FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[James Catmur]

I just thought I would let eveyone know about a new system of LED lighting that is now being sold in the UK. It is fantastic, in my humble opinion. The LEDs are on PCB strips that you attach to metal bars that you then fit to your shelves and they give a very pure white light and lots of sparkle. The system was designed for collectors so as to give true color to collectables.

I have just done a trial in one of my cabinets and am very impressed, so will be fitting out the rest of my cabinets. The company selling them is called CMCIT ( https://cmcit.co.uk/business/led-display-lighting/ ). They are not cheap but given the value of our specimens it is well worth our while displaying them as well as we can. In the end I bought most of the components from a local retailor but used their LED light engines and metal strips (but I figure that you could use any system you like as you just attach the LEDs with double sided tape).

The wonderful thing is that each LED light engine is only 3W so you are getting rid of all that heat in you cabinet.

James

[jorge santos garcia]

You can find it at IKEA stores. I've one myself I bought there, for € 35,00 to 40,00, if I'm not wrong.

Cheers

Jorge

[Paul S]

Thanks for the IKEA tip, I checked their website and the Dutch IKEA sells 4 strips, 25cm in length, for €29,95. They can be found in the 'integrated lighting' section.

The color of the LEDs is 3000 Kelvin, how does this compare to the system from CMCIT? 3000 Kelvin is a bit on the white side maybe, but good enough for this price I think.

I will keep this in mind for when I will purchase some proper cabinets.

[James Catmur]

Paul

I asked them for some further information and this was their reply:

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We tested the IKEA lights. They were between a quarter and a half the light output so look dim in comparison to our lights. So one would need at least two to three times as many LEDs to illuminate to the same level. (one of our light engine strips = 200lumens). However the big problem was their colour temperature as it is too warm. Our units are 3500K whereas IKEAs are 3000K so slightly too warm.

Cool white 4100K, Bright white 5000K and Daylight White 6500K are all too blue compared to our strip at 3500K, researched by comparison over the last year. 3000K (the Ikea temperature) is too warm so it is quite critical to get the right temperature. The only time one really sees this difference between the different LED is by direct comparison side by side in a darkened room.

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I hope this helps. I would agree that their strips are bright and the color looks very good to me.

James

[Jason]

sweet..thanks for the heads up..i am always on the lookout for as much variety of lighting as i can find..K temp is very very very important..shooting gemstones a lot i need as close to best color as possible..soundsa like the K is a little to low on these for me..I have been having to use a mix of Ott's and my 4700K together..the 4700 to add that crucial bit of yellow back that the ott's take away with the more blue..thanks anyways..much appreciated..will still go che check them out

[Jack Thurber]

Thanks for posting this.

Do you know the CRI? That's been important to me but perhaps there are more important properties.

I'll have to check this system out since I'd rather use what's perceived as a true white than anything else. Currently the light in my cabinet is 5500 K, which is what I use from the daylight range.

[James Catmur]

Jack

Sadly I am not an expert in this - I can but ask them!

James

[James Catmur]

Jack

The answer I got is:

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The CRI (Colour Rendition Index) of the LED light engine strip is 90. This is a very high value and surpasses other LED suppliers. The CRI was obviously part of our lengthy one year's research and is a very important factor, as is the colour temperature of the LED strip.

p.s. there are 4 YouTube video clips showing components and colour temperature comparisons, go on YouTube and search for CMCITCO

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I hope this information helps you. As I said in my initial post I really like these for both their intensity and color rendition and have found them to be great. I guess I should take some photos using them to show the color rendition they give.

James

[Jack Thurber]

Thanks so much for getting this information. I know little about white LEDs and I'm surprised the number is that high.

When time allows I'll check out the videos and product page. What you've described sounds excellent.

[rocknut]

What is the ideal color temperature for minerals and does it matter if LED or Halogen?
I may use Solux Halogen along with LEDs and I thought something close to daylight color was best. However lately I've gotten recommendations for 3500.
Solux has 3500, 4700, and 5000.

Don't know if it matters but my collection leans towards green, blue, and red (rhodochrosite). Thanks

[James Catmur]

I am no expert on the perfect temperature but I really like this system of LEDs - they are really bright and to my eyes (for my rocks - lots of fluorite) have a great color and lots of 'twinkle'. I find them far better than the hologens they have replaced. But in the end there is never a perfect solution and even I still use some of the old additional external hologen lights at the moment (although I may remove them in the future). The fact that they add almost no heat to the case is great as some of the fluorite is very heat sensitive.

James

[rocknut]

That's very helpful.

Maybe I should just switch to LED. Do the strips go in front of the shelves?
Can you backlight with them?

Thanks, Jeff

[James Catmur]

These ones can be attached to strips on the front of glass shelves and you could backlight with them I guess. Check out the web site to get some better ideas (I just use them, I do not market them!)

James