Room Too Dim? Your Entire Ceiling Can Become One Huge LED Light

I think we can all agree that electric lighting was a pretty great invention. But even the most lamp-forward rooms still lack the brightness of the outdoors on a sunny day. If lighting is important to you, as it is for many makers, then the solution is to increase both the brightness of your lights and the area they cover. LEDs can get very bright while still using less energy than something like an incandescent bulb, and there is no better way to cover more area than turning your entire ceiling into one huge LED light.

This project is the work of Vancouver-based photographer Colton Onushko (AKA COLTOGRAPHY), who covered the entire ceiling of a small room in strips of bright white LEDs. His ceiling is divided up into five lighting zones that can be controlled individually in order to adjust the coverage and overall brightness. Each of those five zones is powered through a relay that is controlled by an ESP8266 board. That makes it easy flips the lights on and off with a remote control in a 3D-printed wall plate. The LEDs are taped directly to the ceiling, and standard fluorescent light diffusers hang about 4” inches below them.

The ceiling has a total of 207 feet of LED strip. That strip contains 18 2835 6000K LEDs per foot, which works out to a total of 3,726 individual LEDs. COLTOGRAPHY monitored the lights to see how much power they were consuming, and found that each zone is using about 45 watts at 12VDC. The total consumption is about 227 watts, which is less than what four typical 60 watt incandescent lightbulbs would consume. The light output is also much whiter than most incandescent light bulbs, which can be beneficial for photography and videography — though many people prefer more of an amber color. If you want a well-lit office or workshop, COLTOGRAPHY’s project should provide some great inspiration.