Backlit onyx and marble: lighting stone evenly with flexible LED sheets

Onyx, marble and other translucent stone glow when they are lit from behind, but how evenly depends on the light source. LED strips run in rows, so backlit onyx or backlit marble can show those rows as bright lines with darker bands between them. A flexible LED sheet puts its LEDs on a regular grid across the whole area, so the stone lights as one even surface.

What is a flexible LED sheet (LED panel)?

A flexible LED sheet, also called a flexible LED panel or LED light sheet, is a thin flexible PCB with LEDs on a regular grid. It is cut to size and fixed behind a translucent surface such as onyx, marble, acrylic or fabric. It is not a ceiling LED panel light, which is a rigid luminaire with its own frame and diffuser.

Artcolor's flexible LED sheets come in sixteen AC models and five groups: single colour, tunable white, RGB / RGBW / RGBCCT, addressable pixel and 10 m rolls. They:

• come in three formats: 250 × 250 mm tiles, 490–610 mm sheets and 10 m × 240 mm rolls;
• cut along marked lines, in units from 20.4 mm to 125 mm by model;
• bend and fold over curved surfaces and round edges, fixed with their adhesive backing or with screws;
• join without soldering, through on-board connectors and the supplied leads.

Which sheet for onyx, marble or other stone?

For white light, choose a high-CRI white sheet; for colour, an RGBW or RGBCCT sheet.

RGBW adds one white channel to red, green and blue; RGBCCT adds warm and cool white, so the white can be tuned as well as the colour. RGB, RGBW or RGB+CCT explains the choice.

Whichever model you choose, the stone decides the result. Its thickness and translucency decide the LED density and the depth you need, so test a sample behind the actual stone before the layout is fixed.

How do you plan and power a backlit stone wall or counter?

1. Plan the cuts and the feeds together. Every separate piece needs its own feed from the supplied leads, so draw the cut layout and the cable entries before cutting.
2. Match the driver to the sheet. The sheets run on 24 V DC from a constant-voltage driver, except the AC-0317 addressable tile on 12 V; the AC-0287 is made in either. Current follows from power and voltage (I = P/V): the 28 W AC-0287 draws 2.33 A at 12 V and half that at 24 V.
3. Count whole sheets. Power is stated per sheet. Load a driver to about 80 % of its rating: a MEAN WELL LRS-350-24 then runs ten AC-0287 sheets or seven AC-0294 sheets. A 10 m AC-2102 roll draws 480 W; one LRS-350-24 at 80 % load runs up to 5.8 m of it, so feed the roll in two sections, each from its own driver.
4. Keep the depth even. The supplied silicone bumpers keep a set distance from the surface in front.
5. Pick the IP version. The sheets are IP20, with IP54 versions of most models (not the AC-0315 or the 10 m rolls). What counts on site is the rating of the finished wall or counter, not the bare sheet, and IP is not a rating for impact (IK) or UV.

What to send for a layout

For a layout by the sheet, send us the lit area (size and shape), the stone and its thickness, the light you want (one white and its CCT, tunable white or colour) and the quantity, for a quote and samples. Sheet size, LED density, CCT, voltage, cable exits and packaging can also be made to order for OEM and project quantities.

Request a quote, or browse the flexible LED sheets.