How to Build Your Own LED Light Panel

An LED (Light Emitting Diode) light panel is a square (although it can be other shapes), flat panel that has LED lights covering one side. LED lights are durable, produce little heat and consume a small amount of electricity. LEDs also come in a variety of colors. LED panels may have many different colors to create an interesting effect. Constructing an LED light panel is quite simple, as most of the components can be purchased already assembled.
1 Determine the size of your LED light panel. A 1 foot-by-1 foot light panel should produce plenty of light. Locate or construct a wooden panel of that size. The wood panel should ideally be 1/2-inch thick and should not be more than 1 inch thick.
2 Paint the wooden panel. This step is optional, as the front of the LED light panel will be covered in LED light strips. Wait for the paint to dry.
3 Purchase LED light strips. LED light strips are a number of LED lights all grouped together in a strip. Purchase strips that are roughly the length of the wooden panel. A strip will ideally run from one end of the panel to the other. Purchase enough strips to cover the entire panel. If the strips are too long, they can be cut to suit the length of the panel; this will not impact the functioning of the remaining strips as long as the power cord (to the control unit) is in tact. An alternative is to purchase the strips first and then fashion the panel to fit the strips.
4 Apply super glue to the back of the LED light strips and lay them in rows along the wooden board. Once they are all laid out they should cover the board completely. Ensure that the wires coming from the end of each LED strip are all on the same side.
5 Connect the wires from the LED light strips to the LED control unit. The LED light strip wires should pop right into the control unit. The LED control unit is a hub for all the LED light strips' wires. It manages all the connections of the LED power wires and has a number of ports for them. The control unit will either run on batteries or be plugged into an outlet. It does not come with the strips but can be purchased at any store that sells LED light strips.
6 Super glue the control unit to the back of the LED light panel or mount it separately. Plug in or insert batteries into the LED control unit (depending on the model). Turn it on and test out the LED panel light.

DIY LED Auto Lamp

Improve the visibility of your headlights by switching to LED Auto lamps. You can do this project yourself with a socket wrench, screwdriver and a LED Light assembly that corresponds with the make and model of your vehicle.
1 Turn off the vehicle engine and open the hood. Using the socket wrench, disconnect the battery by loosening and removing the negative terminal from the battery post.
2 Disconnect the electrical component of the headlight by squeezing in the plastic tabs on the connector. Pull the electrical connector off the assembly.
3 Remove all nuts and bolts on the LED assembly with a socket wrench or a screwdriver. Pull the vehicle headlight assembly out of the engine compartment once the nuts and bolts are removed.
4 Replace the vehicle assembly with the LED assembly and screw down with the bolts or screws. Reattach the electrical connector.
5 Reconnect the negative terminal to the battery post. Test the LED headlights to make sure they are functioning properly.          

Atmel Introduces LED Driver That Enhances LCD TV Picture Quality

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Atmel? Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch technology solutions, today announced a new high-performance family of 16-string LED drivers with integrated timing algorithms that improve picture quality of LCD TVs by eliminating 3D ghosting and flickering effects. With these capabilities, the Atmel MSL2164 and Atmel MSL2166 devices are ideal for delivering the most compelling viewing and video gaming experience via new 3D and 2D scrolling backlight TVs.
The LED drivers work seamlessly with Atmel AVR? microcontrollers (MCUs), including the Atmel tinyAVR?, Atmel megaAVR? and Atmel AVR XMEGA? devices. The microcontrollers process timing and dimming instructions, sending this data to the MSL2164 and MSL2166 devices. The AVR devices, along with firmware, provide a total solution that optimizes the entire backlight design, delivering superior performance compared to competitive solutions.
Featuring highest efficiency power management and backlight control along with multiple dimming modes for 3D, scanning and zone dimming edge-lit LCD TVs, the MSL2164 and MSL2166 devices drive up to 16 parallel strings of LEDs and offer comprehensive system and fault management to support high-performance backlight design. With this new driver family, high-end TV OEMs can deliver high screen resolution and greatly enhance picture quality using internal lighting timing algorithms that improve the backlight timing accuracy, with higher resolution vs. other solutions on the market today. At the same time, since OEMs will be able to choose from smaller form factor MCUs, such as tinyAVR devices, they can lower their system overhead.
Historically, TV OEMs have had to calculate the appropriate parameters to effectively illuminate a desired area in the backlight of a display. LED drivers would generate algorithms to set the appropriate string phase to optimize synchronization of the backlight to the LCD panel. Often, OEMs had to perform additional calculations to adjust the string phrase to ensure that the backlight was properly synchronized within the frame refresh. The MSL2164 and the MSL2166, with multiple pulse width modulation (PWM) modes—including forward, inverse, trailing and center—reduce design complexity because the timing algorithms are integrated into the devices. This ensures that the backlight is illuminated at the most optimal moment, when all of the LCD pixels have settled.
"Next-generation TVs, particularly those with 3D displays, demand a different approach towards local dimming," said Girish Ramesh, marketing manager of smart power products at Atmel Corporation. "Our newest LED drivers, the MSL2164 and the MSL2166, with their smart timing algorithms and programmable PWM modes, give OEMs who are developing LED edge-lit TVs a clear advantage in performance, design time and cost."
Minimize Power, Maximize Backlight Performance
The MSL2164 and MSL2166 devices drive external MOSFETs with high current accuracy and string matching. By offering the widest dimming resolution in Atmel's LED driver product family, the devices increase the contrast ratio and reduce power consumption by at least 20% compared to other available solutions.
12-bit PWM string dimming, which allows 4,096 gray scales for an enhanced image
8-bit global intensity dimming
12-bit PWM string phrasing
10-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) current control, which increases dimming LED driver control in lower light conditions
8-bit adaptive power correction, which maximizes efficiency of up to 3 string power supplies
An on-chip EEPROM allows OEMs to pre-program key system parameters to allow multiple subframes and reduce overall system design complexity and cost. The LED drivers feature Efficiency Optimizers that adaptively control up to three DC-DC converters that power the LED strings, minimizing power while maintaining LED current accuracy.
Availability and Pricing
Production volumes of the MSL2164 and the MSL2166 are available now, with prices at $5.95 for quantities of 1K.
About Atmel
Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, capacitive touch solutions, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on industrial, consumer, communications, computing and automotive markets.

LED driver compatible with triac dimming

Fairchild Semiconductor has developed the FL7730 single-stage primary side regulation (PSR) controller with power factor correction (PFC), TRIAC and analog dimming compatibility, as well as the FL7732 for non-dimming applications.
The FL7730 is an active PFC controller for single-stage flyback topology application. The device supports both TRIAC and analog dimming. Implemented with Fairchild's unique analog sensing technology, the device can achieve TRIAC dimming control without flicker over the full range of 0 to 100% light output.
The FL7730 and FL7732 combine primary-side regulation and a single-stage PFC topology to minimize total bill-of-material (BOM) count, such as an input electrolytic capacitor and feedback circuitry.
To improve power factor and THD, both devices feature constant on-time control with an internal error amplifier and low bandwidth compensator. Precise Constant Current accuracy/control (± 5 percent) regulates accurate output current, independent of input and output voltage, allowing designers to achieve high and improved lighting quality. Operating frequency is proportionally adjusted by output voltage in both devices to guarantee DCM operation with optimized PF/THD and simpler design.
PF (=0.9), low total harmonic distortion (THD) (Class C) and power efficiency of up to 85 percent for the FL7730 - greater than 85 percent for the FL7732 in non-dimming applications - allows these devices to meet worldwide energy saving regulations.

The humble light bulb has never been so confusing

Behold the humble light bulb: it doesn’t look revolutionary but its invention, refinement and adoption triggered mass literacy and shift work, forever changing our culture and propelling us towards the digital age
It’s also causing us a lot of confusion. Walk down the aisle of your local big box hardware retailer and you’ll find a bewildering selection of bulbs. There’s incandescent, compact-florescent (CFL), florescent, halogen, LED and, coming soon, a new, improved and energy efficient incandescent, just to name a few.
So, which bulb is right for what space in your house? Do the higher costs of the CFL or LED lights pay off in reduced energy costs over their lifetime? What about the health risks posed by the mercury inside CFLs?
Let’s see if we can, er, cast some light on all these and other questions.
The venerable incandescent light bulb is the probably the one most people are most familiar with. Incidentally, it wasn’t invented by Thomas Edison in the late 1800s. He merely refined the design that had been around for 75 years or so and created a distribution system for electricity and lighting which made it more practical and desirable.
The result is a simple design found all over the world, but it’s a notorious energy pig.
The bulbs are cheap to buy but over their lifetime 90 per cent of the energy they consume will be lost as heat, which is why the federal government has been trying to ban them since 2007 and why, as of Jan. 1, they’re been banned in the U.S., China and Europe.
The shock for consumers, however, is that their replacements — compact florescent and LED bulbs — are much more expensive, though they do pay for themselves by consuming less energy over a longer life span.
First, if you’re still buying old bulbs, you’re not breaking any laws. The Canadian federal government has now pushed back the deadline to ban incandescent importation to 2014 and Ontario announced in December it will shelve its own legislation to ban stores from selling them this year.
This shift has also contributed to consumer confusion because there’s an expectation incandescents are about to vanish and some folks are even hoarding supplies.
“It is confusing,” admits Pierrette Leblanc, senior standards engineer at the Office of Energy Efficiency at the National Research Council Canada. “And one of the reasons the government delayed barring imports of incandescent bulbs is so we can bring in a new labelling system which will made it easy for consumers to be informed and clear up the confusion.”
Like food labels, the new labels will have easy-to-read graphics listing the type of bulb, strength of light in lumens (a more practical measurement than watts) and how efficiently it turns power into light and colour balance indexed by a number.
The labels will also note whether the bulb is EnergyStar rated, which will go a long way to illuminating consumer choices, she said. Incidentally, those low wattage bulbs for appliances like fridges and ovens are unaffected.
Currently, the most efficient bulbs on the market are LED Light Emitting Diodes — which are miserly consumers of power but hard on the pocket book, costing $30 or more.
“But they are coming down in price as manufacturers work on them,” said LeBlanc. “And the quality is also improving.”
Still, changing 30 or 40 light bulbs in the average home to LEDs will be an expensive proposition, even with the power savings. The other drawback to LEDs is that while some versions will retrofit to a standard light socket, they are better off in a specifically designed fixture, one that better dissipates the heat, she said.
“The heat and how it is dissipated is what will determine the life cycle of the LED bulb,” she said.
LEDs can last as long as 25,000 hours (that’s about 20 years or more of usage) compared to CFLs at about 10,000, both well ahead of the 1,000 hours the incandescent lasts.
The technology is still developing and what’s in the laboratories now bodes well for the future, she said.
A word of caution, however; Those thinking about switching to LEDs should stick with big brand names, says Rhomney Forbes who runs Light Brigade, a Toronto commercial and residential light designing company.
“I’ve been offered ‘deals’ on LEDs but they just don’t last and the consistency (of colour) isn’t there,” she said.
Forbes said what kind of bulbs we choose and where we use them will determine what kind of light we get. What consumers want is also a matter of taste, adding some of the resistance to replacing incandescent bulbs was that newer bulbs didn’t give off the same warmth.
That’s changing as technologies develop, she said, and the colour temperatures are much better for home lighting but still not to everyone’s taste.
“There’s a difference in how you’d light a contemporary home as opposed to a century home,” he said, noting in the latter there would be more light in the range of fireplaces and candles for a warmer effect.
Our preferences for the “warmth” of incandescents is likely rooted in our cultural reference to the comfort and romanticism of hearth fires and candlelight, not any biological need, she said.
Kitchens, for example, need strong clear lights that render true colours for food preparations, Forbes said. For the most part, we put track lighting or pot lights in but it creates shadows right where the cook is working and that’s where under cabinet lights and LEDs do well.
That said, the CFL remains the most viable option on the market in terms of price and value for most homeowners in most situations, she said.
“Generally, CFLs probably provide the best value (right now),” she said. “Given their cost and energy use and life cycle, they are much more affordable than LEDs and while they may have a shorter life cycle, it’s not so great that the extra cost for LEDs is justified.”
Indeed, CFLs have come a long way. They’ve shed their “scrunched spaghetti” look and are contained in a sphere, are dimmable and generate more lumens, making them an obvious choice for incandescent replacement. They’re a little more expensive but last longer and use less power.
The one drawback is that they contain trace amounts of mercury, which require careful handling if one gets broken. NRC recommends opening a window in the room the clear any vapour and then carefully clean up the broken glass using duct tape or other sticky tape to get small pieces. Broken or burned-out bulbs should be put in a plastic bag. The bag can be disposed off at your local hardware retailer if they have a hazardous materials disposal program, or through your municipal hazardous materials program.
There are still a few other options on the market and newer technologies in the works. halogen bulbs, for example, burn hot but are more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs and popular for track lighting and other specific installation. Even so, manufacturers are developing LED replacements for them along with those for mini floods, known as PAR (parabolic aluminized reflector lamps), which are also common in recessed and track lighting fixtures in bathrooms and kitchens.
In the next couple of years, as the incandescent importation ban takes effect, manufacturers are gearing up to meet the new energy standards —but don’t write off incandescent as defunct.
Philips Lighting last year introduced a high-efficiency incandescent halogen — the Halogena — which employs halogen gas and a better filament and sold for about $5, making them competitive with CFLs. They were only sold in the U.S. but there’s a new line on its way, the Ecovantage, which will replace the Halogena and will be available in Canada. They’re an energy-efficient incandescent and, while more costly than a standard incandescent, they’re cheaper than the Halogena, contain no mercury but have a shorter life cycle of about 1,000 hours.
You’ll also hear more about new technologies gaining traction, like ESL — electron stimulated luminescence — which will replace floodlights and pot lights.
Regardless of which type of lighting and what type of bulbs you choose for your home, energy efficient design is only part of the battle.
Replacing 60 watt bulbs with lower-rate bulbs where possible will cut down power usage, as will turning off the lights when they’re not needed.
“And use dimmer switches where ever you can to lower the lights,” says Forbes.

How to Install a Wireless Parking Sensor

All cars have a blind spot, and when backing out of a parking spot, something in this blind spot could be hit. Such a scenario has been tragically repeated when small children stand behind a car as it is backed out of a garage. The solution to this is a parking sensor. These increase your field of vision by detecting if there is something behind your car which you might hit backing out. The installation is simple, and it can take just one hour to do from start to finish.
1 Measure the center of your bumper with the measuring tape and mark it with the grease pencil.
2 Measure and mark two places between 12" and 24" to the left and right of the center of the bumper. These will be where the sensors will be mounted. The sensors need to be between 18" - 30" off the ground. It is best to put the sensors 24" off the ground.
3 Drag the plug with the display panel to where you want to mount the display panel. Attach the panel with the included double sided tape.
4 Look for holes made in your car that feed the wires from the lights into the rear of your car or the trunk. Fish the sensor wires through these holes. Enlarge the hole and line the edges with Zinc Galvanize if needed.
5 Place a piece of electrical tape over the spots marked with the grease pencil on the bumper for the sensors. Use the specialty drill bit included with the parking sensor kit to drill holes at these sites. Remove rough edges with a drill buffing bit and coat the edges of the holes with Zinc Galvanize if the bumper is metal.
6 Push the sensors from the back of the bumper until they are flush with the front.
7 Plug the wires from the display, sensors, and the power supply into the control box. Test the unit according to your manufacturer's instructions.
8 Choose a site to mount the control box, and attach it there with the double sided tape included.

How to Test a Len's Sharpness

A sharp lens can make the difference between a quality exposure and amateur work. There are many different aspects that can affect a photograph, including lens speed, minimum focus distance, type of lens elements, lens weight and stabilization. For many photographers, the first aspect for evaluation is the sharpness, or contrast, of the exposure. You can discover how sharp your lens is by setting up a simple test at home and trying different options.
1Secure a piece of newspaper to a wall with scotch tape.
2Illuminate the paper with two high power lights, such as LED flood lights. Direct the light to illuminate both sides of the paper.
3Place your camera on a tripod. Make the appropriate exposure with the lens auto focus.
4Open the lens to the widest aperture, or the smallest number setting. Take a picture.
5Make an exposure for each aperture, until the lens is at its smallest opening.
6Examine the results of each aperture, looking at the sharpness of the center of the frame versus the edge of the frame. You are paying particular attention to the sharpness of the text.

Are HID Kits Legal?

High-intensity discharge headlights emit a brighter white or bluish light than halogen lights. HIDs are legal only on vehicles with original equipment manufacturer systems. After-market kits used to install HID systems on other vehicles are illegal in all 50 states.
Design
Halogen headlights have a metal filament. When electrically charged, the filament heats up until it glows. HID lights have no filament. They are filled with xenon gas and equipped with a ballast, which converts a car's normal DC voltage to higher AC current. This creates an arc that ignites the gas and makes it glow.
Safety Concerns
HIDs installed in headlight systems designed for halogen lights produce substantially different beam patterns. They are difficult to aim, and emit light that exceeds the intensity allowed under the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
Regulations
Under federal regulation FMVSS 108, replacement lights must conform to the specifications for the original equipment manufacturer's system they will be installed in. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has determined that HID conversion kits can never be designed to meet this standard. The NHTSA declared HID kit illegal in 2004.

Advantages Of Using LED Downlight Silver

You’ve probably used smd LED tube already, but you may didn’t recognize it. They are contained in everyday tools such as TVs, different watches, remote settings, DVD players, and calculators. Right now LED light bulbs are finding their purpose into homes, due mostly to ascending energy expenditures. Irrespective of its ubiquity, however, LED light bulbs meant for general home illumination are still fairly new.
Most of the American homes have traditional incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, and pay about 25% of total power consumption on lighting alone. As emphasized by the US Department of Energy, the introduction of new lighting technologies may reduce lighting electricity use in family homes by 50% to 75%. A greener and more cost-effective approach is to use LED light bulbs, the most recent advancement in home illumination.
LED or light-emitting diode is a type of semiconductor. LED bulbs have been first commercially offered in laboratory test equipments, and only soon after in radios and satellite mobile phones. The main designs of LED lights are little, high powered, and custom designed.
Numerous advantages comes with using LED downlight silver. In comparison with fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs, LED bulbs just about 1/10 less power consumption. LEDs also keep going 50 times longer as opposed to standard bulbs, or give 50,000 hours’ use compared to 10,000 hours for CFLs or compact fluorescent lighting. LEDs are much more compact in size and are more durable. Because they are made from solid state equipment, LEDs are hard to deteriorate, unlike breakable CFLs and incandescent bulbs.
Despite the fact that LED bulbs for residence lighting are relatively too expensive, you can lay aside dollars eventually because of greatly reduced maintenance costs (a CFL bulb costs almost $2, while an identical LED Street Lights can cost up to $100). LEDs also have the advantage over CFLs by not using mercury.
A plethora of LED light bulb makes and versions are available in the market today, so how do you know which to buy? Here are some things to consider to bear in mind when shopping for LED bulbs:
Wattage. LED light sources use much less electricity than its fluorescent and incandescent lighting bulbs. It implies LEDs give more light with reduced wattage. Just to illustrate, a 12.5 Watt LED bulb is equivalent to a 60W incandescent bulb. The packaging lists the brightness level.
Warm vs Cool Light. LED lamps are now accessible in many colors. Decorated lights look festive and brighten up a deck. For general home lighting, “cool” whitened LED bulbs are wonderful for task lighting. “Warm” LED candle light are well-matched for accent lights.
Dimming Capabilities. Unlike compact fluorescents, LED bulbs are usually dimmable. These are excellent for the bedroom, hallways, or wherever you want softer or maybe mood lighting.
Base Type. Pin and the standard outlet are two forms of LED light bulb bases. Pick a base type depending on intended use.
Quality. You can perhaps find less costly LED light bulbs on websites or discount shops, but it’s advisable to buy from well-established dealers to ensure your LED bulbs last longer. High quality LED bulbs make use of high quality chips and materials.