night glare from blue LEDs...
slightly off topic, but...
I'm sure i'm not the only one who finds the glare from blue LEDs a problem, and would rather have a softer glow. I think this comes from the directional light emission pattern of the blue LED, so if you mount it directly on the front panel, it projects a beam of light out into the room.
I'm going to try something a little different... consider how a frosted light bulb has a far softer appearance compared to staring at the filament inside a clear bulb...
When I finally get around to building my Aleph-X amps, I'm going to mount the LED inside the case, and in it's place just mount a small sheet of clear plastic behind the hole. The outer surface of the clear plastic will be frosted to diffuse and disperse the blue backlight. It should look really nice, provided the hole isn't too deep. Maybe an extra-large countersink will be required, or perhaps a little milling / drilling on the backside, if the front panel is too thick. Perhaps a carefully applied blob of silicone or hot glue would do the trick, or a section of acrylic dowel? However it's done, the brightness could be adjusted either by changing the distance between the LED and lens, or adjusting the LED current. The colour could also be adjusted by combining different coloured LEDs... (maybe you're tired of blue?)
A major consideration will be to obtain the best on vs. off contrast by ensuring maxiumum darkness when the LED is off. This probably involves blacking out internal surfaces and closing the LED display off from other rear light sources, maybe by putting a small box or black tube behind the lens. Secondly, the frosted plastic can't be too opaque and "white" looking. That is, it can't reflect too much light from outside. Getting the right balance of diffusion vs. reflectivity might require some experimentation. If successful, the indicator should appear nice and dark during daytime when the amp is off, but the blue glow will not be offensive at night.
slightly off topic, but...
I'm sure i'm not the only one who finds the glare from blue LEDs a problem, and would rather have a softer glow. I think this comes from the directional light emission pattern of the blue LED, so if you mount it directly on the front panel, it projects a beam of light out into the room.
I'm going to try something a little different... consider how a frosted light bulb has a far softer appearance compared to staring at the filament inside a clear bulb...
When I finally get around to building my Aleph-X amps, I'm going to mount the LED inside the case, and in it's place just mount a small sheet of clear plastic behind the hole. The outer surface of the clear plastic will be frosted to diffuse and disperse the blue backlight. It should look really nice, provided the hole isn't too deep. Maybe an extra-large countersink will be required, or perhaps a little milling / drilling on the backside, if the front panel is too thick. Perhaps a carefully applied blob of silicone or hot glue would do the trick, or a section of acrylic dowel? However it's done, the brightness could be adjusted either by changing the distance between the LED and lens, or adjusting the LED current. The colour could also be adjusted by combining different coloured LEDs... (maybe you're tired of blue?)
A major consideration will be to obtain the best on vs. off contrast by ensuring maxiumum darkness when the LED is off. This probably involves blacking out internal surfaces and closing the LED display off from other rear light sources, maybe by putting a small box or black tube behind the lens. Secondly, the frosted plastic can't be too opaque and "white" looking. That is, it can't reflect too much light from outside. Getting the right balance of diffusion vs. reflectivity might require some experimentation. If successful, the indicator should appear nice and dark during daytime when the amp is off, but the blue glow will not be offensive at night.
hifiZen said:
More or less. The Led is several cm. inside the cabinet (stand-alone power supply for BOSOZ) and there is a magnify lens on the front. Apparently the light comes from a much bigger source, but it's brightness is obvious only looking straight to it, otherwise is very very soft.
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Following your posts today decided to install a bright blue Led on Wayne S pcs to see how it would go.
The rating is 3.6 volt 20 ma, I am using the original resisitor for the Aleph 2 and it is plently bright enough.
So much so that it adds a great effect at night when you can see the blue aura from the side ventilation areas around the heats which I use to control internal air temparature.
My On rocker switch on the front panel has an inbuilt illuminated Red neon bezel, so the two colours look great.
regards
macka
The rating is 3.6 volt 20 ma, I am using the original resisitor for the Aleph 2 and it is plently bright enough.
So much so that it adds a great effect at night when you can see the blue aura from the side ventilation areas around the heats which I use to control internal air temparature.
My On rocker switch on the front panel has an inbuilt illuminated Red neon bezel, so the two colours look great.
regards
macka
Tomo said:
At 60Hz the capacitor reactance is about 5650 ohms which means about 10mA avg current corresponding to 1/10 watt dissipation in the 1K resistor (at steady state). There is going to be an inrush current initially and, I think, 1/2 to 1 watt should do it.
You should be very careful, always, when dealing with line voltages.
JAG -
Thank you. I feel a lot better now. I have imbedded your LED design into my amp. I used .47uF with four 1W 1K metal oxide resistors (to build 2W 1K resistor. I couldn't find 1K high wattage resistors in my box)
It lits up my room pretty good. It was kinda weird having a blue spotlight, but I now found it quite soothing.
Tomo
Thank you. I feel a lot better now. I have imbedded your LED design into my amp. I used .47uF with four 1W 1K metal oxide resistors (to build 2W 1K resistor. I couldn't find 1K high wattage resistors in my box)
It lits up my room pretty good. It was kinda weird having a blue spotlight, but I now found it quite soothing.
Tomo
Did someone say Blue LEDs
Did someone say Blue LEDs???? BOSOZ with LEDs. I've got over a dozen on my BOSOZ, including blue LED switches!
My Web Page
I made a special PCB for the LEDs, it first passes the signal through a diode, then a fixed resistor, then a multiturn trimpot. This way I get to adjust the brightness of the LEDs, because when you have 19 or 20 you just can't have them different intensities.
Here is the board (its from my Gainclone, but the same board is in the BOSOZ, just don't have a good pic of it).
Also, I put some LEDs inside the case offset from the outside. I couldn't get any frosted glass to diffuse the light so I bought a package of microscope slides and cut off the frosted end used for labels. You see the results of that here.
Did someone say Blue LEDs???? BOSOZ with LEDs. I've got over a dozen on my BOSOZ, including blue LED switches!
My Web Page
I made a special PCB for the LEDs, it first passes the signal through a diode, then a fixed resistor, then a multiturn trimpot. This way I get to adjust the brightness of the LEDs, because when you have 19 or 20 you just can't have them different intensities.
Here is the board (its from my Gainclone, but the same board is in the BOSOZ, just don't have a good pic of it).
Also, I put some LEDs inside the case offset from the outside. I couldn't get any frosted glass to diffuse the light so I bought a package of microscope slides and cut off the frosted end used for labels. You see the results of that here.
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