Floating wall of a Million Colours

[dclayton]

Thanks to groove for the idea, and sworrall for the details on fixings, I started preparing for and making a floating wall quite a few weeks ago.

This is how the wall looked previously:

And after buying 15 meters of optical and DVI to HDMI cable, we moved the computer desk:

The wall spans about 3 meters, so we purchased two 140cm TV benches, reduced from £399 to £99 each in a local furniture shop:

Cleared the area:

New benches in place.

As you can see, the space is limited between the left bench and the sofa, so I didn’t want to extend the floating wall to the floor reducing the space further. The floating wall will sit a few millimetres above the top of the benches.

TV off the wall and outer frame up. The frame is 2.4M wide and 1.3M High with around 30cm of wall around the edge for the light to shine on:

A tip when drilling into walls; tape an envelope just below the hole to catch all the dust:

I had fun at B&Q when buying the MDF, got the two pieces cut to size, 1.25M x 1.35M (to leave a 5cm over hang around the frame). Took them to the car to find they were about 2cm too big to fit. So had to take them back in and get them cut in half, hence the horizontal frame supports below:

The MDF attached:

And then filled. I used £1 filler from poundland and it’s actually quite good quality (they also do big packs of sandpaper for £1).

The comfiest sofa ever and new large coffee table:

End of the weekend so TV back on the wall and rope light attached:

We have some blue LED Christmas lights around the ceiling that we have kept up because they create a nice mood light for watching movies. I wanted to take these down, but still have a blue light, so I purchased the blue version of the rope light from TLC to mount next to the white rope light, but this isn’t bright enough to even shine beyond the 4cm of overhang

I then started looking at alternative lighting, and decided the cheapest way would be to use an PC power supply and connect a number of these to it around the frame.

About to purchase a load of blue led strips, I found another ebayer selling 5 Meters of RGB LED light strip, with power supply, light controller and wireless remote

The pictures of the lights on ebay don’t look very bright, but I bought them anyway for £109.99 and received them two weeks later (they come from China):

The remote:

Power supply and light controller:

5 meter reel of RGB LED strip:

Close up of the strip:

[dclayton]

And now for some pictures of the strip around the frame. It comes with 3M adhesive sticky backing but I’ve used blu tack for now as I still need to sand, prime and paint the wall and MDF.

The controller can select between 7 static colours: white, red, blue, violet, green, yellow and turquoise, it can flash between these colours at varying speed, or fade gradually with speed control through 1 Million colours !!!

Searching online further at what is possible with RGB LEDs, my next plan is to create a Phillips ambilight type feature with all the content I play off the PC. Take a look at http://www.ambilight4pc.com/ and the MoMoLight and AtmoLight projects for what is possible!

If anyone reading this is competent at electronics, and would be able to make me a working MoMolight or AtmoLight micro-controller, please get in touch!

I still have a lot of work to do and will post some more pictures in a couple of weeks when it’s finished.

[davidegee]

looking good so far. Like the idea of the LED strip, but it's a whole lot pricier than the good old tlc ropelight!

[dclayton]

Originally Posted by davidegee

looking good so far. Like the idea of the LED strip, but it's a whole lot pricier than the good old tlc ropelight!

Thanks. LED's are more expensive, £100 rather than £20. But it works out cheaper per colour:

Rope light = £20 per colour, LED = 0.01p per colour

Seriously though, they also consume a lot less power, 2.4W per meter rather than 16W per meter, and they don't give out any heat (or rubber smell).

So over 5 Meters and running them for around 30hrs a week @ 12p/kWh:

LED = 19 kWh per year = £2.28 per year to run
Rope Light = 125 kWh per year = £15.00 per year to run

So after about 6 years use (if the rope light lasts that long) I'll be saving money lol

[groove]

WOW ! Im loving that RGB colour change........

Great work there , Its going to look stunning

[BarryK]

Hi,
I must say those LED lights look amazing. I am in the planning stage of building my own floating wall (thanks to Groove`s inspiration), and I have been experimenting with LED`s myself for a while now to try and create the colour changing effect. I even had a list of parts I needed and they came to around £250 and thats without them being remote controlled. I have just emailed the guy on E-Bay to see if he can supply me with a 6M length. If he can I will definately be placing an order with him instead.
Thank you very much for posting those pics. As you said yourself it is very difficult to know how much light is given off by various different types of LED but those certainly look impressive and just what I was wanting.
Barry

[sworrall]

those leds look really good (and bright)! looking forward to seeing more

[dclayton]

Thanks for your comments, groove & sworrall.

BarryK, glad I could help. The power supply and controller are capable of driving up to 10 Meters of light strip so 6 Meters will be fine, hopefully the seller is also willing to sell the strip in 1 meter lenghts rather than 5 meter reels, you would then just need to solder the two lengths together.

[BarryK]

I have emailed the seller and he informed me that he does indeed sell 1M lengths at an extra cost of £12/m including p&p. I will definately be placing my order next week.
Thanks again
Barry

[fredd500]

Make sure you box that power supply in something suitable. I don't like the 240v input on screw terminals. Doesn't look safe to me. :-( Nice effect though.

[keifster]

Originally Posted by dclayton

Thanks. LED's are more expensive, £100 rather than £20. But it works out cheaper per colour:

Rope light = £20 per colour, LED = 0.01p per colour

Seriously though, they also consume a lot less power, 2.4W per meter rather than 16W per meter, and they don't give out any heat (or rubber smell).

So over 5 Meters and running them for around 30hrs a week @ 12p/kWh:

LED = 19 kWh per year = £2.28 per year to run
Rope Light = 125 kWh per year = £15.00 per year to run

So after about 6 years use (if the rope light lasts that long) I'll be saving money lol

I love your logic! When I get to my mid-life crisis and want to spend the life savings on a flash car, can I contact you so you can give me some ideas on how to justify it to the wife?

[jolly]

Great transformation, looks amazing

[dclayton]

Originally Posted by keifster

I love your logic! When I get to my mid-life crisis and want to spend the life savings on a flash car, can I contact you so you can give me some ideas on how to justify it to the wife?

Using the same cost saving logic, you could easily justify one of these. 0 - 60 in 3.9 seconds but a massive 135 mpg!


Back on topic, if anyone does have electronics experience, and could make a working MoMolight or AtmoLight micro-controller, please get in touch

[BarryK]

I ordered 10m length of the above LED lights from the guy in China last week. They arrived today and I have just connected them up to test them. Am very impressed with the brightness so far. Can`t wait to try them in the evening when is darker.
Barry

[MasterYoda]

OOh now you've got me interested. I'm planning on putting up a false wall myself on my chimney breast and that looks awesome.