The kitchenette light in my apartment looked ugly, and I would have enjoyed a high CRI light in the room anyway, so I thought for a bit, ordered some parts and immediately stalled, overwhelmed by how involved it actually is.
The kitchenette light in my apartment looked ugly, and I would have enjoyed a high CRI light in the room anyway, so I thought for a bit, ordered some parts and immediately stalled, overwhelmed by how involved it actually is.
Thin power adaptor -- L 183.2 x W 19.85 x H 19.85 mm
Diffuser 2 m
Butt/stopper 2 pcs
The LED stripes need to be cut into two parts, as the power adaptor needs to be almost in the middle. The total maximum I could use is about 3 metres of LED stripes, which is about 30 W and well within abilities of the chosen adaptor.
In general what I ordered will work, but there are some caveats. The main one is that the power adaptor doesn’t fit well in the diffuser, though I should be able to adjust it.
Since there’s a risk of water splashes, I’ll want to do this quickly, so that I don’t have to protect everything. It can be done in two stages.
After having failed with a cheap that got instantly destroyed on another project, I have verified that the larger plasticy mitre box I had the foresight to buy is sufficiently strong for cutting. Imperfections can generally be filed away.
Shorten the heatsink to 159.5-159.6 cm and the diffuser to 160 cm, using a saw and a mittre box. Or rather also measure and subtract the length of the butts/stoppers from both of these lengths. Keep the cut-off parts, they will be useful later for colour matching and adjustment experiments.
Measure power cable hole placement and width, then drill the hole.
Fit the heatsink to the wall with screws.
It does not need to go deep. The board behind is 20 mm thick. Probably pre-drill holes for about M3x10 self-tapping stainless steel screws.
I can still connect the old fixture connected at this point. Or I can keep it disconnected and have it all covered by the diffuser.
Figure out switch placement and cabling.
The mains cable can have its insulation mostly stripped, it is also way too long and would be clearly visible through the diffuser, obstructing light.
Modify the diffuser to fit the power adaptor, as the base of the diffuser is too thick inside.
In general trying to cut stuff out in a straight manner. Can try it out on the extra 40 cm piece of the diffuser.
Remove the protective paper from the painted heatsink, and glue LED stripes to it in two rows. It might be a good idea to attach any necessary cables to them beforehand.
Some 12V cables need to go underneath the heatsink. It has convenient channels, seemingly for exactly this purpose.
The two stripes need to be connected together, perhaps near the butts/stoppers. It would, of course, be good to be able to select A/B/A+B, though
Connect everything up, mainly the high voltage part. Beware that the switch doesn’t like giving up wires once they’re in.
Perhaps paint part of the diffuser white or off-white. May colour match against the butts/stoppers, or against the heatsink.
