Hi everyone.
So for halloween I am going be oscar the grouch and I want to have some fun electronics to go with. I have a trash can that has 5 inches of clearence per side and will use a backpack to help carry the weight. I want to have two lighting effects. 1 is a rgb controller powered by and arduino and transistors. The other is some 12v cold cathods I have. My question for now is how far away should the leds be from the can to have a cool lighting effect. I will post more when I get home from work but this is my firsr question for now. Thanks

 

It depends on the LEDs light dispersion angle

 

Ok sorry I am at home now and can elaborate more on things. The LEDS are 8000 mcd and have 30 degree viewing angle. I was originally going to just mount them on the rim pointing up but then I realized how dumb that would be because they would just point to the ceiling and wouldnt light the can up at all. Thats why I am wondering about optimal lighting distance.

 

What do U mean by lighting the can

 

Ok sorry I am at home now and can elaborate more on things. The LEDS are 8000 mcd and have 30 degree viewing angle. I was originally going to just mount them on the rim pointing up but then I realized how dumb that would be because they would just point to the ceiling and wouldnt light the can up at all. Thats why I am wondering about optimal lighting distance.

LEDs are much better as "be-seen" lights than for providing indirect illumination. I'm not saying you can't do what you want, just that an LED pointed at the viewer can look incredibly bright whereas a single LED doesn't make for much of a flashlight.