Infinity / false illuminated window

[Rick]

On one of the design programmes months ago I saw a neat idea - in a windowless toilet, they had put what they called an infinity window on the end wall.

It appeared to be a plate of some sort of opaque plastic - behind which were some sort of lights ... you couldn't make out shape of light or tubes etc ... it was a complete diffused 'glow'

I would like to put in such an item as I have to box out the end wall by around 150mm to hide the SV pipe.

Anybody put one of these in or know how to make one ?

Rick

[Andrew Mawson]

I had a problem when I built my garage attached to my Edwardian house in that two attractive leaded light windows had to be covered over to satisfy building regs. My solution was to steel cover the windows from the garage side so that they were legal, but install a low power fluoursecent strip light behind one of the thicker glazing bars so that indirect light shines off the steel and back through the window into the house. These lamps are wired through a 'dusk to dawn' sensor so they go off when its dim outside. It obviously would be better if the light brightness tracked what happens outside, but it's suprising how many visitors take it as 'natural light' until told.

AWEM

[Harry Bloomfield]

Rick explained :

I would guess at..

A sheet of white acrylic to diffuse the light and however many 'daylight' tubes you might need to illuminate it. Add a reflector at the back, to further diffuse the light.

[Calvin]

I didn't see the programme but an "infinity mirror" is not what you've described (it's two sheets of glass with fairy lights betwwen which uses partial reflection to give an effect of them disappearing off into infinity).

Our downstairs loo however sounds very similar to your description. We have a wall hung toilet which sits 180mm from the wall. Above the toilet is a cupboard and each side of that are the lights. Essentially the lights are "light boxes" constructed by boxing in the space with 6mm frosted glass. The lamps are short flourescents which are slightly tucked behind the woodwork to avoid direct sight lines. The back of the space is lined with foil to increase light output and give an even illumination. The glass is very easy to get hold off. Any good glazier will cut you a piece of 6mm window glass to your exact size and will frost it for you. Normally you get a choice of opacities - we got the most opaque and it works well. The frame the glass sits in is actually made of floorboard timber - the groove just happens to be 6mm so the glass sits in it nicely. I just ripped 30mm or so up the length and lap jointed it.

When we did this we were worried that it wouldn't work well - particularly that the light would be visible or that the room would be too dark. In practice it's turned out really well and I'd definitely recommend it. If you want any more details or help just let me know. I'm away at the moment but I can take some pics over the weekend if it helps.

Good luck, Calvin

[meow2222]

Hang curtain on wall, just like a window. Put an fl light vertically behind the curtains near each edge. You get the look of a window with curtains closed, with light spill.

Where I saw this done, almost no-one realised it wasnt an outside window.

Note use a separate ballast box, with the tubes mounted on clips, as the popular all in one fl units would make the light spread all wrong.

NT

[Rick]

This sounds just like what I need ... I guess I will have to play with lights/ype/quantity etc o get the glow I want without tubes being obvious.

[Rick]

Why would they make the light spread wrong ? surely this is dependant on tube and reflector ?

I looked at TLC catalogue .. .you can only buy separte gear trays for

1" and 1.5" tubes ... I want to keep light output lower so would probably use 2 x 650mm minature tubes (about 1/2" diameter)

[meow2222]

If you mount them back to the wall as usual, they stick out too far. If you mount them on one side, the light only goes one way, and it looks all wrong.

You can use a separate ballast for any size you want. Just go somewhere with a decent range. The ones I saw were standard halophosphate 4 or 5 footers.

Realise most of the light fails to get out, and daylight is quite intense, so you probably will need the tubes run at full whack.

NT

[Rick]

where do 'you go' to buy this kit ? never had to buy Fl lights in bits before.

Rick

[Alan]

In message , Rick wrote

Judging by my experience with tube for aquariums, short tubes (18" 0r less) don't last too long before showing various defects. Thin short tubes tend to pulsate in an annoying way.

Probably the longer fatter tubes will give the best results.

Aquarium stores are a source of self contained ballast/starter with flying leads connectors to tubes. They are also a source of clip on reflectors. These type of outlets do however tend to be very expensive as they are catering to a specialised market.

[meow2222]

Fish it out of scrap box Local electrical wholesalers Yellow pages, electrical suppliers

You'll want hpf rather than lpf.

NT