Im looking for a LED light for my project. I want it to use as little power as possible, but i still want it to give enough light so that my camera can see what is going on in a small room, 5x5m, when it is dark. I need it to be low pwer so that it does noe drain my battery.
It should also be good quality so that it can stay on for a very loong time without dying.
Any suggestions?
No mains available?
The led is supposed to be powerd by the battery because the battery takes over, using ups, uninterruptable powersupply, as the power from mains is lost. So the led is powerd by battery through the arduino or raspberry pi. It doesnt have to light up the entire room, just enough to see movements. Then I can pick a camera that is somewhat suited for dark and light settings. Just so that i dont have to rely on ir nightvission cameras. I have seen a few of those and they get bad reviews where the ir cut stops working locking the camere in nightvision mode etc. They also run hot and i think they might use more battery then a led since they are using double ir ledbulps to light up the dark room.
Okey, I get the picture.
All LED use less energy than bulbs. We all know that. However I've not seen much about the efficency, light versus current, for LEDs. Look for dimable LED lamps. One parameter is the capacity of the battery. For ups use the battery ought not to be like closet. Depends on the assumed length of time for the mains being down.
what does this mean?
what are some good websites for buying such components, i guess you dont recommend using the standard three pin led diodes that come with every starter kits? Using a 250 ohm resistor gives some light, maybe enough, but i dont know how long they last?
Yes. Give us the speciifications (ideally a link to a datasheet) for your camera
Do you need colour accuracy - or is b&w ok.
can I use this camera?
It is a 5x5m room and it goes from dark to light. Maybe two cameras are better. Maybe I dont need extra light. I think if the room is completely black I would need some sort of light or ir light to catch the fotage.
You can recommend camera too if you want. I just dont trust the ir cut cameras with built in ir light and sensors. They seem to not be reliable when it comes to cutting on and of the ir and they also seem to run hot.
Get serious about current use. If you need a LED, only turn it on for a second every 15 seconds, or some other number.
Ok, where can I buy such a led for arduino project?
Since I live in the Oregon desert, I buy such stuff on Ebay. Also get a pack of 220 ohm resistors because you will need one current limiting resistor for each LED. Or get an assortment of resistors that include 220 Ohm resistors. Do you have a breadboard to use for testing your circuits? If not, get one. Do you have a 5 volt power supply for your project? If not, get one, such as a 5 volt phone charger type wall wart.
You may want to consider infrared leds. They are quite efficient and have a low forward voltage, so you may be able to put a few in series. Your camera should have no problem working with IR, but you can test that with your TV remote.
Ok, what kind of camera do you recommend to capture footage both at daylight and at night without sensor cutting off the ir filter automatically?
i dont think the quality of the footage is important, more important with energy efficiency and ability to capture at daytime, light, and at night time, dark. I found these ir lights on ebay. the smallest one takes 1w, it is probably enough. Can I reduse the powerconsuption by increasing the size of the resistor? If it is too bright?
Just generally speaking, without knowing you project/specs etc.: I was once gifted one of these 1W LEDs AMAZON LINK from a shop I bought some components from and was really impressed by the brightness of it.
Ok, here is one with 0.5w. the room is actually smaller than 5 by 5meters, probably more like 4 by 4 meters. Maybe I can make it dim automatically up and down and each time it is down i use a quality photoresistor to check if the light, sun, is back up? Would dimming it reduse the energycost similary to increasing the resistor would reduse the current and efficincy?
That camera has a builtin IR-LED. It will need more than
AA-cells. Lots of data to handle (a job for a PC)
Ok, what about this camera? This one seems to be working both day and nigh and probably work with both ir led or normal led if it is completly dark.
What resolution do you need?
Does it matter how much of the room the camera can "see"