LED SELV soffit lights

[Tim Watts]

What would you use, if you had to design to this spec:

1) Wooden soffits - size range 10mm-100mm (max 80mm preferred)

2) SELV (ie extra low voltage, guaranteed mains isolation. These will be subjected to hose spray.

3) Inexpensive

4) Serviceable (ie "standard" components preferred for long term replacement availablitiy).

5) Angle-able. Not necessarily adjustable, but at install time, I would like to angle them away from the house by about 5-10 degrees.

6) Bright white.

I remember Andrew Gabriel once said he made his own. I don't really have the time unless it is very simple.

My default choice is MR16 LED lamps in "ordinary" bases, but I wondered if there were other options. Metal cased "deck lights" might be, but I suspect they are not very bright and usually expensive.

Cheers :)

Tim

[Tim Watts]

On Saturday 10 August 2013 17:17 Phil L wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Nice suggestion. However, it must be SELV (my requirement, not a de-facto regs requirement) - I am mindful of the odd roof leak in the future, which due to the tyvek and celotex, will present itself right over the soffit lights :-o (wherever the leak originates!)

I wonder if there's a similar thing with an MR16 base...

Thanks :)

Tim

[Andrew Gabriel]

5 years ago, I built some into replacement soffit vents. They are 3W LEDs (running at 2W, so should last a long time). They are fitted with 5x20° lenses, to cast light along the path underneath, without spilling into neighbour's property. I used a small switched mode PSU, and modifed it to regulate @ 500mA rather than a fixed voltage. (Nowadays, you can easily buy current regulated SMPSUs, but back then they were very expensive.)

They've worked fine ever since I fitted them.

[Tim Watts]

On Sunday 11 August 2013 20:56 Andrew Gabriel wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Ah I see, I think.

So you took a basic barebones LED, glued a plastic lens on and stuck or mounted it in a little soffit grill thingy? What package style was the LED and did you need a heatsink?

Cheers :)

Tim