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Making flats led panel


msacco

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Hi guys, I'm looking into a solution to be able to take flat frames in night time so I won't be limited by sunrise etc.

I currently own an 8" telescope,  but might get an 11" soon so I'd probably want to have it big enough to be compatible.
I also wish for it to consume as low power as possible, as I've seen some options that matches 220V, but I'd rather find a good 12V option.

Would love to hear some ideas and see some work some of you might have done, thanks :)

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I think that simplest DIY flat box consists of following:

1. Acrylic light diffuser panel

Do google search, these should be fairly cheap and you can get them cut to size.

2. LED strip

3. Some sort of box to put it in.

4. optionally you can get PWM dimmer for led strip

 

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I use an electro luminescent panel e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/BeMatik-Electroluminescent-panel-100x100-white/dp/B0115SWPPI/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Electroluminescent+panel or https://elpanelandtape.co.uk/el-panel/.

Mine runs from 12v and doesn't require any dimmers etc., just taped down onto some 2mm hardboard...

 

 

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5 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I think that simplest DIY flat box consists of following:

1. Acrylic light diffuser panel

Do google search, these should be fairly cheap and you can get them cut to size.

2. LED strip

3. Some sort of box to put it in.

4. optionally you can get PWM dimmer for led strip

 

Wouldn't this be better, or are there issues with EL panels for flats? 

https://ebay.us/Xkg6j2 

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2 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

I use an electro luminescent panel e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/BeMatik-Electroluminescent-panel-100x100-white/dp/B0115SWPPI/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Electroluminescent+panel or https://elpanelandtape.co.uk/el-panel/.

Mine runs from 12v and doesn't require any dimmers etc., just taped down onto some 2mm hardboard...

 

 

you beat my post by seconds. so you don't have any issues with the EL panel. been considering one for a while now. 

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3 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

It is interesting - not sure what the light intensity output is, but it does get rather expensive when the size goes up.

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Thanks for all the comments guys! Is there any difference I should consider between Dave's LED panel and the EL panel? The EL panel seems extremely expensive for the size I need, and this is without even talking about shipping.

Dave's solution really seems like a good option so far.

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2 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

I use an El panel 12v , though looking a daves link  I would go for that as it runs on 5v easy to power from a battery bank 

I've just ordered one of those LED panels from amazon, nice thing is i can easily return. only £12 for A4 size too. 

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I have an A4 and a A3 Huion LED Panel which have very even illumination. I did buy a cheap A5 one, similar looking to the one Dave posted for my RedCat 51 and the individual leds were just little perspex prisms. The leds were under the black strip on the left so the panel naturally had a noticible gradient left to right. The larger ones may use actual leds but it's best to check.

Alan

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8 minutes ago, symmetal said:

I have an A4 and a A3 Huion LED Panel which have very even illumination. I did buy a cheap A5 one, similar looking to the one Dave posted for my RedCat 51 and the individual leds were just little perspex prisms. The leds were under the black strip on the left so the panel naturally had a noticible gradient left to right. The larger ones may use actual leds but it's best to check.

Alan

Do you have any idea how would I go about checking this? :)

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1 hour ago, msacco said:

Do you have any idea how would I go about checking this? :)

You could ask the seller I suppose or know someone who already has one. :smile: The one that Dave linked to does have very bright edges implying this may be where the leds are. If the individual dots were leds I would expect them to be brighter than the edges of the panel which would not need or want leds.

Alan

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4 hours ago, symmetal said:

You could ask the seller I suppose or know someone who already has one. :smile: The one that Dave linked to does have very bright edges implying this may be where the leds are. If the individual dots were leds I would expect them to be brighter than the edges of the panel which would not need or want leds.

Alan

Seems like this is the case, also comes with 3 lightning levels, so that really looks awesome and I bought it. Hope it will work as expected! :)

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8 hours ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

you beat my post by seconds. so you don't have any issues with the EL panel. been considering one for a while now. 

None at all & I don't have to worry about trying to dim\diffuse point source LEDs (I've also made an LED one, but never use it)

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I have a purpose built Aurora flatfield generator but had issues with that. Maybe my own making I am not sure, just one of them things that when you get it to work you leave it.

  • It is too bright driven direct from 12V
  • if I use a cheap dimmer these work by switching the current on and off very fast to reduce the effective voltage whilst still giving 12V pulses then I suffer from banding on the flats. Now maybe if I stack enough of them it will cancel out the banding as the bands will not all line up but I just never liked it.
  • Needed around 4 sheets of white printer paper to get brightness somewhere near at 12V input.
  • If I used most 12V power supplies also got some banding, again due I suspected to the switched mode nature rather than the old transformer type, again maybe okay when stacked I never tried that.

In the end used 4 sheets of paper as well as the white plastic diffuser and always use a 12V battery for the supply to make sure it is smooth DC supply and not a chopped supply.

Steve

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