"Starry sky" on LEDs without large investments

How to make a beautiful ceiling with your own hands. Personal experience

With the advent of their own housing, various "Wishlist" in terms of interior decoration are sharply activated. And now there are so many materials and technologies that almost any fantasy can be realized. For example - why not turn an ordinary ceiling into a piece of sky, moreover, starry. This idea was embodied by one of the FORUMHOUSE craftsmen. Here's how he did it.

What should be the ceiling

zvezdochert

FORUMHOUSE member

For those who do not want to read for a long time: the starry sky is a group of LEDs (121 pcs.) On the ceiling, connected in series and in parallel to a controller that sets the blinking mode for each group. The LED shines through a light filter and a tiny hole (pixel) about 0.5 mm in size, covered with an ultra-thin protective glass. Ceiling wallpaper is glued on top of the ceiling, in which a tiny hole is made for a star of 1-2 mm in size.

Since the soul of an engineer and romance wished for a sparkling scattering in the bedroom above the bed, to its starry sky

zvezdochert put forward a solid list of requirements,

• stars and constellations that imitate the real sky - as if you are lying in the mountains at night (the stars are brighter there);
• direction, brightness, colors, flicker and proportions of the constellations - as in the sky;
• stars with a total count of 100 or more, with several brightness sizes (it is desirable that there were, incl. the brightest stars in the sky);
• the stars should not burn during the day - they should be switched off;
• from a distance of 50 cm during the day, the star should not be visible at all;
• the ceiling should be glued with ordinary wallpaper for painting;
• stars should prevent ceiling repairs (plywood, repainting);
• the viewing angle from any point in the room of any star on the ceiling is not more than 150 degrees;
• service life - more than ten years, without replacing diodes;
• the thickness of the ceiling covering together with the stars, no more than 2-3 cm;
• area of ​​about 10 m²;
• demonstration modes: smooth rise and fall, shutdown by light level, brightness control;
• budgetary.

Preparation

The craftsman approached the task with all seriousness.

zvezdochert

FORUMHOUSE member

The search for a method and an assessment of the possibilities began. Since the great and mighty WWW could not help in everything, I had to invent some of it myself, and first of all, figure out how to implement it? The best way was to use LEDs. But how to place the stars under the wallpaper and make them point-like? This question haunted me. Fortunately, there was a lot of repair work in the apartment and there was time for reflection. At some point, I realized that it was better to place the LED under the glass "sandwich", covering it with putty at the ends. Hoping that the idea of ​​executing a point light source under the wallpaper would visit me, I began to work out the drawings (the renovation in the apartment was going on in parallel).

And not just arbitrary sketches, but the embodiment of a real map of the starry sky, with reference not only to location and size, but also to color. And the stars, it turns out, are not only white, but also orange, yellow, red, blue, beige, etc.

At first zvezdochert copied the map of the starry sky to the autocad, then, I put a substrate on the floor plan. Further.

• I placed the North Star where it should be if the ceiling disappears.
• I adjusted the scale so that there was a large bucket on the ceiling and a few more of the largest stars.
• I divided the ceiling into squares of 1.10 m and transferred the stars to the drawings, numbered each, and also indicated the color and size. There were 121 pieces in total.
• I divided the stars into groups according to their size, since the same current will be supplied to stars of the same size.

From the first to the fourth group (to decrease), it turned out about 20 pieces. Most of all, we got small stars of the fifth group, they were also divided into 20 pieces and distributed over the entire ceiling so that in the flickering mode there was a uniform glow. He connected the stars with contour lines along which the conductors will pass during installation, brought all the lines to the place where the controller was installed.

The base itself, that is, the ceiling, was prepared as carefully as possible, bringing the surface to a perfectly smooth plane. Fortunately, today there are a lot of leveling compounds for all cases. I transferred the drawings to the finished base.

When transferring, you need to be more careful so as not to make a mirror projection. Not critical, but perfectionists will spoil the mood.

Sources of starlight

zvezdochert

FORUMHOUSE member

I used white LEDs soldered from LED strips as light sources for the stars. I prepared 2x2 cm glass squares, which I cut out from a 2 mm thick glass slide used when working with microscopes. It was not possible to do this from window glass with a thickness of 3 or 4 mm. The slide is easier to cut - it is thinner. I bought a microscope slide at the Medtech store.
Buying a glass slide, I remembered (from school lessons) that there is still a very thin cover glass, it was in the Medtekhnika store on the same shelf. It was then that the final configuration of the "pie" of the star began to emerge, since all the components were found.

I glued LEDs on the squares of glass and soldered short wires. The LEDs should shine through the glass. Glass has two tasks - to act as beacons for applying putty to the ceiling in order to close the conductors and be the material that will not be scratched when leveling the putty and sanding it (before gluing wallpaper).

I drilled the recesses for the stars, made the cuts for the output of wires (2-3 mm) with a grinder. I glued glass with LEDs, divorced and unsoldered the wires, insulated the soldering points. He grabbed the wires to the ceiling with masking tape. The planned 2 mm layer to cover the wiring was not enough, so I glued another layer of glass (10 × 10 mm squares) over the stars and set the level for the beacons. The ceiling, after all the manipulations, acquired an additional 4 mm, and the extreme protective glass on the stars turned out to be flush with the plane. I went through the surface with putty, cleaned the glass and connected it - all the stars under the glass started working, even in this version, a very original lighting was obtained.

The ceiling wallpaper is embossed, after painting, I turned on the stars at maximum power and carefully, so as not to damage the glass, I removed the top layer with a drill, getting holes with a diameter of 1-2 mm.

"Pie" stars

• Light filter (colored self-adhesive film with light scattering effect).
• Food grade aluminum foil with a microscopic hole (same for everyone).
• Cover glass.
• Self-adhesive white film with a hole (but it is better to use another material with a sticky back, otherwise there will be problems with the wallpaper at the joints).

The assembled star is only 0.36 mm thick, so it does not stand out at all above the ceiling plane after wallpapering. The foil was perforated with an awl on a hard base. To achieve the desired color effect, I used seven shades of film. I glued the stars to the ceiling on transparent silicone, namely transparent, white should not be, so as not to interfere with the passage of light.

Consumables

LED strip - 2 m (120 pcs / m).
Slide box (300 stars).
Cover glass box (500 stars).
Oracal film is white, usual - 20 dm².
Oracal light-scattering film - 7 colors of 0.5 dm².
TSV cable, 2x0.5x20 mm - 10 m.
ShVVP 2x0.5 - 5 m.
Flexible stranded wire 0.5 mm - 20 m.
Superglue - 5-10 packs.
Transparent silicone - 1 pack.
Food aluminum foil - 20 dm².
Chinese garland for the Christmas tree - 2 pcs (for 4 channels).
Control unit based on a circuit board with radio elements (a budget option without flickering is possible).

zvezdochert

FORUMHOUSE member

The cost is modest. The film (self-adhesive) cost me the most, since it is not sold in small pieces. So I had to buy all types of 1 m². Until now, some colors have remained and are used for different purposes. The version of the starry sky made by me is laborious, time-consuming, requires "crazy pens" and is designed for an amateur. But I like it, it turned out as I wanted.

Definitely like!

On the topic of homemade products, we can offer a master class: kitchen set is not worse than ready-made, but ten times cheaper. Or LED paving stones. In the video - how to quickly paint a ribbed floor.

How do you like the result?