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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2019 20:37:38 GMT
What do people prefer for this ?
I am a big fan of filament type 5w car sidelight bulbs for quiet relaxed lighting on the boat. Have also exerimented with LED but they are a bit bright so do need to be mounted behind a filter or in such a way as to reflect the light.
About ten years ago I stumbled across Electroluminescent wire. el wire for short.
Tried some briefly then sort of forgot about it.
Recently I thought I'd try it again and have found it quite interesting. It gives enough light "so you can see where the beer is" and being thin 2.3mm flexible wire it can be arranged into shapes or straight lines.
5m with inverter (it needs AC to work) about £7 UK stock. 20m length from Hong Kong about 8.50 + 2.50 for the inverter.
The little inverters make a bit of noise which is a nuisance.
Quite good stuff though.
Basically it glows green-blue colour naturally and you can get different colours by adding a filter colour to the pvc sleeve.
For best light output the greens, light blues and whites are most effective but I have tried pink and it does produce some light. not a lot but better than nothing.
They use tiny amounts of power. Much less than led.
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Post by Mr Stabby on Dec 27, 2019 20:56:01 GMT
What do people prefer for this ? A candle.
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Post by Telemachus on Dec 27, 2019 20:58:01 GMT
I agree that relaxing lighting, including LED, shouldn’t be directly viewable.
So with that in mind we have LED tape attached to the under-gunnel area of the entire saloon/dinette/galley (facing down) and naturally they are RGB LEDs so we can set the colour according to the mood.
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Post by Mr Stabby on Dec 27, 2019 21:10:33 GMT
naturally they are fake LEDs Fixed that for you.
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Post by Telemachus on Dec 27, 2019 21:32:32 GMT
naturally they are fake LEDs Fixed that for you. For your boat, you were correct in post #2. And if the candle were to set the whole shebang on fire, think of the crematorium fees that would be saved!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2019 20:20:20 GMT
Just received a 5m yellow EL wire. Quite nice actually. Goes well with the blue and the pink one. I could do all of the boats with these. Ridiculously low power consumption something like 80milliamps at 12v for a 5m long 2.3mm dia wire. Ok it's not bright but it does provide light and doesn't get in your eyes like LED. And you can make rude shapes with it if you want to. Not that I do. It would not be difficult to be more imaginative and also to acquire more light output by using reflective surfaces like aluminium sticky tape or something.
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Post by Jim on Dec 29, 2019 7:23:13 GMT
I made a stilt costume with it last year. Had trouble with the joins, had to re solder some, a PITA. It doesn't seem to like bending and moving. Dance gently young andrew or you'll break it.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2019 17:02:29 GMT
Fixed that for you. For your boat, you were correct in post #2. And if the candle were to set the whole shebang on fire, think of the crematorium fees that would be saved! When I lived afloat LEDs were not hugely available. Everybody I knew used candles or oil lamps. The thing was to get fat ones since they burned longer and were generally safer (more stable), but careful selection of what the candle stood on or in was important. I remember a pair of crusty dope smokers who put a candle on top of a TV set then fell asleep. They were surprised at the results and felt sure that they could have the TV replaced under warranty. I would have loved to have been at the shop when they walked in. Anyway there are some great bulk deals online these days. Also, oil lamps are good but those who used paraffin had boats that smelt of the stuff; actual lamp oil was harder to come by but worth it. The only boats that burnt down I ever heard of involved badly maintained solid fuel stoves.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2019 17:14:39 GMT
I made a stilt costume with it last year. Had trouble with the joins, had to re solder some, a PITA. It doesn't seem to like bending and moving. Dance gently young andrew or you'll break it. These ones are fine. I have out the pink one up around the wheelhouse windows passing it through self adhesive cable tie anchor pads. It takes bends no problem at all but you don't want to pull it too hard I think it's about a kilo maximum loading. I tied a knot in the end of it and it is perfectly happy still working. I guess on clothing the movement might be a problem. These ones are fixed. Indoors. They don't like UV so outdoors will kill the pvc covers.
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Post by Clinton Cool on Dec 30, 2019 20:35:09 GMT
I have some led lights, around 12 inches by 1 inch which work fine but are on the bright side. Any suggestions as to what I could use to diffuse the light a bit?
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Post by Jim on Dec 31, 2019 7:27:57 GMT
I have some led lights, around 12 inches by 1 inch which work fine but are on the bright side. Any suggestions as to what I could use to diffuse the light a bit? Fit a diffuser? 😂 Well, you did ask 😂. A piece of opaque white plastic? Maybe there is a sign makers around where you could get a bit of scrap? Fluorescent lights have a clear but knobbly surfaced diffuser, an old one of them cut up?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2019 7:37:47 GMT
A sheet of paper works quite well.
Obviously if they are high power LEDs they generate some heat so it would have to be arranged so as not to actually touch or there might be a fire risk.
The other approach is to fix the light bar the other way around and disperse the light by reflection.
Of course you can also get dimmers for LED.
Mind you even when dimmed I find them a little on the bright side.
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Post by Jim on Dec 31, 2019 9:55:49 GMT
A sheet of paper works quite well. Obviously if they are high power LEDs they generate some heat so it would have to be arranged so as not to actually touch or there might be a fire risk. The other approach is to fix the light bar the other way around and disperse the light by reflection. Of course you can also get dimmers for LED. Mind you even when dimmed I find them a little on the bright side. Not all leds work with dimmers. Some dimmable ones don't last long.
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