Leaping Arches and LED light spacing

[fj]

Hi,

I got some LED's for a leaping arch. The distance between the LED's is 10cm. I wrapped them onto a bit of 1.5" diameter tubing as an experiment just to see what they looked like but I'm a bit disappointed with them because they seem a bit too spreadout and don't really give off a good glow.

I was thinking about maybe wrapping two sets around one section of the arch and offsetting them a little (so effectively there is an LED every 5cm) but that means I need twice as many lights than I counted on.

So what does everyone else who has LED arches do? How far apart are the LEDs on the string and what do they look like? Maybe thinner tubing might help a little bit? If you have any videos of your LED arches that I could take a look at that would be great.

thanks, fj

[smartalec]

Originally Posted by fj

Hi,

I got some LED's for a leaping arch. The distance between the LED's is 10cm. I wrapped them onto a bit of 1.5" diameter tubing as an experiment just to see what they looked like but I'm a bit disappointed with them because they seem a bit too spreadout and don't really give off a good glow.

I was thinking about maybe wrapping two sets around one section of the arch and offsetting them a little (so effectively there is an LED every 5cm) but that means I need twice as many lights than I counted on.

So what does everyone else who has LED arches do? How far apart are the LEDs on the string and what do they look like? Maybe thinner tubing might help a little bit? If you have any videos of your LED arches that I could take a look at that would be great.

thanks, fj

i started doing it with the big-w brand of led lights, there is series of about 20 for green an blue, an 30 for red..

now personaly im going to have to wrap extra per segment
eg might see what it looks like with 40 an then 60 leds per segment
now having red,green,blue in a segment means alot of wires.

the new style some people are trying with smd lighting looks like it will do a better job.
http://doityourselfchristmas.com/for...ht=27+pin+plug
is what i designed.

[jmccoh]

Hey Fj,
One of the (many) things I have learned at this site was to fold a string in half offsetting the lights before wrapping something like an arch. That way you can reduce the spacing to 5 cm with the added bonus of a shorter string to wrap - if you have say a 10 m long dtring you effectively only have to wrap 5 m that way.

[djulien]

Originally Posted by fj

I wrapped them onto a bit of 1.5" diameter tubing as an experiment just to see what they looked like but I'm a bit disappointed with them because they seem a bit too spreadout and don't really give off a good glow.

You could try a smaller diameter tube, which would put them closer together. Another idea is to cover them with some kind of diffusing material, so it spreads out the light more evenly.

don

[smartalec]

Originally Posted by djulien

Another idea is to cover them with some kind of diffusing material, so it spreads out the light more evenly.

any idea's on what we're looking for? an how robust?
i thought of a clear pcv pipe bend, an solder my own rgb leds, (simular project to the icle lights).

[txag2008]

Another idea is to cover them with some kind of diffusing material, so it spreads out the light more evenly.

I've heard of people using stretched-out white dryer vent hose.

[djulien]

Originally Posted by smartalec

any idea's on what we're looking for? an how robust?

Any type of opaque plastic sheeting would likely work. I've also heard of good results with the dryer hose.

don