The LED Lighting Guide

By Simon Cooke

The LED Lighting Guide - Simon Cooke
  • Release Date: 2017-12-14
  • Genre: Engineering

Description

Welcome to The LED Lighting Guide.  This guide deals with two broad subject areas of LED technology, Power LEDs and LED Strips.  If your are the home hobbyist, home project constructor and you want to actually build something out of Power LED components, drivers and heat sinks etc then this book was written for you.  If you want to install some LED strip and want to get a better understanding of what different types of LED strip there are out there, what the different numbers mean and want to become an expert at installing LED strip then this book is also for you.  For folks who are relatively new to LED technology there is a comprehensive chapter covering Concept and Terminology.  There are chapters on heat dissipation / heat sinks and calculations relevant to power LEDs.  There is a chapter on soldering techniques specific to power LEDs.  There is even a chapter on techniques for photographing your LED projects on completion.
Although electronics is a recurring theme in this book because, after all, LEDs are semiconductors, it is NOT intended to be an in-depth electronics-orientated book about designing your own driver module circuits from scratch with individual electronic components.  Instead this book discusses all the key technical concepts and tells you how to most efficiently build and safely power your crazy LED projects from existing, cheaper, efficient and more reliable commercially available driver modules than most people can design for themselves.  Constant current drivers are no longer so expensive that the only accessible way to drive your LEDs is via a homemade driver.  It is usually cheaper and easier to get your project powered from readymade drivers that sell for a few pounds and upwards if you know what you are looking for.
Ever looked at some product documentation (Product Briefs, Datasheets, Assembly and Handling) for Power LEDs and wondered what it all means?  This guide takes a sample Luxeon Power LED and discusses the documentation in detail line by line.  It tells you what you need to know, when and why it might be relevant to your project, and what you can safely ignore and under what circumstances.  In other words it will help you sift through a sometimes bewildering abundance of LED information and identify the bits that matter.  
It does the same thing for LED strip lighting, discussing hands-on practical installation tips and considerations, identifying and selecting the best strip for your purposes and how to mount and power them.  Also what different controllers are available etc.
So if LEDs are your thing and you want to get the best performance out of your power LEDs without making costly mistakes or you want to install LED strip installation as well as any professional then this book is definitely going to give you a massive head start and hopefully save you some money into the bargain!  LEDs are becoming so powerful, cheap and accessible there is so much fun to be had building crazy projects with them.  This book tells you how to do just that!  Enjoy!  Go make!