To start off, my electronics experience is fairly limited, although I do know the very basics of electronics. I'm looking for a nice learning project for me to work on over winter break.
Basically, what I want to do is rig up a small LED array to provide lighting for the writing surface of my esk, since I don't have room for a full-size lamp, and I hate those large clamp-on lamps. Yes, I realize that there are ready-made commercial solutions that would work, but this project is also supposed to keep me occupied for a month until I head back off to college.
At the moment, I'm considering either a rectangular array that I can attach using a small clamp, or a long array, maybe 2' in length, but not more than 1/2" in width. I'd like it illuminate about as well as a 40W bulb, but a smaller illumination angle is fine.
The questions I have are regarding the powering of the array, the choice of LEDs for best color results, and dimming the array.
I briefly toyed with the idea of running the array off batteries, so that it would be portable, but a I understand, the voltage droop as batteries discharge would make the light level very inconsistent unless I rigged up circuit to maintain voltage. Is my understanding correct? Is such a circuit difficult to construct?
If batteries turn out to be infeasible for my application, would powering the array from a wall wart be feasible if I can find an appropriate voltage wall-wart? Does current from DC wall-warts still have a frequency of 60Hz? If so, am I correct in assuming that an appropriate capacitor would smooth out the resultant flickering in the LEDs?
Also, it's not necessary, but I would like to be able to dim the array. This would require something more complex than a variable resistor, since LEDs are "current-dependent" correct? (Is that the proper term for it? Basically, the idea that they only operate under a small voltage range.) Would something like a PWM controller work for this?
Finally, my only concrete requirement, the array must have decent color, something in the incanescent/halogen range. I absolutely cannot stand the bluish tint that white LEDs have. Would throwing in some other color LEDs into the mix even out the color? Like a few yellow or red LEDs in addition to white ones? I also stumbled across **broken link removed**. Has anybody had experience with these? I'm considering them since cheap blue LEDs are cheaper to find than white ones, although finding the filter caps may be very difficult.
Sorry to ask so many questions, but I must've searched for information on LED lamps for 2 hours last night, without any sites that answered all y questions. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Basically, what I want to do is rig up a small LED array to provide lighting for the writing surface of my esk, since I don't have room for a full-size lamp, and I hate those large clamp-on lamps. Yes, I realize that there are ready-made commercial solutions that would work, but this project is also supposed to keep me occupied for a month until I head back off to college.
At the moment, I'm considering either a rectangular array that I can attach using a small clamp, or a long array, maybe 2' in length, but not more than 1/2" in width. I'd like it illuminate about as well as a 40W bulb, but a smaller illumination angle is fine.
The questions I have are regarding the powering of the array, the choice of LEDs for best color results, and dimming the array.
I briefly toyed with the idea of running the array off batteries, so that it would be portable, but a I understand, the voltage droop as batteries discharge would make the light level very inconsistent unless I rigged up circuit to maintain voltage. Is my understanding correct? Is such a circuit difficult to construct?
If batteries turn out to be infeasible for my application, would powering the array from a wall wart be feasible if I can find an appropriate voltage wall-wart? Does current from DC wall-warts still have a frequency of 60Hz? If so, am I correct in assuming that an appropriate capacitor would smooth out the resultant flickering in the LEDs?
Also, it's not necessary, but I would like to be able to dim the array. This would require something more complex than a variable resistor, since LEDs are "current-dependent" correct? (Is that the proper term for it? Basically, the idea that they only operate under a small voltage range.) Would something like a PWM controller work for this?
Finally, my only concrete requirement, the array must have decent color, something in the incanescent/halogen range. I absolutely cannot stand the bluish tint that white LEDs have. Would throwing in some other color LEDs into the mix even out the color? Like a few yellow or red LEDs in addition to white ones? I also stumbled across **broken link removed**. Has anybody had experience with these? I'm considering them since cheap blue LEDs are cheaper to find than white ones, although finding the filter caps may be very difficult.
Sorry to ask so many questions, but I must've searched for information on LED lamps for 2 hours last night, without any sites that answered all y questions. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.