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Back lighting / ambient lighting..

modi123

modi123

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Sep 6, 2006
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I'm looking at reducing eye straight by either getting a basic desk lamp to shine on my wall behind my monitor or maybe even go fancy pants with some changing ambient lighting. Any particular recommendations?

Mostly for late night gaming and coding..

The desk lamp: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KNDVVNI/

Things I have seen tossed around:
Mad Catz’s Cyborg Gaming Lights
https://antumbra.io/
https://www.amazon.com/Lightpack-LightpackUSB/dp/B00LFW1P6U
https://www.amazon.com/Antec-Halo-LED-Bias-Lighting/dp/B0053B347M

Does anyone have any recommendations, or things to look out for?
 
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Sure - just a plain old strip would work? No need to change with the screen or anything wonky?
 
I've seen many use it and bought one myself to tape it behind the TV, just haven't got around to it yet.
 
Cool.. maybe this endeavor will just be that simple.
 
Get one of the super-cheap kits from Amazon like linked in an earlier post. I used a similar kit on the back of my monitors for years. Just cut to length, stick 'em on, and go. Plus you have plenty of extra to do under the desk, or do in-case lighting.
 
Ordered a white light kit from Amazon to see how this goes. For some reason I assumed this was some big fancy-schancy thing and they all synced up to the screen. Guess not. If it doesn't work that well I'll probably just cycle for a small warm light lamp.

Thanks everyone for the assist.
 
Just watch out that it's not overly cold as LEDs tend to be.
 
True that. So far a way, way less investment than I was planning.
 
Meeho said:
https://www.amazon.com/Topmax-5050-16-4ft-Strip-Lights/dp/B01BY7GMEK/
Click to expand...

I am using those strips for my desk, under the shelves and under the desk, as well as for the PC's lighting.
carbide-740-desk-setup-wide.jpg
 
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I've been using IKEA LED bars on my desktop monitor and TV. Just make sure you get the non-RGB variant as the RGB has very cold whites. I just use the more natural color white LEDs, tape a few of them behind my displays and leave them on. They are a cheap solution but work fine.
 
Just grab a <$10 spool of RGB led strip, cut and attach some to the backside of your monitor, and you can set the color and brightness to suit your mood.

There are some premade and DIY solutions that do fancy shit like change the color depending on what's on the screen, but IMO it's overkill.
 
kasakka said:
I've been using IKEA LED bars on my desktop monitor and TV. Just make sure you get the non-RGB variant as the RGB has very cold whites. I just use the more natural color white LEDs, tape a few of them behind my displays and leave them on. They are a cheap solution but work fine.
Click to expand...

You can get RGB strips with warm white LEDs too, a search on ebay for 'RGBWW' and 'RGBW' will turn up interesting and usually inexpensive results.

I'm a self professed LED strip junkie. :)
 
Lot of people seem to be recommending buying cheap Chinese LED strips from Amazon, if you don't mind the shipping times; grab them straight from China (depending on who you get it from, it'll be a week to four). If you don't trust the power supply, you can always grab a kit without one and get a 12V adapter from elsewhere (or get a USB powered kit).
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal..._id=AS_20170204114632&SearchText=led+rgb+5050

Same as what NoxTek posted, but 10M and comes with a remote with music support.
 
I went the slightly more expensive (because i didn't know any better) Sylvania route on Amazon. I'm happy with it so I guess that's all that matters. I got one of these starter kits:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008COVFUA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Then two of these packs to finish the desk and tap into to do behind my monitor:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00932TERQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is an album: http://imgur.com/a/553Ki

Once it gets dark I can take better pictures from the front but right now, the window behind my desk washes everything out.
 
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I used some left over RGB strip to light up the front of my Plex server, I just used a molex to 3pin cable, cut off the 3 pin and soldered the power and ground to the power and blue led contacts on the strip.
IMG_1047.JPG
 
ChoGGi said:
Lot of people seem to be recommending buying cheap Chinese LED strips from Amazon, if you don't mind the shipping times; grab them straight from China (depending on who you get it from, it'll be a week to four). If you don't trust the power supply, you can always grab a kit without one and get a 12V adapter from elsewhere (or get a USB powered kit).
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal..._id=AS_20170204114632&SearchText=led+rgb+5050

Same as what NoxTek posted, but 10M and comes with a remote with music support.
Click to expand...

Those are plain jane RGB strips, not RGBW or RGBWW....
 
criccio said:
I went the slightly more expensive (because i didn't know any better) Sylvania route on Amazon. I'm happy with it so I guess that's all that matters. I got one of these starter kits:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008COVFUA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Then two of these packs to finish the desk and tap into to do behind my monitor:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00932TERQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is an album: http://imgur.com/a/553Ki

Once it gets dark I can take better pictures from the front but right now, the window behind my desk washes everything out.
Click to expand...

Nice! :)
 
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Awesome, I've been wanting to do the same with my Ikea Jerker, just not sure how it will come off looking. One way to find out! :D
 
Great set up and suggestions.
A desk lamp shining on the wall behind my monitor, and using the "Eye Rest" app that came with this video card, both made my eyes feel *much* better. Now, if only I could break my GF's habit of watching TV in the dark.
 
"While any bias lighting is better than no bias lighting as far as eye strain is concerned, if you want bias lighting that not only relieves your eye strain but actually makes the content you’re viewing look better you’ll need the right bulb. To that end, you want a bulb temperature that is as close as possible (if not identical) to the reference point used in the industry that both manufactures the screens you’re looking at as well as creates content for said screens and that’s 6500K."

Some nice info on bias lighting - http://www.howtogeek.com/213464/how...le-watching-tv-and-gaming-with-bias-lighting/

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5050-SMD-3-...hash=item5b1b081cd8:m:m3iMye_uI96kYceKJRTVUoA

Above is what I've been using double sticky taped to back of gaming monitor and one behind my Home Theater TV using 12v dc power adapters I had laying around, works great. I even covered a bit of the LED's with a small piece of black electrical tape, adjusting to get brightness where I want it. For me, I did not want it too bright in a dark room that I could see my own reflection on the screen with the monitor or tv turned off. Still plenty bright enough. These were the Cool White of course - which should be between 6000 - 7000K, looks great to me, eye strain and better perceived blacks.
 
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Meeho said:
What does RGBWW get you compared to RGB?
Click to expand...

There are basically three types of RGB strip lighting color palletes out there (well, not really, but I'm simplifying for the topic):

RGB LED strips
CM-LED-30-M60KRGB-R-1-800x591.jpg
These typically use an LED module that contains a red, blue, and green light emitting diode. With the proper controller hardware theoretically you could mix any combination of 16 million colors, but pure white and 'warm white' are actually very difficult if not impossible for this LED combo to produce convincingly. If you put these in 'white' mode (all three modules illuminated') you typically get a color that's closer to pinkish white.

RGBW LED strips
img_3579_1.jpg
These strips have a separate pure white LED module that's in an alternating pattern with the RGB modules. These strips give you the ability to emit a real pure white light as well as mixing colors with the RGB LEDs. With the right controller you get enhanced color mixing because you can use that extra pure white module to your advantage.

RGBWW LED strips
6143EQiCNvL._SL1000_.jpg
These are just like the RGBW strips noted above, except the white LED module is a 'warm white' variety. Warm white being a low color temperature of around 2500 to 3000 Kelvin - the same 'yellowish' color your typical incandescent puts out. A lot of people find 'warm white' to be more pleasing on the eyes in many situations. (I am one of those people, lol). These same 'warm white' type of LEDs are what's used in your typical LED light bulb these days. Ain't technology great?

Although the technology has gotten ridiculously cheap as a whole the last six or seven years or so, RGBW and RGBWW strips are typically twice as expensive as the plain RGB counterparts. So a typical 5 meter long spool of RGB LED strip will cost around $8 - $10 online whereas a RGBW or RGBWW strip of the same length will be upwards of $30 or more.

Again, I'm simplifying things quite a bit. There's a whole world of module sizes (5050, 5630, etc) and densities (30LED/meter, 60LED/meter, etc), levels of waterproofing, different controllers with enhanced functionality, yadda, yadda....
 
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this is the white that is produced from my RGB strips, it's a really blueish white.

Carbide Air 740.jpg


this is using a piece of white LED strip that I got from my brother, I am guessing he bought a 6K or higher version as it is almost a purple-ish white
carbide-540-01.jpg
 
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