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Finding Cool (lots of blue) LEDs to add to the fixture

A project log for Automated Circadian Bathroom Light

A bathroom light that automatically changes from bright and cool white in the morning to warm and cozy at night.

catCat 04/22/2019 at 17:470 Comments

Most LED fixtures (including the one we chose) come with warm lights included; probably because it's safest: they replace incandescent (so warm) lights and it's probably better to not have enough blue when needed (morning/day) than too much when not wanted (evenings). Safer!

So off we go to eBay to find some cool lights that we can somehow control as needed.

Item 561939729133 looks promising; should be bright (10W) and comes in cool/cold white (6000-6500K, interesting how the color has a temperature in Kelvin, and the higher the number the cooler it is :-).

I also like the form factor, it should fit nicely in/on our cylindrical diffusers; let's see if it would, as it's 10mm by 200mm (0.4" x 7.9")

The original light we chose from Walmart is only available online so we can't see it before we buy it.  We don't like that so we chose a similar one at Home Depot, the "Home Decorators Collection 2-Light Integrated LED Vanity Fixture in Brushed Nickel with Frosted White Glass Shade" SKU 1001018658.  Looks about the same and should be available to see/buy in store.

Dimensions are not clear online, so I measure/calculate/approximate that each difuser side is about 8.4" long (if the longest dimension they show as height at 20.47" is in fact the length.

So the LED COB (Chip On Board; means there are many LED chips nicely assembled one one board) would just about fit but we should actually measure it in the store.

Another problem we may have is cooling of the COB but this form factor should be easiest because of the high surface/power ratio.  More concentrated lights would more likely need cooling.

We stop here for now, we need to look at the fixture.

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