Micro-controller controlled reading light upgrade kit with 6 high-efficiency LEDs + driver circuitry
Designed by madworm in GermanyThis product is no longer available for sale.
The seller may be offering an improved version or it may be hanging out on the beach, enjoying the retired life.
A custom-fit upgrade for IKEA's Samtid lamp: Lamp-hacking explicitly required! LED light bulb replacements are all the rage these days, but they have one disadvantage. They don't emit much light down…
Read More…LED light bulb replacements are all the rage these days, but they have one disadvantage. They don't emit much light downwards / backwards. Most of the light is sent out in the forward / upward direction. You get a lot of light into the room, but not much comes down to where you might be sitting, wanting to read a book or kindle.
One possible way out is to use an over-powered light bulb to get enough light onto your book. There go the energy savings. However, as most of the light will go into the room, it will kill any comfy atmosphere that might have happened. Nobody wants to read a book at night sitting in a room lit up as bright as the surface of the sun.
There is a better way :-)
Fully vertically adjustable. The board is attached to the lamp using Velcro tape and can be placed almost anywhere on the upper part of the body. Of course you can use any tape you like, e.g. for a more permanent attachment. As you will be modifying the lamp yourself, you can choose where to place the openings for the wires, or simple route them on the outside if you fancy that. The center pipe of the lamp has enough space for additional wires, the same goes for one of the rods of the upper part.
The lamp module itself is micro-controller controlled and reacts to the touch of your finger, one button for more light, one for less light. When you turn the lamp on for the first time, it gently fades up to 50% brightness. If you don't need any light, either remove power or press the down-button until it goes off. Stand-by consumption of the lamp itself is just 400µA.
If you happen to have an old laptop or LCD monitor power supply sitting in a box somewhere, have a look at its output voltage. If it is anywhere from 20V up to 27V, you can re-purpose it. The lamp-module only needs 200mA BTW.
Talking about current and efficiency, the LEDs are high-quality and high-efficiency (133lm/W) ones from Nichia. The lamp-module only takes about 3.65W or thereabouts, delivering close to 500lm.
You do NOT necessarily need a mill to modify the Samtid's body, however it would make things a bit easier. A small drill-press + means to clamp down the pieces you need to modify should suffice. The very least you need to do is to center-punch the spots that need to be drilled. Otherwise the drill will definitely wander off center and mess up the work piece. Don't forget to break any sharp edges you create. If you don't have a drill-press or hand-held drill + center-punch, you might get away with using a Dremel with a milling bit to create the openings, but be extremely careful so you don't slip. The result would probably look a bit rough.
If you choose to modify the lamp by milling / drilling / grinding / cutting new openings for wires etc., make sure to keep the original mains wiring out of the way. Ideally you should completely remove any wires from parts before doing any metal work. Use a depth-stop when drilling / milling. Accidentally damaging the insulation is a severe safety hazard.
One of the upper rods that needs modification [see last image] is completely empty (no wires of any sort in there), so no problem there. The center pipe however houses the original mains wires, which must be protected from getting damaged.
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