Reading light

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richc
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2016 5:32 pm

Reading light

Post by richc » Sat Sep 10, 2016 6:29 pm

I want to make a reading light, mostly for use in the late evening. I have never created an LED project and want advice/suggestions.

Hope to achieve:
* Floor standing
* Two modes: dim and medium - amber
* Maybe: third mode around 1000 Lumens - warm white

Current thoughts:
Since this is for evening use before sleep, I want Amber lights instead of harsh white that mess up sleep. I am married and don't want to wake my wife, so I want it to be easy to switch between low-off (don't want to have to cycle past a brighter light setting).
* What kind of circuit and switch makes the most sense for this?

Since I want this to be free standing and don't want any bulk at the top, I want the ballast/transformer to be in the base, However, I want to be able to turn it on/off near the top.
* This seems to imply having the switch/brightness selector be in-line DC between the transformer and the bulb. Would this make sense? Since the transformer would always be connected to live AC, would I be asking for trouble?
* Another idea is to separate the on/off switch from the brightness selector. The AC hot wire could run up to a switch at the top, back down to the transformer, and the low wattage DC go up to the brightness selector. If I had three sets of LEDs (say 4 amber LEDs for dim, 8 more amber LEDs for medium, and a couple dozen warm white LEDs for high), and if each set took the same voltage but drew different amperage, the selector could enable 1, 2 or 3 sets in parallel. Would this work if the transformer delivers enough amperage to run all of the lights? Would the transformer designed to deliver so much amperage be running inefficiently/hot if only the dim set is selected? (I expect to mostly be using the dim or medium setting).

Thank you,
-Rich

techman
Site Admin
Posts: 1329
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:49 am

Re: Reading light

Post by techman » Sun Dec 11, 2016 10:46 am

Hi,

Sorry, I did not see this earlier. I have had some serious trouble with my Windows 10 laptop. I am currently typing on an old Macbook that I am trying to revive and bring up to date. At least two things are good on this. One, I can see the screen and not a mirror image of my face. I hate the new windows laptops with a mirror screen. Two, it is faster than the laptop although it has older hardware. Oh, and a third thing. It is not rebooting on me while I work.

It makes working on the forum 4 times faster than with the windows laptop.

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