LED Accents behind TV?

soccerdad

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#81

Post by soccerdad » Mon Feb 10, 2014 12:16 am

I have not posted pictures here before. Looks like you have to upload them to a host site and the forum does not do uploads. Where do most upload to?

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makryger

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#82

Post by makryger » Mon Feb 10, 2014 12:25 am

soccerdad wrote:I have not posted pictures here before. Looks like you have to upload them to a host site and the forum does not do uploads. Where do most upload to?
There should be a link on the 'full editor' to 'upload attachments'
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soccerdad

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#83

Post by soccerdad » Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:32 am

I still don't see the upload attachments, but I went and did a youtube video. Here it is
g2kG-PFNIYU
The wall is chocolate brown so the effect is gold. I like it, some may not. I went ahead and did the relay off of the tv usb to turn it on and off. Works great. The sticky tape that comes on the led strip is not that great, but I may not have cleaned it well. For $30 bucks, the kit is great.

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makryger

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#84

Post by makryger » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:45 am

Very nice job. I really like the effect.
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IownFIVEechos

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#85

Post by IownFIVEechos » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:54 pm

soccerdad wrote:I have not posted pictures here before. Looks like you have to upload them to a host site and the forum does not do uploads. Where do most upload to?

Do you have to use the power brick or does it disconnect before it to a normal USB connector to be used in the TV, allowing you the dimmer feature? Looks nice. Never thought of the strain on the eyes.

barnabas1969

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#86

Post by barnabas1969 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:14 am

The recent activity on this thread reminded me that I never installed the relay that I bought. I bought a DS1E-M-DC5V relay off of either e-bay or Amazon (can't remember which), and it has been sitting there where I put it ever since. So, while I was working on a few other little projects around the house and the soldering iron was already hot... I installed the relay.

I put it inside the dimmer, in-line with the power supply, before the dimmer circuitry. The dimmer I bought (link below) is a simple dial that stays set where I set it, even after a power failure. The usb power from the TV turns on when the TV turns on and causes the relay to close, supplying power to the LED's. Works perfectly.

Here's the dimmer I use:
http://www.amazon.com/Ledwholesalers-In ... mmer+strip

You can see more info in post #62 and post #65.

Here's a picture:
20140210_211547.jpg
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barnabas1969

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#87

Post by barnabas1969 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:50 am

Oh, hey soccerdad: I just noticed your question to me. Sorry I missed it when you posted it. What I would do differently is to use the warm white LED's, just like you did. I'd also figure out a way to mount them so that they aim outward, parallel to the wall instead of pointing at almost a 90 degree angle to the wall.

I'll still probably do that eventually. Now that I have the new PC up and running, I need to cleanup a bunch of cables and stuff. I need to take the TV off the wall for that anyway, so maybe I'll just go ahead and order some warm white LED's now!

barnabas1969

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#88

Post by barnabas1969 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:05 am

Well, maybe I'll go with neutral white. Warm white might be too yellow.

EDIT: I ordered both the white (same as the one I already have) and the neutral white. I'll experiment with them before attaching them permanently. I want to see how they look when they are mounted so that they are parallel with the wall, aimed directly out from the screen.

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#89

Post by barnabas1969 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 1:48 pm

This is important: Last night as I was trying to fall asleep, I thought, "Does that relay have a built-in flyback diode?" (aka clamping diode, damping diode, or snubber diode) I just checked the specs on it, and it doesn't. I'll stop by Radio Shack today and pick up a diode and solder it across the relay coil tonight. Without this diode, the coil can create a harmful reverse voltage of fairly high potential that could damage the TV.

If you don't understand what I'm talking about, read the following Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyback_diode

Any diode that has at least a 10V reverse breakdown voltage, and a forward voltage of 5V or less will work fine (typical diodes have a 0.7V forward voltage).

soccerdad

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#90

Post by soccerdad » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:39 pm

Hey barnabas- thanks for the heads up on the diode. Did you get one? What radio shack part number? Just solder it between the two poles on the relay that I have getting power from the USB? I will have to check my relay. It is a really small thing that a friend of mine gave me. I just soldered the USB power directly to the relay pins. You got the relay to fit INSIDE the dimmer housing? Now you must have got a really small relay. My relay is in the positive side between the dimmer and the lights.

barnabas1969

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#91

Post by barnabas1969 » Wed Feb 12, 2014 8:48 pm

I soldered the diode to the relay last night. I already threw away the package from Radio Shack, so I don't know what the part number is. From memory (which may be incorrect), It had a forward voltage of 1.1 or 1.7 volts, and a reverse breakdown voltage of 50 volts, and a peak momentary current rating of 30 amps for up to 8ms. The specs are printed on the back of the packages at Radio Shack. Just pick one small enough to solder between the relay contacts that also has specs similar to mine.

I soldered it across the relay coil (the USB power wires). Put the end of the diode that has the stripe pointing toward the positive USB power wire, and solder the other end to the USB ground.

I think I posted a link to the relay earlier in this thread. It measures about 1/2 inch wide, 3/8 inch tall, and 3/4 inch long. I connected it to the power supply side of the dimmer. It probably doesn't matter which side of the dimmer you choose to connect the relay, but I wanted to avoid the possibility that the dimmer circuit would have a problem when it has power on the input, and nothing connected to the output. A good dimmer circuit design will handle this no-load condition just fine... but these things are made in China you know.

manielse

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#92

Post by manielse » Thu Feb 13, 2014 6:06 pm

Just wanted to mention a kickstarter I pledged for and just recieved about a week ago called "Lightpack — ambient backlight for your displays" which works with WMC https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wo ... -displays/

I have not had a chance to install it yet and don't know how quick a turnaround is for a new order but you can read about it here: http://lightpack.tv/

barnabas1969

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#93

Post by barnabas1969 » Thu Feb 13, 2014 6:21 pm

Holy cow, batman! I wish someone would pay me half a million dollars for making an open-source product that already exists (see post #2 of this thread).

EDIT: After reading about LightPack, this will never work with copy-protected content in Media Center full-screen. This is because Media Center, when in full-screen takes exclusive use of the video adapter. Anything that attempts to access the video information will either be blocked or will break the protected path. It may not even work with non-copy-protected content.

EDIT2: Upon further reading about LightPack, I don't think it will work with full-screen Media Center, even if it's not copy-protected content. To put it plain and simple, don't waste your money. If you really like the Philips Ambilight thing, go with the Ambi-Pi that was posted in post #2. It will work with anything that has a composite output. Many PC video cards have a composite output. I don't know if you can display Media Center both over HDMI and composite when in full-screen (especially for copy-protected content), but there are definitely hardware devices out there which will handle this.

soccerdad

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#94

Post by soccerdad » Fri Feb 14, 2014 7:57 pm

I got the diode and found that I could fit the entire thing in the dimmer housing. This is now a very clean installation. Works like a charm. Everyone that sees it thinks it looks great and makes it more enjoyable to watch. I think this is even more helpful with large screen tvs like mine. The entire thing is double back taped to the back of the TV, near the bottom so I can adjust the brightness easily if needed. The photo shows it with a quarter to show the size of the dimmer.
Thanks for the tips!
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barnabas1969

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#95

Post by barnabas1969 » Fri Feb 14, 2014 8:10 pm

That's exactly where I put my relay. It's about the same size as yours. I made a larger notch at the end of the plastic case so that the USB cable could come out the same hole with the power cable.

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