Minimalist Home @ Farrer Gardens

[chling 1]

Hi chling,

Oh, the 5050, I found them in www.dx.com. But I'm not too sure what kind of power is required to get for the LED driver and the power adaptor. (like for some it might be 5M long, some might just be 2m etc.)

Did you get it locally or order online ?

Can email or PM me the shop or online store ?

Thanks

email : battle66@gmail.com

I got them locally for the reasons below

Color variation for different batches

One thing to note for RGB LED is that the colour tone for different batches may differ slightly. This is crucial if you are looking to have lighting that is more than 5m long since each reel is only 5m. So if you get 2 reels of light that happen to be from different batches, you will have a problem if the blue of one is light/darker than the other. This is important to me as I have LEd light for my ceiling cove lights, feature wall lights and tv console downlights which adds up to about 20m and i intend to control all with just one remote so the colours have to be consistent.

Measurement and soldering/joining

Local shops you can get them to cut to measure, join up and connect 2 strips and even solder the connectors all to size for you. This is good for those who do not have the tools at home or their reno electrican is not familiar with LED strips. in any case, it will be more convenient to have 1 party to do it all for you.

Testing and support

Local shops allow you to test the strips with the LED driver and the power adaptor you need to ensure all is working and the colour tones of the LED strips are consistent. E.g. you don't get the end connected to the power brighter than the end that is furthest away from the power. Or if the colour tones of different reels of LED strips are consistent. Also, any problem with accidental breakage or issues after installation, you can go back to the shop to exchange. Also, you can clarify your doubts with them if you are unsure of anything.

Value for Money

For the additional benefits above, the cost of LED RGB locally is only about $18 per meter which is not that much more expensive compared to online whose quality is unknown unless you have ordered before. Even thought they are all 5050 RGB LED strips, there are some whose joint areas are very thinly made (save costs on the copper) that snaps off easily when you are sticking the strip around the corners. Also have to note the amperage of the LED driver provided as there are 5A and 10A available. You also don't hve to deal with shipment delays or if you realised you need more (have to wait!) or if you overbuy. Locally, just get the quantity you need and you can go back for more if you need, don't have to buy more to compensate for shipping time and quality issues. I don't think the savings by going online justifies the risk and drawbacks unless if you are really buying in very large quantity and know the quality of LED strip sold by the online vendor.

There are alot of shops selling LED light strips at Sim Lim Tower, but the one I will recommend is E-Top Electronics at Level 3 for their price and service provided.

[battle 0]

I got them locally for the reasons below

Color variation for different batches

One thing to note for RGB LED is that the colour tone for different batches may differ slightly. This is crucial if you are looking to have lighting that is more than 5m long since each reel is only 5m. So if you get 2 reels of light that happen to be from different batches, you will have a problem if the blue of one is light/darker than the other. This is important to me as I have LEd light for my ceiling cove lights, feature wall lights and tv console downlights which adds up to about 20m and i intend to control all with just one remote so the colours have to be consistent.

Measurement and soldering/joining

Local shops you can get them to cut to measure, join up and connect 2 strips and even solder the connectors all to size for you. This is good for those who do not have the tools at home or their reno electrican is not familiar with LED strips. in any case, it will be more convenient to have 1 party to do it all for you.

Testing and support

Local shops allow you to test the strips with the LED driver and the power adaptor you need to ensure all is working and the colour tones of the LED strips are consistent. E.g. you don't get the end connected to the power brighter than the end that is furthest away from the power. Or if the colour tones of different reels of LED strips are consistent. Also, any problem with accidental breakage or issues after installation, you can go back to the shop to exchange. Also, you can clarify your doubts with them if you are unsure of anything.

Value for Money

For the additional benefits above, the cost of LED RGB locally is only about $18 per meter which is not that much more expensive compared to online whose quality is unknown unless you have ordered before. Even thought they are all 5050 RGB LED strips, there are some whose joint areas are very thinly made (save costs on the copper) that snaps off easily when you are sticking the strip around the corners. Also have to note the amperage of the LED driver provided as there are 5A and 10A available. You also don't hve to deal with shipment delays or if you realised you need more (have to wait!) or if you overbuy. Locally, just get the quantity you need and you can go back for more if you need, don't have to buy more to compensate for shipping time and quality issues. I don't think the savings by going online justifies the risk and drawbacks unless if you are really buying in very large quantity and know the quality of LED strip sold by the online vendor.

There are alot of shops selling LED light strips at Sim Lim Tower, but the one I will recommend is E-Top Electronics at Level 3 for their price and service provided.

Hey chling,

Thanks very very much. Indeed base on $18 per meter, it is not really cheaper to ship in. :sport-smiley-004:

Will start my planning ; )

:thumbs up:

[chling 1]

Hey chling,

Thanks very very much. Indeed base on $18 per meter, it is not really cheaper to ship in. :sport-smiley-004:

Will start my planning ; )

:thumbs up:

Forgot to add that price is for waterproof RGB. If you going for non waterproof type willbe even cheaper

[Guest Shadow222]

Very beautiful!

[battle 0]

Forgot to add that price is for waterproof RGB. If you going for non waterproof type willbe even cheaper

Wow.... sui.... Like that. Going to tell my contractor to leave some gaps for my cabinet liao, got to plan in space for all these LEDs...

But tt will be phase 2, maybe don't have so much budget to up all. Going to cost me a bomb... :sport-smiley-004:

[chling 1]

Wow.... sui.... Like that. Going to tell my contractor to leave some gaps for my cabinet liao, got to plan in space for all these LEDs...

But tt will be phase 2, maybe don't have so much budget to up all. Going to cost me a bomb... :sport-smiley-004:

yeah...can do it in phases. important to plan for the power point/switch locations in advance so that your electrican can cater for it upfront. Then next time you can add in the LED strips yourself easily.

[chling 1]

Still cannot find an ideal clock for the living room...That matches the white minimalist theme

Still looking to put up my unit number on the door...something unlike the conventional gold or black plated types...

[Terrain1976 0]

took me quite a while to find all white minimalist or all black minimalist door knobs with cylindrical locksets for my 3 bedrooms. I thought all white or black will be quite straightforward given that I'm not looking for anything fanciful, but seems that nowadays all come in silver or bronze or oil rubbed bronze...

Very happy in the end that I managed to find all white minimalist door knobs for my bedroom doors. And for a very reasonable price of $12 per set! This will really go along nicely with the white doors.

Hi.

Cam PM me the shop where you bought the door knob? Thank you.

[battle 0]

Still cannot find an ideal clock for the living room...That matches the white minimalist theme

Still looking to put up my unit number on the door...something unlike the conventional gold or black plated types...

use those 5mm thick transparent acrylic plastic, cut out the number (with side unpolished to catch the lights), use the similar type of LED you had to light up the unit number. Same theme as your house liao ; p

[chling 1]

use those 5mm thick transparent acrylic plastic, cut out the number (with side unpolished to catch the lights), use the similar type of LED you had to light up the unit number. Same theme as your house liao ; p

I like the idea! Need power source for led though...

[curryfishhead 0]

Hi Chling

Very amazed by how you renovate your house....super impressed....wanted to do something similar but my the other half will never agree...

Need your advise. I believe you bought the LED strip which is waterproof. Since the lights are used indoor, any reasons to have it waterproof?

Also, are you having a electrical contractor to wire up your place? How come you are doing all this lightings stuff instead of leaving it to them?

I am currently budgeting my renovation and trying to make sense about the electricals/lightings...can you pm me your window grilles pricings and the electricals?

Thanks in advance.....

Forgot to add that price is for waterproof RGB. If you going for non waterproof type willbe even cheaper

[chling 1]

Hi Chling

Very amazed by how you renovate your house....super impressed....wanted to do something similar but my the other half will never agree...

Need your advise. I believe you bought the LED strip which is waterproof. Since the lights are used indoor, any reasons to have it waterproof?

Also, are you having a electrical contractor to wire up your place? How come you are doing all this lightings stuff instead of leaving it to them?

I am currently budgeting my renovation and trying to make sense about the electricals/lightings...can you pm me your window grilles pricings and the electricals?

Thanks in advance.....

Thanks, why won't your other half agree? coz all white difficult to maintain?

For the LED strips, it's just a personal preference as the waterproof ones are covered by a transparent rubber casing. Probably if you wipe the areas next time with a wet cloth, you can just wipe the strips together as it is without fear of damage, but maybe the non-waterproof types can withstand as well even if the LEDs are all exposed.

I got an electrical contractor as recommended by my ID so as to facilitate the smooth progress of the work since they are familiar with working with one another. I sourced for the LED strips myself for speed and budget. As the LED lights was an idea I had in the middle of the reno (I changed my mind on the feature wall during the 1st carpentry meeting with the carpenter when we are discussing the detail of the carpentry works), my ID advised that it may be faster if I source for the LED strips myself and can just pass them over to the electrician. Which is how I ended up with the RGB LED strips ;p My reno started in late Nov and I wanted to shift in before CNY in Jan so I tried to help out as much as possible given that that was also a busy period for my Id, sub-contractors etc.

The electrician the rest of the works like power points, internet cabling, telephone lines, downlights, ceiling lights etc in the house. They also helped me to connect up the LED power to a power switch as well which allows me to on-off the LED lights in my feature wall through a light switch on the wall. I think it's important to locate the switch in a convenient spot as I intend to use the lights quite frequently as mood lighting to create different ambience in the house.

Will PM you the pricing.

[curryfishhead 0]

Hi Chling

We are going for a white/grey modern contemporary theme. Got a maid so not too concerned about the cleaning or maintenance. I really like the various options on the colours of the LED lights but my wife violently objects to it (sigh..talk about who rules the world now).

I am thinking of buying the LED myself to save cost but not sure whether it will work. Your blog had given me a lot of insights about how things can be...

Another thing about the LED light placement. You planned it yourself or the ID or the electrian? For LED lights, heard that if you don't space it out properly, you will get pockets of shadows in the room. How about the wattage you used? Do you see any difference between the 3W, 7W and 9W? Any guidelines to follow (eg spacing between LEDs should be x.xx metres)? Is the connectors all E27 or some of those GNU type?

Sorry, a lot of questions.

Will likely confirm the ID soon and maybe all the above will be kindly advised by them. In the meantime, doing some homework and budgeting.

Thanks in advance.

[battle 0]

I like the idea! Need power source for led though...

Think maybe can do it on a base (maybe wood or a material that's very similar to the door). Keep it near to the edge of the door, so to minimize the exposed wire.

Hunt for those paper thin flat type wire, paint it similar to your door color. think should work.

(but hor, that kind of wire very very difficult to find, till now I still can't find, only have 1 telephone wire that type, got from a trade show).

[chling 1]

Hi Chling

We are going for a white/grey modern contemporary theme. Got a maid so not too concerned about the cleaning or maintenance. I really like the various options on the colours of the LED lights but my wife violently objects to it (sigh..talk about who rules the world now).

I am thinking of buying the LED myself to save cost but not sure whether it will work. Your blog had given me a lot of insights about how things can be...

Another thing about the LED light placement. You planned it yourself or the ID or the electrian? For LED lights, heard that if you don't space it out properly, you will get pockets of shadows in the room. How about the wattage you used? Do you see any difference between the 3W, 7W and 9W? Any guidelines to follow (eg spacing between LEDs should be x.xx metres)? Is the connectors all E27 or some of those GNU type?

Sorry, a lot of questions.

Will likely confirm the ID soon and maybe all the above will be kindly advised by them. In the meantime, doing some homework and budgeting.

Thanks in advance.

My wife has concerns as well initially as she thought it may look "Ah Beng" but I told her if we don't like the lights, we can always switch if off ;p In the end, this ended up as one of the distinguishing feature of the living room that visitors always heap praise on...and we had lotsa fun changing colours for different mood each day (maybe coz we are still new to the reno). It's useful for celebrations/party at the house too.

hmm...what you are referring to are probably the LED downlights / light bulb. Don't have to consider all these for RGB LED strips. There's really no spacing concern as the spacing between each LED is already catered for in the strip (you can't change it). They do sell strips that have LEDs that are spaced further or closer apart, but this impacts more on how bright the LED strip is. As you can dim the RGB strip with your remote control, it makes sense to go for the brightest one e.g. the 5050 RBG LED strip. Each strip comes in 5m length per reel so you need to cut or join them accordingly depending on the length you need. They come with 3M double side tape at the back so you just need to paste it down in the cove light area and let it run along the perimeter accordingly.

So long as there's no object between the LED strip and the area where the light should be casted on e.g. the ceiling, there shouldn't be any shadow casted. You should probably run through your idea with your ID or electrician as based on their experience maybe they will identify any possible blind spots that you did not cater for and more importantly to help you with the planning of possible power point location for the LED strips.

Good luck in your sourcing! Let me know if you have any more queries..