DaveA
Newbie level 1
I have a pretty fun project that I'd like to complete. It's not terribly complex, but I only know what I need to do, not what the things I need really are. 
I have experience soldering, doing generic car audio for years.
I have a pool table in my living room, and the standard 3-lights on a chain pool light.
I also have a sound-sensitive novelty plasma lighting thing...flat glass with the lightning spreading across, you know what I mean...look in Spencers. I mounted it behind the speaker-surrounded TV so when I'm listening to music, it flashes behind it (turning off for movies of course)
I'd like to have the pool table lights also flash in this manner. I'm trying to put a group of LEDs in 3 colors (red/white/blue) of 6 each in the light shades, controlled by an on/off/sound switch, and a color selection switch. This would be wired into the light's 110v house current.
My obstacles are:
Where to get the parts. I don't know any websites, and have no feedback of the sites I find as to whether or not they are the Newegg of the electronics world.
Converting house current into DC current without a wall wart. This is going to be sticking on the light bar. I need to minimize the visual impact. I can't have some Radio Shack thing on my pool light. I could make a small box at the top of the chain where it connects to the ceiling...my possibilities are determined by with what I'm going to have. Is there a website that I can order a AC/DC converter? Can I specify the voltage and amps? What size box?
These leads to the next discussion...what are my total volt/amp needs for these lights? I'll have 18 LED's on 3 lamps, for a total of (Start->Run->Calc) 54 LED's, with varying voltage...I know whites use more than reds, and I don't know what blues use. I'll have to put resistors on each color bank separately. I can figure this out on my own using random LED websites, please recommend the ones you use. I imagine I need a small project box that has 1 in 1 out and big enough that I can wire all the resistors in it so they don't show. There are those kinds of little boxes, yes?
Lastly, the sound-sensitive controller. Anyone know where these things can be found?
-Thanks for your input.
[edit: Looking at sites, would (6) 8mm LED's be sufficient to throw some light down on the table, or would 10mm be a better deal?]
I have experience soldering, doing generic car audio for years.I have a pool table in my living room, and the standard 3-lights on a chain pool light.
I also have a sound-sensitive novelty plasma lighting thing...flat glass with the lightning spreading across, you know what I mean...look in Spencers. I mounted it behind the speaker-surrounded TV so when I'm listening to music, it flashes behind it (turning off for movies of course)
I'd like to have the pool table lights also flash in this manner. I'm trying to put a group of LEDs in 3 colors (red/white/blue) of 6 each in the light shades, controlled by an on/off/sound switch, and a color selection switch. This would be wired into the light's 110v house current.
My obstacles are:
Where to get the parts. I don't know any websites, and have no feedback of the sites I find as to whether or not they are the Newegg of the electronics world.
Converting house current into DC current without a wall wart. This is going to be sticking on the light bar. I need to minimize the visual impact. I can't have some Radio Shack thing on my pool light. I could make a small box at the top of the chain where it connects to the ceiling...my possibilities are determined by with what I'm going to have. Is there a website that I can order a AC/DC converter? Can I specify the voltage and amps? What size box?
These leads to the next discussion...what are my total volt/amp needs for these lights? I'll have 18 LED's on 3 lamps, for a total of (Start->Run->Calc) 54 LED's, with varying voltage...I know whites use more than reds, and I don't know what blues use. I'll have to put resistors on each color bank separately. I can figure this out on my own using random LED websites, please recommend the ones you use. I imagine I need a small project box that has 1 in 1 out and big enough that I can wire all the resistors in it so they don't show. There are those kinds of little boxes, yes?
Lastly, the sound-sensitive controller. Anyone know where these things can be found?
-Thanks for your input.
[edit: Looking at sites, would (6) 8mm LED's be sufficient to throw some light down on the table, or would 10mm be a better deal?]
