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Light...

Discussion in 'Mods and Upgrades' started by Kilrah, Jul 15, 2017.

  1. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    Was tired of having to point a desk lamp at the printer to hope to see something on the timelapse and use a flashlight everytime I wanted to see how the print was going... so I made this.

    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2436655

    20170715_203535.jpg 20170715_203554.jpg 20170715_203817.jpg 20170715_193850.jpg before-after.jpg
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Nicely done.
     
  3. Seamus

    Seamus Member

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    Very nice! Interior lighting has been on my list since I got my printer.
     
  4. AlienBeans

    AlienBeans Active Member

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    very nice. The stock lighting is pretty awful. I expected better since there's a camera on board. How about a link to the LED strips you bought and perhaps how you wired them (I saw the connection on the board). I'm curious how you routed the wires to get them to the bottom.
     
  5. supercazzola

    supercazzola Active Member

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    Beautiful job on this. I think it is the first mod I will make. Perfect solution to their oversight in illumination.
    Kevin
     
  6. Ed Ferguson

    Ed Ferguson Active Member

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    Good job - Yeah, the stock lighting for the camera is lacking in a dark room. Where do the wires attach and how were they routed?
     
  7. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    I've put the details in the Thingiverse description actually...

    The strip is a generic warm white 5m 12V strip I got from a local auction site. Connected the 2 pieces in series to the power input on theboard (that's behind the switch, so it turns off with the power switch).

    Wires are routed in the existing conduits, you can remove the panels to access better.

    LED power is 7W.

    20170716_084437.jpg 20170716_084447.jpg 20170716_084116.jpg 20170716_084120.jpg
     
  8. Todd Wessendorf

    Todd Wessendorf Active Member

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    Oh, I am so doing this! Very well done!

    The blue-grey wire laying there . . . is that from the stock lights? Is this using the old plug that the stock lights used, or can we use both?

    T
     
  9. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    Yeah it's the stock lights - disconnected them since they're useless and the cold white looks horrid when mixed with my warm white ones.

    Not being sure of how much current the 12V regulator can handle (looks like a linear one...) I decided not to use the original socket but feed myself straight from 24V.
     
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  10. Todd Wessendorf

    Todd Wessendorf Active Member

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    Good to know. Are you using 24V LEDs or do the 12V ones all over Amazon work fine?

    T
     
  11. Todd Wessendorf

    Todd Wessendorf Active Member

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    Never mind, you mentioned you are using the 12V light strip.

    So I'm guessing the LED's won't burn out, and they are safe on a 24V source?
    T
     
  12. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    Re-re-read ;)

    I mentioned I wired both pieces of 12V strip in series, essentially making it a 24V strip.
     
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  13. supercazzola

    supercazzola Active Member

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    you can see this setup:

    On Kilrah's R2's right side:
    • red wire to +24V on power rail, and the + side of the LED strip
    • white wire to - side of LED strip, which travels down and back up to the + side of the left LED strip
    On Kilrah's R2's left side:
    • white wire on + side of LED strip, travels down and back up to the - side of the right LED strip (as mentioned above)
    • black wire on - side of LED strip, travels down to ground on the power rail.
    Hope that helps...
    Kevin
     
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  14. supercazzola

    supercazzola Active Member

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    I will comment that if something were to happen and a few of the LEDs on one side burn out, I do believe this method would cause more voltage (>12) on one side, and instantly burn out that side, causing the other side to go out too.

    But these strips are so cheap. Just wouldn’t want any negative affects on the R2. One option could be to power the lights from an external 12V wall transformer. Or even to build a small circuit with a 12v voltage regulator in line with each of the strip.
     
  15. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    Nope, the resistors on the strip will do their job.

    Like pretty much all 12V strips it's paralleled groups of 3-series LEDs. Should one fail open you've got 3 LEDs going out on one side, the current on the other 9 of that side will increase a little but 25% more won't be an issue. Ive often been running 12V strips at 16V.

    No reason to do anything to the printer, it's not even controlled by it.
     
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  16. HyruleJedi86

    HyruleJedi86 New Member

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    This is a great mod! Where did you get the plug to plug the LEDs into the board?
     
  17. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    I didn't, I used totally inappropriate ends form jumper cables forced. But most electrical suppliers do have the green connectors, it's a widespread standard. I'll throw one in and install it next time I have to place a component order.
     
  18. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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  19. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    Looks very much like it.
    Local electronics distributor has them for around $0.50, but I'd pay 20 times that in shipping so waiting until I need more stuff :D
     
  20. Curtis

    Curtis New Member

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    Damn thats nice! I was thinking of a similar lighting system, but mine was going to be USB. I ordered it 4 weeks ago.. still waiting.. haha
     

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