Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with diy and light

You shall not... forget the light on.

ddaavviidd — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:15:49 -0800

I want to convert a wall switch into a door switch (for a wardrobe light). Is this easily feasible? Ok, I know YANME.I bought this door switch to use in a large wardrobe. This is the current location of the wall switch, so I assume I can place the door switch not too far and wire it with the wall switch. But how should I wire it exactly?

I can dig the hole easy and install the door switch, I am able to properly switch thermostats. lighting fixtures and power outlets. Can I do this as well? And I am the home owner so it is either me or the electrician...

There...Are...THREE...Lights! (hopefully)

Knicke — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:34:56 -0800

I have three big, lightweight, plastic spheres, and want to turn them into a three-light swag-type fixture. It would be cool to have all three controlled by one switch (kinda like a three-way floor lamp). Is there an easy way to do this? I've rewired numerous floor and table lamps, and I understand basic electrical safety, but I'm no electrician. I'm really averse to soldering something together at this point. Kludge-y yet safe solutions are welcomed, though.

I haven't found any multi-bulb swag light kits out there, but perhaps I don't know what to Google for. Help!

Does somebody make a waterproof tube?

Acari — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 09:58:42 -0800

SurelyThisProductExistsFilter: Where can I find a metal tube with a threaded, transparent cap? Ideally, this pipe would be made of copper or aluminum and seal against ~500kpa of pressure or so. The plan is to throw a non-diving light into a tube [lubed and quintuple o-ringed and sealed with a kiss etcetera] and see things in the deep.

It must be metal for the heat exchange. For now, I'll assume that I'll just make it long enough to carry enough batteries to be on for ~2 dives + surface interval so that I don't have to try to make a waterproof switch. I was about to go buy some pipe and plexiglass and [epoxy?] to make my own, but I am hesitant for the embarassingly simple reason that I just can't cut circles. Even with a hole saw. It's ridiculous. I feel that precision might be helpful in making strong seals.

So: does anybody know of an existing thing that is a metal pipe with a see-through end?
If it is less expensive than a 4D Maglite, that would be grand. I already know how to pressure-proof one of those.

I know clear pvc exists, but the end caps are not flat, and would be optically non-ideal.

Oh. Diameter can be anywhere between 3/4 inch and 3 inches.

Bonus question: how do I bond copper/aluminum to glass/plexiglass?

Randomly extinguishing light fixture

rouftop — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:53:19 -0800

Why did my light fixture start turning off and on randomly? How do I fix it? The light fixture above our kitchen table just started turning itself off and on* randomly. It's quite annoying. (Darnit, there it goes again!)

This fixture is a pretty standard one where there's a piece that's embedded in the ceiling (where the bulbs go) and a translucent glass cover. It holds two bulbs and is attached to a dimmer switch. Currently the bulbs are two incandescents at 60W each.

My suspicion is that some part of it is overheating, though I'm not totally sure of this. When the problem first happened, it only had one working bulb and was set to a dim light. I replaced the bulb figuring it had blown out, and took the opportunity to replace the other one at the same time, so it probably runs a lot hotter now.

The light can stay on for 45-60 minutes or so. Then it'll turn itself off for about 15 minutes. If I leave the switch on, it'll eventually pop back on... and turn off again... ad infinitum.

Circuit breakers are not tripping in the electric box.

I'm no electrician and am not afraid to hire one, but since I bought this house I've learned that a lot of things aren't all that hard to fix yourself. I'm hoping that's the case with this, and if not then I hope to at least have a clue so an electrician can't fleece me.

* - I know "turn itself off and on" is probably not the accurate term. There's no digital switch or anything that reflects the problem -- just an analog dimmer. But "extinguishes and rekindles itself" doesn't sound right either.

Let There Be Light!

talkingmuffin — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:18:24 -0800

I need to locate two light fixture mountings that have been plastered over in the ceiling of my condo. I moved in to a new condo with my girlfriend in May. In the living room and the master bedroom there are no light fixtures in the ceiling. There are, however, two non-functional light switches, one in each room. This makes me suspect that there were light fixtures once upon a time but at some point in the condo's past they were plastered over for some unknown reason.

Is there a way to locate where these fixtures are in the ceiling so that we can install some new lights? I'm thinking specifically of some sort of measuring device that can track electrical cabling inside a wall and using it to find out where it terminates.

Aside from locating these possibly non-existant fixtures, what are my options for installing new lights that hook up to the existing switches?

LED replacement for bike light bulb

primer_dimer — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 07:30:22 -0800

Replacing a halogen bike light bulb with LED I've got a cheap 10 Watt rechargeable halogen bike light that came with a heavy SLA battery pack. I've been thinking about building a nice light NiMH battery pack (6V) to make it a bit more portable this winter. The bulb is a standard MR16 6V 10W bulb. Out of interest I had a look online to see if you can get LED replacements for these and it turns out you can. Is there any reason I can't drop in on of these (the 3 watt luxeon mr-16 builb) and build my battery pack to 12V instead? Anyone care to take a guess at whether this would be brighter / dimmer than my current bulb? I've seen it claimed that a 2W LED puts out the same amount of light as a 20W halogen bulb, but I doubt it's that simple (although I'd be delighted to learn that it is!). Since the LED bulb draws ~300mA rather than ~2A I could make a lighter battery pack for the same runtime, even though I'd need double the voltage.

Mysterious Puzzle!

pablocake — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:30:27 -0800

Light fitting appears impossible to remove! Any ideas? I need to change the light bulb in my room but the fitting seems impossible to remove! Check out a photo of the light HERE and let me know if you have any ideas.

There are no screws or external protrusions of any kind. I have tried turning the glass dome, and also the silver rim. They won't budge although they do wobble a bit. I have also tried pushing it in every direction.

HELP! :-)