{"id":485,"date":"2015-01-19T14:12:08","date_gmt":"2015-01-19T21:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meanderinglines.com\/?p=485"},"modified":"2015-01-19T14:12:08","modified_gmt":"2015-01-19T21:12:08","slug":"led-cable-lighting-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meanderinglines.com\/?p=485","title":{"rendered":"LED Cable Lighting Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been wanting to change the lighting in my house to LED lights. To do it there are a couple of options, replace the standard bulbs with LED conversion bulbs or change the fixtures to low voltage fixtures designed for LEDs, both of which are relatively expensive.\u00a0 Changing the bulbs in my current fixtures is the simplest method, but I would end up paying a higher cost for the bulbs and wouldn’t get some of the lighting benefits available from standard LED bulbs.\u00a0 Replacing all of the fixtures with fixtures designed for LEDs would allow access to the lower prices bulbs and the more flexibility, but would entail more work and the purchase of the fixtures which seem to be sold at a premium price .<\/p>\n

\"Lights<\/a>

Lights installed in my kitchen<\/p><\/div>\n

These issues led me to evaluate building a system from available parts, which it turns out are relatively inexpensive.\u00a0 The parts I needed to make this functional in my home were a support structure, a 12 volt power supply and a fixture to connect the bulb to the system.<\/p>\n

\"Cable<\/a>

Cable and Transformer<\/p><\/div>\n

For the support system I used 3\/32″ steel cable which could be stretched with turn buckles and strung in parallel runs where I wanted the lighting.\u00a0 Since the lighting is low voltage there is no hazard running the current through the uninsulated cable.\u00a0 I attached the cable to the ceiling or walls with eye bolts and maintained a 4″ spacing between the Parallel runs.<\/p>\n

For the Power supply I was able to find 80 watt 12 volt transformers for each circuit.\u00a0 These are available online for between $12 and $40 dollars apiece with many different wattage outputs.\u00a0 I chose the 80 watt since it allowed me to place about 10 lights on a circuit with a 20 watt buffer.\u00a0 I connected the power supply leads to the cables with split nuts.<\/p>\n

\"Light<\/a>

Light Fixture parts, ready for assembly.<\/p><\/div>\n

The light fixtures took a little more work.\u00a0 I wanted a fixture that looked good, was easily adjustable and could accommodate different light bulbs based on my needs.\u00a0 The bulb I choose was an MR16 bi-pin bulb, since they come in spots, floods and different light spectrum outputs.<\/p>\n

The raw parts I used for the fixtures were as follows:<\/p>\n