White LED Under Counter / Under Cabinet Lights

thingiverse

I installed some cheapo white LED undercounter lights. My wife complained that they made it look like a disco, since you could see the LEDs from the side. After a few months, they had already grown dim, so they went into the trash. The goals of these lights are: 1) low enough profile that they are hidden by the lip under the cabinet 2) optical shield (the makerbotted part) to make the LEDs not look like a disco 3) high quality LEDs that are run below spec to ensure a long life. After installing 4 of these lights under the cabinet above our breakfast bar, it has gone from a shadow spot to the bright place where I put things that I need to read. Instructions !! YOU WILL NEED THE FULL 100mm x 100mm BUILD SURFACE !! If you have not replaced your build platform screws with flush head screws, this build is not for you. It will drive your extruder into the raised screw heads. Fair warning. If you do not know how to get PCBs made, buy components from Digi-Key and solder, this is not the build for you. But get brave and learn, all that stuff is easy now with the web! FILES: UnderCounterLight.stl is ready to build. This came from SolidWorks. Light_Divider_Grid.skp is a Sketchup model. We could not get it to STL -> Skeinforge properly. UCL_Gerbers_0v0_2010_01_09.zip contains the PADS schematic, layout and gerbers. You can download a copy of PADS from Mentor (1.3GB), but without a license you will only be able to view. The Gerbers are ready to be sent to a PCB house to get built. I like to use http://www.pcb4u.com . They have a 10 PCBs for $110 shipped prototype deal that is pretty good. This PCB's geometry is compatible with that proto deal. Here is the LED I used:http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=160-1772-ND Here is the resistor I used:http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=CMF348HFCT-ND Each panel uses about 200mA at 24v, so depending on the number of panels you want to string together you would want to get an appropriately rated supply. This supply will handily run 10 lights:http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=T1049-P5RP-ND You can use any old 0.1" connector system. The connector is symmetrical, so you can flip a flat cable without polarity issues.