Darbin Orvar: Construct a Beautiful, Dimmable LED Light Fixture

This project is all about using the latest high-powered LEDs for a modern lighting fixture. Unlike LED strip lights which utilize 12 volts, and often come paired with dimmers and remotes, I wanted to design an interior light with high-powered LEDs which had a modern look and was able to be dimmed.

To take care of the dimming I added an Adafruit trinket and a transistor to do the switching to create a voltage change that would dim the lights using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). You will need a little soldering, some aluminum, walnut, or other wood for the box and minor programming of the trinket.

For other designs you can easily substitute an Arduino Uno or really any other microcontroller. I used the trinket because I wanted to create a box that was as narrow and sleek as possible, while thinking of the electronics and heat issues associated with the use of high-powered LEDs.

I hope others try to create some more home-friendly designs using this basic set-up. There’s no reason you can’t use 20 watt or higher chips for this type of design either. I am really looking forward to seeing what others come up with too.