Has anyone installed fiber optic ceiling lights? (1 Viewer)

[king]

I am putting in a black suspended ceiling tile and thought this would be a nice touch. I've seen a few for sale on ebay but not sure which kind to go with or what's the best place to buy. There seem to be several options like low voltage, number of fiber optic strands, etc. The ceiling tile in the center of the room is probably about 12ftx16ft...

Anyone have any experience they can share??

 

[Alon Goldberg]

This was announced at CEDIA last week:

http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/09/16/isk...-the-drive-in/

 

[king]

Thanks for the link. I contacted them today but found their prices to be very high indeed. For a simple ceiling panel 24"x24" it costs about $90 per panel. So just the center part of my home theater room would cost me over $3000!! If you choose to go with the surface mount panels, they cost $150 each! I don't think I can justify that cost for some sparkling lights in the ceiling. The do it yourself kits accomplish the same task and cost about $300...

 

[chuckg]

I buy fiberoptic cable in bulk, hundreds to thousands of feet on a roll, and make custom light boxes. So, I don't have a ny real experience with off-the-rack systems.

The systems I have seen in various places all look about the same, though.

 

[Leo Kerr]

To DIY, all you really need is a lot of patience.

http://www.fiberopticproducts.com/Ceiling.htm

has a lot of the details and products available. I did a prototype "section" really DIY using a 5mm white LED, a BIC Round-Stick pen barrel, a bunch of fiber, and a 2'x4' ceiling tile. Drove the LED off of a wall-wart.

I think I put in about 1 "star" every 3in^2 - I just used a 1/16" drill bit or something like that, poked it through a dark spot on my white tile, and then pushed the fiber back through as I pulled the bit out. Maybe - it was some time ago.

If you're gonna be fancy, then you probably want some putty or tape or something so that when you get the star poked through by a fraction of an inch, you can "stick" the fiber in (on the back side!)

It's mostly just patience. Unless you're gonna do something really neat like these people do:

http://www.stellarium.com/index.html


Leo

 

[chuckg]

fiberopticproducts.com is where I get my fibers, too. You can get many different sizes, jacketed or naked. You can get the light boxes, too.

As Leo says, just put holes in the ceiling tiles or sheetrock and poke the fiber through, then stuff the other end into the light box.

Easy, but time-consuming!