I tried making artificial sunlight at home
victorpoughon.fr
I tried making artificial sunlight at home
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Re: I tried making artificial sunlight at home
#2Those in dark winter places can check this out for a home bright light setup.
Some people report much better mood in dark winter days:
https://meaningness.com/sad-light-led-lux
https://meaningness.com/sad-light-lumens
Buy a cheap lux meter if you will be doing this since otherwise you are flying blind.
Re: I tried making artificial sunlight at home
#3This is super cool, and a great project.
As someone more on the software side as well, I’m inspired to take on something similar.
But more importantly, as someone who rented a windowless room for a year, I would have loved to make a smart light like this to wake up to in the morning.
Re: I tried making artificial sunlight at home
#4The interactive 3D models are nice
Re: I tried making artificial sunlight at home
#5Those in dark winter places can check this out for a home bright light setup. Some people report much better mood in dark winter days: https://meaningness.com/sad-light-led-lux https://meaningness.com/sad-light-lumens Buy a cheap lux meter if you will be doing this since otherwise you are flying blind.
This definitely helps for me, but it's hard to place the lights without glare, since they can't be anywhere that's ever directly in your vision! I'm also a little worried it's going to burn the houseplant near it.
But it was a big change; my Silicon Valley apartment has little overhead lighting, and I mostly use Hue lights which just don't get very bright, so it turned out I'd accidentally built a depression cave in the winter.
Re: I tried making artificial sunlight at home
#6[deleted]
Re: I tried making artificial sunlight at home
#7Would it be possible to make it look like the light was coming in at an angle from above and the side like real sunlight?
Re: I tried making artificial sunlight at home
#8DIY Perks also attempted to make artificial sunlight at home, also focusing on things like Rayleigh scattering! This was a great watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bqBsHSwPgw
EDIT: After reading the article, I see the OP calls out DIY Perks specifically - the OPs design is much more compact :)
> It's compact. The total size is 19cm x 19cm x 9cm. This is quite compact for a 5cm focal length and an effective lighting area of 18cm x 18cm. Reflective designs like the DIYPerks video or commercial products like CoeLux do not achieve this form factor.
Re: I tried making artificial sunlight at home
#9Would it be possible to make it look like the light was coming in at an angle from above and the side like real sunlight?
I've given some thought to this, I agree it's one of the obvious improvements. I think with a refractive design like this one it's difficult, because of the way a lens works. Most other projects like this including commercial ones like CoeLux use a reflective design, and I believe that's partly for this reason.
Re: I tried making artificial sunlight at home
#10Would it be possible to make it look like the light was coming in at an angle from above and the side like real sunlight?
I’ve seen the video he links at the top of the article, a few years back. They took an old satellite dish, silvered the surface, and put a giant LED where the receiver had been so the light produced was nearly parallel. Otherwise the shadows look wrong.
In his case he sacrificed a doorway or a closet to make a window with “real light”