Neon room

[Agent 008]

I've had this idea of using flexible green LED neon tubes (or maybe luminescent paint?), and decorating all the edges in my room - giving it a nice cyberpunk-like "wireframe" look when switched on in the dark.

I'd like some thoughts on the following:

1). General idea. Does it only seem like a good idea in my head, or do you think it could work?

2). Technicalities. How exactly could I go about building this, and how much could it potentially cost?

[Lulzar]

This idea sounds pretty cool, brah.

[Refacull]

Get some plastic tubing that will fit LEDs. Some solder and a soldering gun. A razor, some wall staples and someone else here can provide the proper type of solder you need and what to use for a power supply. When I make shit I just go over to my dads and convince him to use his Electronics engineering degree and make this plug in to the wall properly.

But take the tubing, 30-40 feet of it, or however long. But I would get a lot, and some extra. Cut the tubes to exactly the length of one side of the wall, for each individual partition.

Make a STRAIGHT incision all the down the length of the tubing, only through one wall. Insert LEDs every 1 inch or so. Solder them together once they are in the tubing. If there is enough room, close the tubing and super glue/epoxy the incision.

Repeat for all the parts you want to do. And make sure to leave the end wires open so you can solder them when they are in place.

Then I would attach them all to the wall then solder the ends together one in place. Then the last opening would be for the power supply, the part closest to the outlet.

Also one thing to keep in mind is to plan EVERYTHING out beforehand. Even if you don't have a degree it helps. I made a really detailed LED lamp, and I know jack about electronics. I just guessed as I went, but because I used common sense like connect + to - and I planned it all out. The lamp came out exactly how I wanted it.

[Agent 008]

Get some plastic tubing that will fit LEDs. Some solder and a soldering gun. A razor, some wall staples and someone else here can provide the proper type of solder you need and what to use for a power supply. When I make shit I just go over to my dads and convince him to use his Electronics engineering degree and make this plug in to the wall properly.

But take the tubing, 30-40 feet of it, or however long. But I would get a lot, and some extra. Cut the tubes to exactly the length of one side of the wall, for each individual partition.

Make a STRAIGHT incision all the down the length of the tubing, only through one wall. Insert LEDs every 1 inch or so. Solder them together once they are in the tubing. If there is enough room, close the tubing and super glue/epoxy the incision.

Repeat for all the parts you want to do. And make sure to leave the end wires open so you can solder them when they are in place.

Then I would attach them all to the wall then solder the ends together one in place. Then the last opening would be for the power supply, the part closest to the outlet.

Also one thing to keep in mind is to plan EVERYTHING out beforehand. Even if you don't have a degree it helps. I made a really detailed LED lamp, and I know jack about electronics. I just guessed as I went, but because I used common sense like connect + to - and I planned it all out. The lamp came out exactly how I wanted it.

Thank you, great post.

I think I'll try to go with something like this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Fast-Quick-Cheap-Good-looking-LED-room-lighting/. Basically, run the wires around the room, stick some LEDs with resistance in, and if I like where it's going, cover it with some tubing for a more uniform light effect. And if I get an adapter where I can change the voltage, I could also adjust the brightness easily. Since I'm renting the place only for a year, having something that I can remove easily and deploy in another place would be good - and if I like the way it looks, I could always set up something more permanent when I get my own place, along the lines of your post.

[Virus]

They sell LED tube lights that do exactly what you want to do and you wouldn't have to worry about anything but mounting them.

[RDProgrammer]

They sell LED tube lights that do exactly what you want to do and you wouldn't have to worry about anything but mounting them.

Shame, this is DIY. JK

I think that the pre made tubes would be a goo idea if found on ebay for <$.50 per foot, otherwise I'd make them for the fun and for the project. If you can solder together a length of LED and strong, flexible wire the length of a wall and pull it thru the tube, that'd be good, but IDK about the chances of it working.

RDP

[Spatula Tzar]

Don't forget electroluminescent cables, or EL wire. They seem better suited to this application.

[RDProgrammer]

Don't forget electroluminescent cables, or EL wire. They seem better suited to this application.

Looking back at the "wireframe" statement of the OP, I agree. I got sidetracked with the dotted line look of LEDs on a string. Do you know of any reasonably priced EL wire? I've always seen it at well over $1 a foot

RDP

[pooter]

Yeah dude, paint your room black, let it dry, then splatter/paint on glow in the dark neon paint. Then switch out the lights in your room with black lights.

[harry_hardcore_hoedown]

Thank you, great post.

I think I'll try to go with something like this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Fast-Quick-Cheap-Good-looking-LED-room-lighting/. Basically, run the wires around the room, stick some LEDs with resistance in, and if I like where it's going, cover it with some tubing for a more uniform light effect. And if I get an adapter where I can change the voltage, I could also adjust the brightness easily. Since I'm renting the place only for a year, having something that I can remove easily and deploy in another place would be good - and if I like the way it looks, I could always set up something more permanent when I get my own place, along the lines of your post.

You probably thought of this yourself, but just in case:

1) Don't solder the LEDs together - they have to be connected in parallel.
2) If you want the brightness to be adjustable, use enough LEDs so that they're reasonably bright when running below the rated voltage - you can't just supply more than they're rated for to increase the brightness.
3) Try to get a power supply that runs at the voltage your LEDs run at, or one as close as possible. Don't use a 12 volt power supply then use a resistor to decrease it to 2 volts, because it's going to generate a lot of heat, and it's inefficient.
4) LEDs can overheat, so you'd best consider that in your design.

[reggie_love]

Don't forget: post pics when you're done.