Game Shelf Design

NESHomebrew

I've been designing a game shelf to display my cart only collection. They way I'm planning it will leave the labels of each game exposed. I intended on putting recessed lighting on the top of each shelf. This is where I run into the question. I haven't been collecting for very long and have no idea what type of light is bad for my games. I would hate to spend a bunch of money, and end up with a full collection of faded label carts.

I want the lights to be controllable via dimmer switch if that helps. I also want it to be a "warm" type of light. Does something like this exist that won't A) Overheat B)Fade my labels C)Look like a Ricers headlights.

arch_8ngel

I don't know that you'll find a dimmer-switch compatible light that won't get hot, since typically those just adjust the voltage available to a standard incandescent light.



They make the smaller fluorescent lights in a range of color temperatures, though, and they all run fairly cool, so you should be able to find one that isn't too harsh.



Then just wire up two sets of lights to fake a dimmer switch effect.


ETA:  then again, fluorescent lights emit UV, so that's probably bad in the long run.

Look into LED lights.  They tend to cost a lot more, but they're becoming popular for under-cabinet lighting for kitchens, and there may be something that would work for you.

dangevin

^ Agreed. I've run LED lights through my glass hutch to replace the old incandescent that was prone to burn out (and expensive to replace, long thin tube). They're whiter, brighter, use less power and are stone cold to the touch.



For your shelves, it would be very easy to buy a few strings, run a router along the bottom of each shelf to give them a groove to sit in, and put the wiring out the back to connect them all to the outlet.



You could even use strings of Xmas lights, Philips mass-produced them last year in a small-bulb form that's perfect. You can butcher the strings if you need to get the perfect length for each shelf, reconnect them out the back to the power cord and you should be good to go. I'm no electrical engineer but it should work fine.

CrashMan

Absolutely, LEDs, they run cool, and are energy efficient for you green nuts out there

NESHomebrew

Yeah, I was thinking LED was the way to go.  I wasn't sure if it gave off UV or other and other harmful light.  I've looked into it a bit, and you CAN buy led dimmer switches but you need to buy the correct LEDs, which seem rediculously expensive.

I was hoping to use something like this.

NESMASTER14

I use these:

I stick it right on the top of my shelf and I can adjust which way the light goes. The little part where you see 2 things close together is a touch switch to turn on/off. I got these at Walmart for like 8 bucks. They run off AAA batteries.

BTW, here's what my shelf looks like ( however, I removed all the individual shelves to fit most of my NES games, stacked vertically). I slapped 2 of those DOT-IT lights on the top of each side. Works pretty well.