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Apartment Lit Solely by LEDs
(eternal_software) writes "A company called Vos Solutions created what they call 'a blueprint for future living' named The Vos Pad. The Vos Pad is the world's first apartment solely lit by LEDs. There are some images of the place up on their website."
I looked at this and said cool... My wife looked at it and said YUCK!!!
Just goes to show, Not for everybody.
Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.
I'm sure there are tons of slashdotters whose apartments are already soley lit by LEDs.
Cthulhu Saves.
A link to a page full of images on slashdot... This website will die.
Please use this:
Google cache for the pictures
And this:
Google cache for the website
So, its funny but iTunes spun up Nightclubbing by Iggy Pop as soon as I clicked on the link to the sight, because that is exactly what this looks like to me. If I were single and 18-23 again perhaps I might think this was cool, but come on now. I was really hoping that by clicking on the link I was going to see real LED lights (perhaps spectrally tuned to the wavelength of sunlight) that could really light a house. I don't think we are that far away from other applications like automobile headlights and real replacement sources for household lighting, but this is not quite there. This to me is more like mood lighting or decorative lighting rather than household lighting.
Also, it appears that the apartment is not lit entirely by LEDs as ACDC lighting systems are providing cold cathode lighting as well.
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If I turn off my monitors, my apartment is also lit solely by LEDs.
...ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
Perhaps it's just that my interior decorating tastes aren't up to date :-)
Your pizza just the way you ought to have it.
I can't imagine placing a LCD TV above the stove is a good idea. Not only would heat from the stove damage it, but what about oil splatter from cooking?
-B
Company just released their second product: First NOC lit by flaming server. Footage at 11...
Compact Flouresent is much higher in efficiency per watt of electricity used.
plus it's a bitch to find a LED area lamp.
LED's are ok for small point task lighting, they completely suck at area lighting that is typically used in a home in both electricity used and lumens of light output.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
When this was posted on Fark yesterday, several people sent me the link... and I couldn't figure out why. I kept reading the page, thinking I was skipping over something that stated something newsworthy or truly interesting about the "Vospad" ... like how this is the inside of George W's Texas ranch or how some new, amazing type of LED is at work here... but nothing was to be found. A house lit by LEDs... looks cheap and tacky to me. So, I asked the people who sent me the link why they sent it to me.... same answer "cuz it's cool." No, sorry, it's really not.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
The site is /.'ed so I can't be sure it's the same but there was an article throughout the newsrags (NYTimes, LA Times, etc) this past week on a guy who lit his entire apartment soley by LEDs. The hardware cost him $50K. Too much really. To spend that kind of dough, there's gotta be some additional win. But you'll get a lot farther with a woman, for example, by spending that same amount on a nice car you pick her up in and a few nice dinners than on unfamiliar lighting she finds intimidating.
Off topic, but I gave a bunch of these really cool LED flashlights for Christmas: http://www.techass.com The Elite is really nice and very bright.
...the lights on their router are surely blinking like mad! Hopefully it won't catch fire, which is certainly a more dangerous (albeit more aesthetically pleasing) method of lighting. :-)
OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
Reminds me of the Seinfeld where Jerry has trouble sleeping because of the red glow of the neon sign from the Kenny Roger's Chicken across the street.
Your colour vision would go all out of whack as you move from room to room with the different colour schemes never mind what will happen when you go outside for some sunlight (that rat fur hat might even look good).
Rapidly approaching the Zener knee...
Why are all the pictures taken during the day? What does it look like at night?
So the question is when will prices really come down? Isn't the big problem making blue LEDs [cheaply]? When will the masses wake up and upgrade?
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
"Lit by LEDs, inhabited by virgins."
The coolest voice ever.
I was expecting something showcasing technology like the 5 watt Luxeon Star LEDs, instead, it just looks like Lucky the Leprechaun shat all over the place.
Despite the bad example (and color scheme, ugh.) this site shows, LEDs really are coming into their own for uses in lighting and will be a very interesting technology to watch in the coming years. The LED Museum has a great listing and reviews of LED based lighting products, from flashlights to Xmas lights.
I do believe LEDs can be effectively used for lighting. I was given a 1 watt Luxeon Star-based flashlight this Christmas and after using it in instead of an incandescent flashlight, I have to say I am very impressed. The Luxeon puts out a pure white light (very similar to HID headlights) which makes objects being illuminated appear more clearly and it projects an even beam with no dark shadowy spots. If for nothing else, this article should be a reason to check out what's available in LED lighting - you might be pleasantly surprised.
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
I wonder if my box will survive, but anyway, here's what I captured.
#
#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
#
The article noted that the apartment's lighting system cost an estimated $50,000. That probably accounts for the lack of popularity of LEDs for home lighting.
An alternative to LEDs are Organic LEDs, a much cheaper, plastic-based technology. Unfortunately, they are not yet ready for prime time.
Any ideas on why led lights for the home are not more widely available? The technology is not new.
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I believe an LED the size and lummen output of a 100watt bulb for example would be a fair bit costly in contrast to a typical 100watt bulb.
I have no site to back this up, don't know where to buy a big ass LED, but let's look at radioshack
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5
5mm White LED $4.99
3.6V 20ma
http://handyman.everything-warehouse.com/PID-3E
GE Mazda 100W Edison Screw LightBulb 9004100198514
1000hours $0.99
120v
Now, I don't know how many 5mm white LEDs = the lumen output of one 100watt bulb... but at $5.00 a pop, in the short term the traditional 100W bulb costs less.
So you can either replace your bulbs at 99cents a pop, or construct a led solution that would likely cost $5.00 per unit, multi units to equal the light level of that one bulb.
I'm sure the LED would save you money, but people are lazy.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
if you have a link to a halogen lcd backlight, please post...
(meaning: there arent any)
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
Radio Shack gives you the shaft on components. It's really not valid to compare them there.
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
Once again, designers make a laughing stock out of themselves by refusing to use common sense. As a result, their "prototype" has obviously never been lived in for even a few hours. Three glaring points:
- LCD TV. Above the stove. So it can catch the oil crackling in the pan, the smell when something gets burned, as has occasionally been known to happen and the condensation when cooking something in boiling water. Yeah, right! No way anyone's going to hang an expensive LCD there.
- The bed. In the middle of an open square, so it takes maximum space. This is a bit so-so as they might have thought of a couple. The whole room gives off a rich-bachelor feeling to me, though. Most bachelors I know have the bed pushed up against one wall to conserve space.
- The sinks in the bathroom. They're round bowls with no shelf space in sight. Where do you put toothbrush, toothpaste, hair gel, combs, shaver, soap? Well, I'm sure the tooth fairy will be ready to hold them for a while.
As you can see, I don't think that what is shown in the pictures has anything to do with an apartment, which is made up of connected rooms where and this is important! people need to live, and need to want to live.Divide et impera!
Check the phone number for their PR contact - it's central London number (England, not anywhere else)
Those arent the LEDs you should looking at.n III_i ndex.html
i ndex.html
http://www.lumiled.com/luxeon/products/luxeo
This are the babys for serious room illumination. http://www.lumiled.com/luxeon/products/luxeonIII_
3.xV, 1000mA. And around 3-5 times the lumen efficency of your traditional bulb. And its only 30$ or so (if i remember correctly). So this is around 15 times more power/money than your example.
Sure, more expensive in the beginning, but in situations where broken bulb does not only mean 1$ for a new bulb, but working time to replace it, or simply a room being dark that SHOUDNT be dark, the 100.000 hour lifetime should be quite a bonus.
Especially considering that LEDS dont "break", but fade. If not electrocuted, they become slowly dimmer. The 100.000h usually means the time where they are only at 50% or so output. So even a long time after that, it would still produce light, even if its not a lot.
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
"Because of the absolutely phenomenal number of requests for this site (due to its being listed on Slashdot), we have had to take the unusual step of temporarily disabling the content of the site until things calm down :-) We apologise for any inconvenience
that this may cause."
Mirrors that were grabbed from the slashdot thread: Consider using these mirrors.
mirror 1 :D
mirror 2
Karma whoring at its finest
hah, you DON'T want to price electronic components at Radio Shack. They're so insanely expensive you might as well burn your money for light instead.
- no sig.
>With 4 diodes (at a few cents each) you can build a full wave rectifier that will let you connect an LED to AC power without flicker.
It'll still flicker at 120 Hz without a filter capacitor!
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Because of the absolutely phenomenal number of requests for this :-) We apologise for any inconvenience
site (due to its being listed on Slashdot), we have had to take
the unusual step of temporarily disabling the content of the
site until things calm down
that this may cause.
I
Know someone who has an LED basement.
She has an extreme case of porphyria and she can only tolerate light in the 585+ NM wavelengths.
BTW, 585 is exactly the wavelength of those ugly yellow street lamps you occasionally see. I think those lamps are some type of sodium vapor lamp and they are ultra efficient also.
Since incandescants, etc. were literally cooking her from the inside out I built her an LED lamp.
Her lamp has 50 LEDS connnected in 10 parallel circuits. I also slapped on ten switches with one master on/off switch.
Thus, she could turn on as little as 5 or as many as 50 bulbs simultaneously.
It works great for her. She's still very sick, but at least she has some light she can tolerate.
LED's emit a very narrow wavelength of light. You can get them in small bulk packages at the following address:
www.TheLEDLight.com
That store also has a whole bunch of Super Cool LED flashlights etc.
Also, my friend's porphyria is a really rare and strange disease which means she is akin to a vampire. She has the EP variety. Only approximately 300 more like her in the US.
She has been stuck in her mom's basement now for two years, at the age of 34. Such a tragedy!
Caution: Contents under pressure
here
That's not quite true. Some fluorescent bulbs do indeed flicker at 60 or 120Hz--these use the old magnetic ballasts. However, most newer fluorescent (and also HID) lamps use electronic ballasts that are very similar to switching power supplies--they "flicker" at 20,000Hz.
Q: "Why do sound techs say 'check 1, 2'?"
A: "Cause if they could count any higher they'd be lighting techs."
We all know full well that the /. effect can kill all but the most well supported sites. Perhaps something radically different is in order. Perhaps an akamai like p2p fallback system.
/. and get obliterated into ether the maintainer could allow the site to be mirrored and then sent out to some temporary storage sites for.. oh say a few days, and then when the referrer is /. then the content can be served up by one of the ac hoc distributed mirrors?
before a small site gets listed on
Those lights are really dim, so you'd still need a lot of them to light a room.
To give you an idea, the average 60w light bulb gives off 860 lumens. Those LEDs you linked to only give off 80! You'd need 10 of them just to get close to a 60w bulb! If each of those LEDs are $30 as you say (there are no prices on the website), that's $300 per 60w bulb!!!
Those 15w mini-twister flourescent bulbs give off 900 lumens. They also last for 6000 hours. Seems to be the reasonable way to go for now...
- Murphy's Corollary: - It is impossible to make things foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
And it will probably fall on deaf ears like it has every other time I've posted a comment like this.
This story, the resulting Slashdotting of their site, followed closely by the need to take the site down, is yet another indication that the powers that be at Slashdot need to learn the simple courtesy of *ASKING* the people behind websites like that if they want a story about them on Slashdot. Or at least allow them time to prepare for the devestation their servers are about to undergo.
When stories about spammers and such ilk are posted, we show our feelings by Slashdotting their site, thereby either costing them tons in bandwidth charges or crashing their server.
When stories about things we like are posted on Slashdot, we show our approval by doing the same damned thing.
Quite frankly, I'm surprised that in this day and age of litigation-while-you-wait no one has sued Slashdot for getting their server hammered.
I'll stop now so that the moderators among you can show your ignorance by moderating this post as "off topic" or "flame bait".
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
LED lights will eventually replace fluorescents, incandescents and other traditional forms of interior illumination. There's all kinds of reasons :
The colors are bright and pure when you want them to be, and significant progress has been made towards (simulated) full-spectrum light. The lights are cool and run on low voltage, are much more efficient than fluorescents and have very long lifetimes.
Cost is coming down (slowly) and eventually LEDs will be reasonable replacements for ordinary lightbulbs, with similar light characteristics except for added features such as optional color control and the like.
The Vos Pad is silly because like so many posters have pointed out, it's as uninhabitable as the star trek apartment that other guy built. Plus, it looks incredibly gay with those colors. Just an immensely complex concept piece demonstrating how not to use LED light fixtures. The Vos Pad appears dark and spooky, a movie set rather than a home. And the light beams coming from the floor will be incredibly annoying. But all this don't mean the technology itself is invalid.
LED lit homes can conveivably be every bit as practical as ordinary types. LEDs can be fitted into whole new kinds of fixtures that wouldn't be possible to make with conventional technologies. The LEDs are so versatile they can be built into anything and arranged in any pattern or configuration imaginable. Thin panels or stripes of light could be fitted under shelves or hidden in the ceiling so as to provide advanced discrete lighting without the hassle of bulb replacement.
As a test project a little while I ago I drew up a fancy model for a dream bathroom in a 3D program, accurately picturing discreet LED illumination with color accents and proper work surface brightness and no nasty point lightsources burning out retinas.
The render engine used was precise enough using photon maps, global illumination and caustics, that you could get a reasonable estimate of the number of LEDs on any given spec you need to light a room properly. You can pretty much go in with a virtual light meter and measure how much light hits any given simulated surface point and add more lights until you have the desired brightness. (As a photographer I have a nice digital spot lightmeter, and was able to calibrate the model using a handful of Nichia superbright white LEDs for reference.)
Turns out you need hundreds of LEDs to get an equivalent brightness to just a few 25 watt halogens. But if I had the cash to splash I'd definitely consider it for my new apartment!
When in Tokyo, visit Roppongi Hills and witness the glorious displays of LED illumination in and around the plaza at the base of the skyscraper complex. There's even LED illumination in the stairways and sometimes in the trees around the plaza too.
A while ago I stumbled across LEDtronics...they have a wide variety of LED products, but what makes them really interesting is that they have retrofits for just about every kind of incandescent bulb out there, with ordinary threaded bases that operate on anything from 12VDC to 240VAC, and bulbs for automotive applications. They also have a cross reference that converts incandescent bulb number, bulb type, or bulb base to an LED product.
Speaking as someone who suffers from minor Seasonal Affective Disorder, I have to wonder what the value would be, outside of saving power, in lighting an entire room or home with LEDs.
The material I've read on SAD, and my own direct experience, have shown me that both broad-spectrum (approximating daylight) and high intensity (again, approximating daylight) are important in combating the condition. We live far enough north (Puget Sound region) where the short days and extended periods of cloud cover during the winter do indeed have a noticeable affect on my moods.
Considering that I grew up in California, which averages 328 sunny days per year, this came as no great surprise.
What I ended up doing for our home was installing full-spectrum flourescent tubes in the flourescent fixtures, and bright halogens in my work area. Both have done wonders for my mood in the winter months.
Unless someone has come up with a full-spectrum LED, I don't think this kind of lighting is going to see wide adoption outside of perpetually sun-drenched areas, and then only as a "Gee Whiz" item because of the high cost.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
Because there wasn't any juice left for their server ;-)
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
>Good point, but then why do the LEDs in TFT notebook displays have such horrible lag?
;-)
Because they're not LEDs, they're LCDs.
LCDs are a totally different technology. They lag because, well, jeez, I explained this once before but it slips my mind (It's early here! Give me credit! Please!). Basically, it has to do with the fact you're asking a material (crystals) to twist and bend when power is applied; then you take the power off them (or reverse it) to try to force them back to their original position. This takes time.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
I asked my other half, she wouldn't use the bathroom for all the rice in China. Point-blank no way. "How could I work out my makeup in that light?" was her first question.
I am thinking about the kitchen. How do I get a meal looking right in those ghastly hues? How can I enjoy a steak when it will look like a Quake gib under that light?
So while this is a noteworthy effort, it may have set the cause of LED lighting back by years... (kidding, okay? I'm pretty sure other architects and designers will see the advantages and adopt them pretty quickly...)
Which is sad because the idea of using LEDs to light a living space (or indeed a workspace) is sorely needed in view of the air pollution that our thirst for light and convenience creates.
I read somewhere that a 100W consumed for a year produces a cupful and a half of pollutants in that year. (I.e. collect all the pollutants and scrunch 'em together, bingo, 1 1/2 cups of waste...)
That means that for every 100W lightbulb in your place, which stays on for an average of a quarter of a day or so, over a quarter of a cup of crap per year... The average home has seven lightbulbs, that's over two cups of pollution per house per year.
If you could reduce the amount of power required to produce the same amount of light to around a fifth or less, you'd reduce that contribution to pollution due to light from two cups to a quarter cup.
That has to be worth going for...
-- ted russ http://www.arach.net.au/~ted/mydynes/ http://www.arach.net.au/~ted/myblogs/