White LED panels, anyone made their own?

[back_ache]

I've seen that TV and film company's are using panels of white LED's more and more.

 

Price wise, they are probably a little rich for our blood and for the most part not that useful, however I could see the odd occasion where they would be just the job.

 

has anyone experiences of these or making your own?

 

http://www.videography.com/uploadedimages/VideoGraphy/Videography_News/LitepanelsBiFocus-1bg.jpg

[the kid]

Big Clive does the LED floods that will give you an idea on how easy/simple they are.

 

and in theory with some mods you could make it white only.

[Jivemaster]

Easy to build, less easy to fully test (CE EMC etc) but do you have a source of matched LEDs by the thousand at sensible prices. They can be dimmed by switching blocks, or by PWM at a high frequency. Do your available LEDs have a colour temperature indication, and a colour rendering index? What looks good to the eye may not always look good on camera.

 

Have you looked in LIDL -yes the German supermarket! They had LED worklights built like the usual 300/500w floodlight but with a lot of LEDs, and for a very sensible price. Trouble with LIDL is that the odd offers just happen and just go again and may not be in all branches. They were white-ish but only on-off switchable.

 

Recently Maplin have had some 100 LED lamps for about £10 -which is about the retail price of the LEDs without the case and building cost.

 

As ever cheap LEDs means non specified LEDS they will be white but what colour temp and what CRI. OK to work by but will they suit critical applications.

[timtheenchanteruk]

somthing we have just discovered with cheap LED fixtures, cameras seem to pick up the frequency dimming, and flicker terribly on camera at anything less than 100%

[back_ache]

Have you looked in LIDL -yes the German supermarket! They had LED worklights built like the usual 300/500w floodlight but with a lot of LEDs, and for a very sensible price. Trouble with LIDL is that the odd offers just happen and just go again and may not be in all branches. They were white-ish but only on-off switchable.

 

Recently Maplin have had some 100 LED lamps for about £10 -which is about the retail price of the LEDs without the case and building cost.

 

wow, looks like I missed the boat not once but twice!

 

perhaps we should make a pact that next time we see a bargain like that we should do a shout out on the forum, a bit like cyclists do on their forums do when LIDL does bike stuff

 

my DIY idea was two make two panels, one of cold-white and one of warm-white to use at distinct angles as front-lights, though I wouldn't want to spend too much money and time on it just in case it looks awful afterwards!

[Jivemaster]

The Maplin lights are current on-counter sales items, about £10 I think. I think they are only battery operated. They are OK to load trucks by and far too bright to look at at night.

[adam2]

Self adhesive LED light tape is available from a number of sources in both warmwhite and cool white, the better makes are very impressive.

I used 6M of cool white tape, with a total loading of 29 watts, it cost IRO of £125 for 6M, this was for architectural lighting, but it could also be used for other purposes, including stuck to a flat panel.

It requires a 12 volt DC supply, and may be dimmed to extent by reducing the supply voltage.

 

I can recomend a supplier, but dont want to be advertising.

[gyro_gearloose]

If you want very bright LEDs for not a lot of money, have a look at the Bridgelux range from Farnell. They are available in a range of brightnesses and colour temperatures. If you want the soft light of a flood, then you might be better off with a lot of the lower brightness LEDs rather than a few high brightness LEDs.

[WooferHound]

You could scale this up considerably and make your own . . .

http://fieldlines.com/board/index.php/topic,131223.0.html

[Jivemaster]

The maplin lamp is their code number A18JQ still £10 but sorry it's only 72 LEDs. most competent Blueroomers should be able to fit a cable at the battery position the price includes a set of batteries!