The Pinnacle@Duxton, Singapore

[2100]

Not a blog, also not to spoil ArieLCandy's thread so continue here and consolidate.

I think if your home is somewhat modern contemporary its suitable to use the strips.

BTW my kitchen cabs are not suspended, they are full height + cement base at the bottom - so no cockroach/lizard issue.
I'll see if i wanna add the glass backing later on (don't relish the cleaning).... don't really mind the tiles uneveness, or i can shift the strips slightly forward so its not too bad.
Or just do the lower ones, coz i wanted extra illumination that's why i wanted the upper ones as well...once the main ceiling light switched on it goes away.

LED only, T5 high-output (39W) not switched on at the end with all the appliances



LED and T5 HO



Closeup



Living room BAY with sette, light it up at the base as a cove


Can try the magenta-violet strips which are very nice (not the pink colour or the ultraviolet strips which are eye damaging), or RGB which is controllable with various colours and a cold white colour but a bit "dirty looking which is not the same as cold-white or warm-white"....and still cannot get the magenta-violet colour. So you need to see what are you after for the various applications.

Others
* behind your LCD / Plasma, whole vertical cove in rectangular shape
* below your MBR bedframe, allow at least 2 inches height if possible.
* beneathe your dining table, study table
* If possible to hide, along the width of your window grilles...the CES ones, stick it below so that it'd shine down
* curtain pelmet - the curtain waves would create a nice effect, choose your curtains with a metallic surface and it would be really nice

Then play some good trance music from Carl Cox with a good fidelity 2.1 system (Global Underground is nice), and chill.....


The good thing is that if you apply incorrectly you can take it out and use for other areas. But you can buy a short test trip to try out first.
Careful with use of the RGB, the magenta-violet is ok but the RGB can easily turn your space into a Beng-sphere.

Apply tastefully.

OK
[/img]http://www.webamuse.co.jp/r35gt-r/img/wallpaper/wp_r35_phantom_04.jpg[/img]

Not OK
[/img]http://www.mike.vcn.com/tmp/ricer_civic_2.jpg[/img]

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actually the pix are quite a fair bit overexposed (due to the camera's inability to capture the brightest parts + the darkest part as the ranges are too far apart for the cam to handle). In real life you can see the "dots" for the top undercab lighting. Now it seems "seamless".
For the bottom its not as bad since its 100% reflected light and the tiles are non-glossy type. You can have an idea of it from my living room bay sette pic, in which you can see a bit of the light dots.

I finally got myself some RGB strips, and I can safely recommend to anyone here. Its quite fun, I think a fair number of people generally would be happy with the following colours to be used in *REAL LIFE*, as in you'd be tempted to switch on for mood lighting occassional, not those "switch on once when new and never switch on again" aka new toilet.

1. Orange
2. Blue (not so sure about this but I think "ok can lah")
3. Yellow (not so sure about this too)
4 Pink and its variants
5. There is a light purplish violet, if its more saturated then that'd be good (but dangerously close to ultraviolet, not sure if its good for the eyes)

Cannot make it colours
1. Green
2. light green
3. light blue

You'd need to balance out with the downlights, else in the long run the shorter wavelengths of the blue light components in the mix would ruin your eyes. Once you balance with normal lights, your iris becomes smaller and you get less of the blue component. Keyword - balance.
Its like COLD WHITE lights, use a DVD / CD as a diffraction device, lots of blue in the spectral distribution. For colours like orange, no issue.

The smooth fades of all the colours / blinking effects, i think can forget about it unless you are celebrating your son/daughter's 21st bday or New Year celebration. Or maybe have a kinky night on the bed perhaps..... (i'll prob get a headache first!)

I am so sorry guys, really my house is 60% practicality and 40% design, I also go more towards value for money.
There are some nice parts like the acrylic cabs, lightings I'd say I put quite a bit of thought into it besides the strips and some stuff are a bit different from the rest, but that's about it. My lightings did not go over 8k with LED strips incld, so not even close to the design / luxurious league. So nothing much to show lah, xianwei can attest to that.


But just some pictures.

Choose bt 5mm side firing, 8mm 1210 LEDs, 12mm 5050 LEDs. RGB is only available in 5050 factor (1210 also got, but really really expensive)


Choose between the normal notebook type of adaptor as power supply (terminate the LED strips with a plug), or the exposed type SMPS (screw on, multiple wires ok).


Top is my single colour magenta violet which I like most. Below is the RGB showing orange colour



There is one thing I need to tell you is that the RGB when in colour mode flickers a bit due to the RGB controller controlling. This gets extremely evident as you dim the light (the controller allows that). Even in full intensity in all the colour mode the light flickers a wee bit. If you balance with normal downlights, spotlights, its ok.
The white colour from the RGB is also a dirty very slight bluish-pinkish kinda light, which has a pretty low CRI, so it renders your sofa, flowers, feature wall etc in a funny way that is not true to the colour and not exactly nice. If you dim it, the flicker is very evident as well.

The RGB has 1 colour mode which gets pretty close to my magenta-violet mono-colour strip, but I think the RGB is slightly more pinkish. But pretty close, I think most would be happy with the RGB.

BTW, pls do not get the silicone waterproofed version, the colours get lighter and not as "solid". In photographic-speak its not as saturated. Don't know why.

Can get from GL Hub, Sim Lim Tower B1. They can give you the lowest price for the RGB controllers, most importantly customise something for you to your delight / mix and match, give advice etc.... This is important if not purchase salah not good lah. LED strips pricings in bulk are around the same as others.

If you cannot find the power supply you want, just walk over to Multilink, they have lots of them there. They have some pretty small form factor ones but still output a bunch of current (Amperes). Important if you are squeezing into a cove, its esp impt to me coz I am squeezing in an electronic IC switch, power supply and 2 runs of T5 tubes.

I found the best results for application in the light cove is to stick it as low as possible without blockage by other stuff (like T5) on the vertical wall of the cove. I tried putting it on the "ground" firing up, not as nice.
Coz remember, T5 is somewhat 360 deg, LED is only 120 deg.

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My electrician just dropped by to install 2 Electronic ICs (450W per line max) last night for the strips to be installed for the ceiling coves, poked 2 lobang as I used/share the switch for the vertical wall coves using T5.

Damage $80 incld IC hardware - night installation so as to suit my schedule as I wanna supervise

You can use RF A/B/C/D switches so you can control T5 and your strips, but I already have 1 RF switch remote (for a hard to reach light switch) so did not opt for that as its not too difficult to use. Too many remotes confusing lah.

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I have put up all my LEDs liao. I'll see if i wanna do up my bed frame side/bottom part as well to bounce the light off the wall/floor. (maybe not).

I have 3 coves with violet, 2 at the living rm and 1 in the MBR. I originally wanted to do just for the bedroom but found the effect nice so wanted to do up the living as well. They ran out of stocks as I wanted a lot (I needed 6m and 4m respectively for the 2 coves) so I purchased 6m with silicone protection (not the tube kind) and 4m without.

Apparently with violet and those blue/pink colours, the silicone would change the colour a bit and make it lose saturation and more "bluish", the effect is v slight. So right now my living rm has 2 very slightly diff colours of magenta-violet. I have tried playing with the voltage output to the LEDs but not much use.

So bo bian, my MBR is a 5m cove with no silicone, need to take that LED strip out to exchange with one of the living rm one so as to make it standardised. MBR cove is standalone by itself, so use the LED strip with silicone no issue w slightly different colour vs living rm.
Since its 6m exchange with 5m, i'd also have to buy another meter.
Probably restick it up with UHU glue at certain lengths to assist the double-sided tape, the strips can be taken out and it still remain sticky w the double-sided tape that came with it, just maybe lose 50% only.

Parts of my kitchen 5050 strip came off, or rather the side is peeling off at about maybe 10 spots for 2m. This is exposed as its for under top kitchen cab shining down, a bit of super glue fixed it and its not peeling.

All my warm white strips are for illumination and not in proper light coves, so I opted for the LED strips with silicone for protection against water (eg mopping the floor/cleaning). Just make it a point to note that silicone shifts the colour a wee bit, so don't mix silicone strips with non-silicone ones.

Juz some tips.

[Armadillo]

Wow nice LED light
Any idea roughly how much for 1 roll + the controller/adapter?
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***People only failed when they give up***

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The colours depicted here are only like 90% representative of reality, due to the sensor's inability to capture accurately the shorter wavelengths. (also depends on your LCD as well, all consumer grade TN LCD panels including LED panels difficult to render the whole colour depth)


Orange RGB


White RGB (as you can see it is dirty kinda white, in actual life somewhat pinkish)


Pinkish magenta.

You can see the LEDs from the reflection off the tiles. I have a pelmet/cove at the back which houses 2 x T5s there, I can put it in to hide the LED "dots" if I wish, but I find the visible LED dots to be nicer.
Need to hide my wires a bit more (use super glue liao)


The 2 coves, one with silicone (waterproofed) and the other without. Need to change one out and exchange with my MBR liao.



I have set the WB to about 6000K, so the halogen looks more orangey than it shd be. If i set it lower the cove comes out blue. Sensor cannot capture correctly.

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Some impressions

As you can see from the pix, somehow the halogen chandeliers are just passable with the LEDs but don't really gel totally. (it looks better in real life though). For most people I guess its decently ok, but I expected more.

Also the feel of it in my MBR is better than living room. So it really depends on your decor.

My wife and I are of the opinion that fluorescent downlights do not work well with LED coves. Very ja pa lang look. I have tried out 3 types of tubes, 2700, 4000 and 6500K, all no gel.

My metal halides work well with the violet coves.

Kitchen cabs warm white and Bay sette are great, very nice looking and gels with the modern contemporary theme. As strips are "straight" and look somewhat modern, a clean modern contemporary theme works.
If you have a complicated wall paper, it might not work. My ID does not recommend those funny/complicated patterned wall papers or laminates.
Esp if you mix with RGB, it would be "over". Too much of a good thing = bad.

I tried out my 2700K T5 in the cove mixed together with the violet, it gives you quite a nice cosy feeling. When I switched on my 4100K T5 in the cove, its pretty ok. 2700K + 4100K, the violet LEDs get swamped, no see at all.

The RGB in white mode, ok for accent illumination but not main illumination. Got a slight dirty pinkish cast to it. The flashing make you go dizzy within 15 seconds / the smooth transitioning from one colour to the next makes you go dizzy within 15 mins. If you are doing a party then I guess ok lah.

Orange is pretty nice, pink looks good too. But other colours make you look like ghost house. Even with other main forms of illumination the colours do not gel with the lighting or decor.

Your mileage may vary, you may be the type who likes complication and lots of pattern stuff.

[Armadillo]

Wow, very nice effect
Thanks for your detail explaination
I think will wait till my cove down, then change all to LED
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***People only failed when they give up***

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Saggydog, I remember you asking abt my Bay sette, the laminates non wavy one. The top part is granite, forgot which variant but I paid $160/ft for it as I specially selected the slab (the depth of the granite is 680mm, more than the usual 600mm used in kitchens - that's a pretty big & deep sette you can actually sleep on it). My kitchen black galaxy $110 nia.

I wanted to use laminates first, but disallowed by ID as it would not gel.

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[Fia]

wah... light show siah!!

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[aDeqUatE]

We should go visit you often to enjoy the light show and superb music listening experience.

[2100]

[maxxum]

Very pretty indeed. 5 popcorns for U
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[ArieLCandy]

wow interesting & very detailed thread on lights.
thanks 2100 for sharing.
somehow i got this feeling your home looks mysteriously nice looking

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[maxxum]

[Yurikaze]

Time to party @ 2100's house liao.. It's Mambo Wambo time..
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Beep Beep!!!!!

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Yuki, heh...no mambo lah, too old for that. Just plain single colour cove.
Actually the colour tone matches with the 2700K T5, adds some reddish tone to the skin.

[Fia]

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If you happen to drop by Somerset 313 area, just hop over to Singapore Power's NTUC Finest (ground floor accessible via Exeter Rd or Somerset Rd also can). They are using LED T8 tubes, LED strips as well as 7W LED spot lights. All 4000K colour temperature. Everything illuminating top down from the ceiling is LED!

Personally find the 4000K a bit pale in colour leh, when you put your hands/newspaper/magazine out to see. If you go over to the freezer compartment where they are using Osram 4000K T5s, different case.

[Yurikaze]