Darbin Orvar: Construct a Beautiful, Dimmable LED Light Fixture

Arduino Furniture & Lighting Home Technology
Darbin Orvar: Construct a Beautiful, Dimmable LED Light Fixture

This project is all about using the latest high-powered LEDs for a modern lighting fixture. Unlike LED strip lights which utilize 12 volts, and often come paired with dimmers and remotes, I wanted to design an interior light with high-powered LEDs which had a modern look and was able to be dimmed.

YouTube player

To take care of the dimming I added an Adafruit trinket and a transistor to do the switching to create a voltage change that would dim the lights using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). You will need a little soldering, some aluminum, walnut, or other wood for the box and minor programming of the trinket.

DarbinOrvar_LED02

For other designs you can easily substitute an Arduino Uno or really any other microcontroller. I used the trinket because I wanted to create a box that was as narrow and sleek as possible, while thinking of the electronics and heat issues associated with the use of high-powered LEDs.

DarbinOrvar_LED04

I hope others try to create some more home-friendly designs using this basic set-up. There’s no reason you can’t use 20 watt or higher chips for this type of design either. I am really looking forward to seeing what others come up with too.

 

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Darbin Orvar

Linn from the Darbin Orvar Youtube channel is originally from Sweden and has been making things all her life. She enjoys working in her shop on a variety of projects from electronics to woodworking, using hand tools and power tools.

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