Chromotherapy lights are worth the investment? - Tub and shower lighting

[johnfrwhipple]

I was working late last night on a great project and had the chance to get some great photo's at night. I turned off the lights to this bathroom and snapped some pictures of the tub's Chromotherapy LED lighting. This morning me and my girls where doing crafts and paperwork and both my wife and eldest daughter where drooling over the LED tub.

My wife and daughter each picked a different colour when I asked them their favourite. Both of them suffer on occassions from bad migraine headaches. My wife likes the colour turquoise colours and my daughter the colours with more of a purple hue.




What colour would you set for a head ache?

What colour would you pick to just relax?

This lighting is only the tip of the iceberg and on this job we will have glowing shelves and a custom RGB light feature. I can only imagine what the neighbors will think seeing all these custom colours glowing out of this Vancouver Condo.

[hj]

I asume you also have had a Feng Shui expert come in and adjust all the rooms for the proper orientation with your auras.

[johnfrwhipple]

I asume you also have had a Feng Shui expert come in and adjust all the rooms for the proper orientation with your auras.

Didn't think of that! What does that cost? lol

I read today that the Egyptian Priests where doing light therapy back in the days of pharaohs. A couple of web sites are talking about chromotherapy as home treatment for migraines. I didn't think about this until my wife saw my pictures and commented on how nice that tub would be when she has a migraine.

This web site has a good reference list for the colours and what they can be used for.


Here is a link that outlines what the different colours do in the way of healing.

http://www.alternatherapie.net/us/chromotherapie.htm

JW

[johnfrwhipple]

We hooked up the custom ceiling lighting in this bathroom the other day and the effects are amazing. Here is a peak.




The colours do not come out that well on my IPhone but I tweaked the colour in the editing software to try and show how intense they really are.

We are going to try a proper camera with a tripod once we rap this project up.


We built this lighting system with a large heat sink, three strips of RGB LED's wired in series.


The RGB Controller has a remote that is pretty slick. My client ordered the materials and designed the system with many parts from Environmental Lights.


JW

[johnfrwhipple]

I have been installing these LED's for many years and one thing that most people do not consider is the heat output from them. This heat needs to be dissapated and a heat sink (something that conducts heat easily) is required for a long term successful install.

I used these brass metal strips (3" x 60") to attach three strips of LED's. I find that the lights should be about 2" from the back side of the light diffuser (white laminate glass).



You can see the LED's attached to the heat sink.

This diffuser is undersized but used to check that we have the system set right.



This is simply a 1/4" white laminate glass. I have it slotted into a 1/2" channel in the ceiling. A little silicone will attach this to the channel and I'll use a series of tiny suction cups to pull the glass into the slot. After the glass is installed I'll trim the face with another drywall detail and prime and paint away.




The colour choices are endless.....

JW

[johnfrwhipple]

Check out the options in this RGB remote control Chromotherapy driver.



JW

[johnfrwhipple]

I found some more blog posts on Chromotherapy and Migraine treatment here

http://talkspas.com/2012/10/08/chrom...ealing-colors/

JW

[johnfrwhipple]

I was in picking up a new system yesterday and speaking to my low voltage LED guru. We discussed my current job and my new one coming up and I showed him the controller we used. He trumped that remote with a WiFi version on his smart phone (IPhone).

Apparently the App is free and with your phone's WiFi you can change the colour of your chromotherapy lighting system.

So cool. I ordered one for my place and hopefully will surprise my girls for Christmas!



JW

[clapfc]

Love the LED light. You are giving me ideas...now, how to incorporate in my design

[johnfrwhipple]

Love the LED light. You are giving me ideas...now, how to incorporate in my design

With any bathroom renovation is is key to start with a tile layout before you even start building or rebuilding the room. The tile layout can help with lighting layout by defining some fixed points in the room.

Last night I helped a friend out with his LED lighting system and wow what an effect.



My Buddies place looking from the backyard up to the bathroom window. Directly behind this window is the tub. My buddies place looks out onto a green belt so I suggested we replace the frosted privacy glass for clear glass. After last night I'm so glad we did because the look is epic from the back forty!

I love this lighting. It's Green technology and adds so much to these bathrooms.

The lighting does not need to stay in the bathroom only. Here is a peak at my book keepers pad. I made a few sid lit shelfs for her.



JW

[big2bird]

No disco ball?

[johnfrwhipple]

No disco ball?

Hmmm.

Never suggested that! I'll bring it up today.

That might be the missing piece to this bathroom.....


Here in the video below you can see another option in Chromotheraphy Design. I built four perfectly square niche boxes 30cm x 30cm x 15cm and each will be lit by a 10 watt halogen puck light from above. The look is great and another way of casting some great colour into the room.



JW

[johnfrwhipple]

We are going to side lit this shower's 4' Glass Panel with a strip of LED RGB's. Waterproofing the system is a tricky step and there is no direction from either the TCNA or TTMAC on how it should be done.

I spoke with the head of the TTMAC last week and discussed this point. I was told that the process of getting a specification takes five years and requirs the manufactures of the products to print of manuals and play by plays.

I do not see this happening in the near future so any of these Choromotherapy installs will be outside the box.

Here is a look at my process. Remember this is not approved by Ardex, Schluter or the LED lighting company. It is however "Way Cool" and approved by both me and my buddy. I can not wait to get the glass installed!

[johnfrwhipple]

So I used Ardex 8+9 as my primary waterproofing membrane on the walls. I then applied a 2" strip of KErdi Band to the Ardex 8+9 with 8+9. To that I used Kerdi Fix to stick the heat sink to the Kerdi Band.

The LED lights have a double sided tape that was attached to the sanded heat sink.

Then the LED lights where covered by a diffuser that I brace with plywood scraps. I Kerdi Fixed the one side and will do the other on the next visit.

The tile will sandwich this assembly and then the glass will be installed against the diffuser. If all goes well the glass panel will glow a little and the edges will produce a strong colour.

I have never tried this on such a large scale and hope that the light can travel through 48" of material.

Finger's crossed!!!

JW

[johnfrwhipple]

I used an off cut of white laminated glass to prepare the right side of this Chromotherapy Shower Niche I'm building. The glass was installed with Kerdi Fix and then Braced with some blocks from the back side. I later tied the Ardex 8+9 over the glass on the front side and used more Kerdi fix on the back side.



You can see the brass coloured diffusers in this picture. This niche has 5 - 30" LED lights.







Ideally there would be no cut in the the glass or seam. The plan is to have a couple small shelfs on that side as well so we will place one over this seam and then complete the waterproofing process.

Looking good!

JW