Installing the floor plinth with lighting with their own hands
This idea came to our house from public spaces. In order to save light and convenience of movement for the first time floor lighting was applied in subway stations and train stations. A luminous skirting board on the floor, allows you to confidently proceed to your destination, with minimal risk of bumping into something undesirable. In home use, it has not changed its purpose, but on the contrary, it has even acquired a new one - created additional soft lighting of the room. By plugging in LED strip paired with a motion sensor, you get a night light with automatic switching on. For more details, read on.
Underfloor illumination with a skirting board
There are many ways floor lighting. Use neon tubes, luminous recessed elements, spotlights, and the like. Installed it without problems at the stage when you make a comprehensive repair.
The favorite is still plinth under the LED strip. Ease of installation, accessibility of the electrical part, protection from mechanical damage to the LED strip - the main advantages. The disadvantages are only the household part - you have to clean every day. Lighting the floor shows its cleanliness.
When choosing a skirting board, pay attention to its design. Skirting comes in different versions: straight, corner, large corner, seam. Two types of skirting boards are made - of plastic and aluminium. The price is slightly different. The aluminium skirting board is more expensive.
In pass-through rooms, it would make more sense to install an aluminum skirting board with backlighting, because the risk of damage in these rooms increases. An example would be the corridor, shoes or household items can damage the design.
Connecting the strip to the power supply is done in only two ways - soldering and connector. The red square on the left is the connector connection.
Selecting the light source
Due to the large range of colors LED strip can create any atmosphere in the room, and universal strip with a control unit allows you to connect multiple versions of lighting.
To highlight a white LED strip you need to know glow temperature. Opt for a warm white light. With prolonged exposure, it has a positive effect on human vision and does not have the effect of fatigue. The temperature of such light ranges from 4000 to 5000 K.
White or yellowish light is recommended to illuminate the room in which you are most, and that is the bedroom, living room and office. The illumination of such rooms, as a rule, works all the time, and since the effect of light is a topic, for us already disclosed earlier, it becomes clear why so.
In rooms such as hallways or vestibules, the LED strip is paired with a motion sensor. This solution is convenient when visiting rooms at night. Aluminum plinth with lighting will perfectly emphasize the peculiarities of the interior and provide reliable protection of the light source. In the hallway you can install a strip with a bluish tint.
Mounting skirting under the LED strip
Installing the skirting boards should be made to a flat surface, free from dust and dirt. All the corner joints for a neat butt joint are filed with a saw at an angle of 45 degrees. Carried out in two ways:
- By fixing on plastic dowels.
- Gluing.
Video instruction: How to cut a skirting board at a 45 degree angle.
The first method is more reliable, but for it we need an electric drill or screwdriver, a plane, a good screwdriver, a tape measure, a pencil and a hacksaw. First of all, take measurements. Then cut the baseboard with a hacksaw. Fasten the baseboard to the wall or floor. The skirting board must be fastened unassembled.
Remove the LED strip diffuser, attach the cut skirting to the wall, mark the place of the future fastenings and drill holes. Next, hammer dowels into the walls and screw the skirting board to the wall.
Next step Install the LED strip. To do this you must Cut off The necessary pieces of length multiple of the plinth, subtracting 5 cm from it. All corner connections are made with a connector or solder. Do not bend the LED strip, it is based on a circuit board, if the integrity of the strip will fail.
If you are gluing the skirting board, use a high-performance adhesive compound and attach the skirting board to the bare wall. In the case of poor fixing, use the first method of attachment. The skirting board must be well mounted, as it is based on electrical lighting.
Useful video: How to solder tape correctly.
Next, perform operations on joining tape at its bends, then glue it into the seating place of the baseboard. Please note that you can not solder in one row (in series) and connect to the power supply tape longer than five meters. In this case, you will have to lay a separate cable for the new section.
Connecting the LED strip
When buying LED strips you need to make a calculation of its power and Select the appropriate power supply. If this is not found - two power supplies are installed. Every five meters of ribbon is connected separately to the power supply, this type of connection is shown below (case for two power supplies). Do not connect more than five meters of ribbon in series.
This is due to the resistance of the conductive wire: all subsequent LEDs will burn out dimmer and this is likely to burn out the circuit board, or cause failure of individual modules. The cross section of the cable should be two conductors of 0.75 mm.
For decorative purposes, you can use two types of LED strip in one room, it will add a highlight in the night lighting room. LED strips of constant voltage have their own load resistance in the module, so it is allowed to connect different types of LEDs in series to one power supply.
In the case of using driver it is necessary to make special calculations. Therefore, choose a 12 VDC power supply.
Connecting the motion sensor
The motion sensor can be installed in any previously installed structure. The infrared sensor is mounted in the power supply gap. Instead of the tape directly connected to the power supply, an infrared switch unit is installed and the tape is already connected to it. The infrared sensor is small, not more than two centimeters in diameter.
The night light should light up on the way to the target, and since the sensor is remote, this will help us to fix it in the right place. It does not require additional power. There are three wires to the infrared switch, which come with the control unit of the infrared device. The sensor can be installed in the baseboard. It will not be in public view, but to cope with the task it will not interfere.
It is desirable to mount at an arm's length from the place where you will pass. The visibility range of such a device is one to three meters, consult when buying.
Conclusion
Note that the installation of a luminous baseboard on the floor is a useful and competent solution. Due to the simplicity of design, you can install it at any time. The motion sensor will perfectly perform the function of the night guardian and will wait for your visit, and the ability to connect a light sensor to it will not let the sensor work in the daytime. The LED strip plinth will not only create a lighting-related convenience in your home, but it will also fill the room with soft light. To avoid misunderstandings, choose only quality equipment and follow our instructions.
