you can see the sensor and cable, 3rd photo down and it's the black bit that you can see.
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

Post by Titus A Duxass »

ghost123uk wrote:What I am looking for is summat I can put over the LED strip to diffuse it and make it aesthetically more pleasing.

Summat like a strip of semi opaque ~1" diameter "half pipe", (like a "U" section), to glue over the strip (which I have glued to a nice wooden batten above the sink/cooker area).

I have been on the look out at B&Q etc for ages but no luck so far.

Any thoughts folks ?

I would look for some sort of hose or tubing that you could split into a half pipe.
One of the ones that I have has a plastic cover/layer over the LEDs to give it a higher IP you could paint that with something to diffuse it.
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

Post by ghost123uk »

CJH wrote:Thanks again - ok, I didn't realise that the sensor was already on the end of a cable. That definitely makes it doable, but I'd want to place the sensor where the upstairs occupants could control the lights.
does the remote look like the one in this advert for instance?

Mine looks just like that =

Image

CJH wrote:Are there none with white LEDs as well as the RGB LEDs?

Sorry, don't know the answer, I use a separate source for pure white light (which is cool because I wouldn't want my "mood" lighting to have a "normal" white included. The tinted white it produces suits my requirements.

What I don't like is the "firmware" coding that, when you set the unit to slowly fade/cycle from one colour to another, makes it so you cannot use the "dimmer" function :? ie, one colour fades away, the next fades in, but goes to full (blinding) brightness before fading back down and right up again with the next colour :roll: Bad firmware design that is :twisted:
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Re: LED "mood lighting" strip stuff with remote

Post by ghost123uk »

Titus A Duxass wrote:
ghost123uk wrote:What I am looking for is summat I can put over the LED strip to diffuse it and make it aesthetically more pleasing.

I would look for some sort of hose or tubing that you could split into a half pipe.

Easier said than done (splitting a 1 meter length of plastic tubing that is) even if I could find summat with the right optical characteristics.
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