Do-It-Yourself Home Lighting Projects

How to Install Track Lighting
Learn how to install track lighting, which uses individual lamps and lighting heads that fit into tracks secured to your ceiling. The choices in lighting heads for track lighting range from small, unobtrusive can-shaped fixtures to large, high-tech lamps that lend drama to an interior space. Tips for installing track lighting include studying the layout of the room, and planning for the first section of installation. Making sure to shut off the circuit breaker is key, followed by removing the globe or diffuser and bulb from the existing ceiling fixture. Using a toggle-bolt-type hollow-wall fastener, the lengths of track are held to the ceiling. With all the tracks and connectors assembled and secured to the ceiling, it's time to attach the electrical wires that supply power to the system. By resuming power, you can check your work and make sure the lighting is functional. Photos make this track lighting installation website helpful.

Scene Lighting
With scene lighting, a single press of any X10 transmitter can prompt multiple scene-capable SwitchLincs, LampLincs, ToggleLincs or KeypadLincs w/Load Control to respond with an individual action. Typically these actions are to either turn the connected light on to the brightness level that you pre-determine (except fluorescent lights, which can't be dimmed), or to turn the light off entirely. In addition to controlling brightness level, each dimmer can respond with an individual ramp rate - the fade rate at which you want the light to turn on or off. Includes scene lighting options for emergency lighting, night lighting, dinner lighting, movie lighting and reading lighting.

Maxlite: A Comprehensive Online Shop for Environmentally Friendly Lighting
The leading global manufacturer and marketer of innovative energy efficient lighting solutions. The Maxlite homepage offers a comprehensive line of environmentally friendly lighting products. Distributing to the U.S. as well as internationally, Maxlite offers customers staple environmentally friendly products such as a wide selection of compact fluorescent lamps; linear fluorescent lamps and ballasts; and indoor and outdoor fixtures. In addition to these staple lighting products, Maxline also offers state-of-the-art environmentally friendly lighting options. Maxlite is partnered with government-backed Energy Star, an organization designed to promote environmentally friendly, energy efficient products. The website also includes an online form for immediate quotes on lighting projects.

Wiring and Case Diagrams
An interactive site where visitors can enter their lamp type, quantity and wattage and voltage to optain wiring and case diagrams. Site is home to the workhorse electronic ballasts information center.

Building a Light Saber
A website for Star Wars fans with an interest in bulding light sabers. This site contains instructions, drawings, photos, and parts lists for building your own light saber prop. It is not a working light saber, but more of a fun idea. The design developed contains, for the most part, parts that are very easy to find and quite inexpensive. Parts include a chrome tube or pipe, an extra canister vacuum cleaner attachment tube, a PVC coupler, high-density foam weather stripping, and latex paint.