Arcade wall/ceiling lighting suggestions?

[johnmax]

I want to put some led rope lighting around the top of the walls in my 12x12ft game room, and possibly some on the ceiling. I seem to remember arcades having that. Maybe one multicolor band, or 2 different color bands. I can't find any pictures to give me some ideas though. I saw in Mamemaster Mitch's video on the homepage he had something like that. Anybody have any suggestions or pics to share?

[polaris]

el wire
lots more companies out there but this shows bulk prices, much costlier than rope light but a million times cooler, think tron.

[johnmax]

Yeah I have used that stuff before (I'm a car audio custom install guy), but its too expensive. I was looking for some ideas on what to do. I bought some red and purple rope lighting from ebay and now I need some arcade pics to get an idea what to do. Oddly enough they're not easy to find. 

[Wade]

I want to put some led rope lighting around the top of the walls in my 12x12ft game room, and possibly some on the ceiling. I seem to remember arcades having that. Maybe one multicolor band, or 2 different color bands. I can't find any pictures to give me some ideas though. I saw in Mamemaster Mitch's video on the homepage he had something like that. Anybody have any suggestions or pics to share?

I would mount them near the ceiling and put a crown style molding right under them to hide the rope itself.  The light looks good, but IMO exposed rope lighting looks bad.  I think the indirect method looks a lot nicer.  Just one idea.

I'm looking for some examples and ideas too for my new gameroom.  Haven't made any firm decisions on lighting yet.

Wade

[johnmax]

I think I might do some wacky zig-zag pattern on the ceiling. Kinda like the shape of the POW! bubble from the old batman tv show. That looks like what was in that video above. Looked ok.

[BobA]

You can get LED light ropes now.  They will last alot longer then regular light ropes and will use alot less power.

[FrizzleFried]

Wait for Christmas...save $$$!


You can get LED rope light of different colors for cheap during the holidays.  If you can wait until AFTER the holiday you get it even cheaper.


I plan on picking up blue LED rope light and run it around the top edge of where the wall meets the ceiling.  I like the idea of the crown molding though...it would give a nice "movie theater light" type glow.


You can even get "blacklight" rope light...I wonder if they have blacklight LED rope light?

[BobA]

That is a good idea.  Wait till after Chrismas but you only have boxing day to get it in most cases.

[saint]

You can even get "blacklight" rope light...I wonder if they have blacklight LED rope light?

Where? I've been looking for months. I've found two places that say they have it but they don't have it in stock and have no plans to restock...

[FrizzleFried]

You can even get "blacklight" rope light...I wonder if they have blacklight LED rope light?

Where? I've been looking for months. I've found two places that say they have it but they don't have it in stock and have no plans to restock...

http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/categorydetail.asp?CategoryID=603

2nd item down and in-stock.  Unfortunately they only have the black in 150ft spools and they are about double what I am going to get blue for.

[Level42]

I want this on/in my gameroom ceiling, especially above my Star Wars cockpit:

http://www.retrospieler.de/e-stars.html

[saint]

You can even get "blacklight" rope light...I wonder if they have blacklight LED rope light?

Where? I've been looking for months. I've found two places that say they have it but they don't have it in stock and have no plans to restock...

http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/categorydetail.asp?CategoryID=603

2nd item down and in-stock.  Unfortunately they only have the black in 150ft spools and they are about double what I am going to get blue for.

That's not blacklight - that's black rope light. No ultraviolet properties to it.

There's this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Lite-18-foot-Connectable-Indoor-Outdoor/dp/B000JN66WO/ref=sr_11_1/102-3114207-9829763?ie=UTF8&qid=1190555957&sr=11-1

but not in stock

[Level42]

I wonder how much "black light effect" you get from a rope like that compared to the usual TL's.....

[johnmax]

Well i went with the red and blue rope lighting on the ceiling, in kind of a wavy wacky pattern. Its a small room, so I couldnt figure out what to do. So I just started tacking it up and now its up there  . It looks ok.
 

[Level42]

I personaly would have painted the ceiling/walls in a dark color to get the real "arcade effect". Also, the ceiling seems a bit low for that rope light...on the other side, it's tacky enough to give the real arcade feeling

This is what I will be using..:
http://cgi.ebay.de/Sternenhimmel-mit-180x2m-Lichtfasern-LED-Design-Leuchte_W0QQitemZ180161393567QQihZ008QQcategoryZ39010QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Using just colors white and blue to keep a "realistic" star sky over the SW cockpit

[dstone]

I wonder how hard one of those would be to install.... I've been thinking about one of those fiber optic solutions for my home theater. Anyone dealt with these things before?

[Level42]

I don't think it's hard to install.
I do think it's a pain to install !

It will need to be installed on a panel/board. I guess MDF will do.
Lots and lots of drilling holes in various sizes. This particular  set has three different diameter sized fibers. This gives it a more "real" effect compared to one size of course.

Also gotta plan ahead. There is so many fibers and each needs a hole and you have to have a plan to get an even lay-out...
Also gotta mix the colors (if you get various colors). You glue the end of the fiber to the board. Looks like they offer special glue for it (spray).

Check this out:
http://www.retrospieler.de/e-stars.html