mounting LED lights problem ... too close to plastic light diffuser sheet

[unclet]

I have some blue LED lights I purchased from GGG and I am trying to figure out the best way to mount them.    I have some holes in my cabinet where I want the blue LED light to shine through.  I placed some white light diffuser plastic over the holes and planned on simply shining the LED light into it from behind.   However, the LED lights are about 3/4" away from the light diffuser plastic material and does not result in the light being diffused evenly that much.   If I shine the LED light at a 90 degree angle from the white plastic then I see a round "hot-spot" of light instead of it being diffused at all, this is why I tried angling it .... which helped a bit, but still not very much.

My clear problem is that I am trying to mount the LED lights about 3/4" from the diffuser plastic material.  If I simply mount the LED lights from about 5" away from the plastic then everything looks great.   However, I do not have enough room to mount the LED lights about 5" away in my cabinet .... there is no real free room in there for this type of mounting.

My question is ...... does anything exist which I can place directly over the LED light which will really make the light diffuse in all directions ... perhaps a "cap" or something which can be placed over the LED light?    If I could diffuse the light more coming directly from the LED light, then I might have a better time at this .....

Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Hope this made sense .....

[waveryder]

if you use wideangle leds you can simply sand the top with some light sand paper to reduce your hotspot. If your using standard leds try cutting the curve flat with a hot stanley knife (be careful) and then sand. This will reduce your hotspots.

[unclet]

I am using wide angled LED lights ...... sanding sounds like a perfect solution.   What grit sandpaper shall I use .... or does it matter ..... perhaps just scratching it up a bit with any sandpaper will work fine?


BTW  very nice cabinet and artwork .....   

[waveryder]

Cheers
I used the finest sandpaper that I had lying around, just some left overs from sanding my living room doors down. I just scratched up the surface enough for it to look "foggy" to the naked eye. Its a popular case modder technique, if you google i"diffuse LED" your bound to find someone claiming to be an expert that could give you the exact grade. I just sand to it looks like enough 

[unclet]

Ok, thanks ....

Oh yeah  ..... you mentioned you used "bullet plugs" to attach the LED lights.   What are these exactly (picture perhaps)?   Do they allow the LED light to be removed and reinserted in case you need to change one out perhaps?  Are these the "real name" of this item?  Where can I get some?

[waveryder]

Thats exactly what I used em for. problem with the LED's I bought is that although they are cheap, it seems that some were a little brighter than others. I wanted to be able to quickly pop one out and change it without messing about too much with BGB's wiring so I used these bullet plugs and connectors (real name)



I got mine from maplins, but any place like Tandy (are they still in bussiness?) or radioshack should have 'em.

[unclet]

Sorry for my ignorance here .... but how do you connect a LED light to one of those things?   Where do the two wires (positive and negative wires) from the LED light go?

[waveryder]

Use 2, one for the + and one for the -. Wire and add the appropriate resistor then just crimp the end. They are as cheap as quick connects, although much smaller, making them perfect for LED's. If one LED needs replacing just disconnect the 2 connects and replace it.

[unclet]

Ahh .... these are like quick disconnects where you crimp the ends ... that was not obvious to me based on the shape/look.    Ok, makes sense to me now ... thanks.

[kegger]

I used this connector for mine and it lets you disconnect them at any time, see pic.


Here is a similar connector from Mouser made by Amp

Mouser Part# 571-15860002 Housing
Mouser Part# 571-15863151 Contacts

You would have to crimp the wire on and then slide it into the housing