LED bulbs for Williams Trains

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

I searched the internet for BA9 LED bulbs to replace the original lamps in my Williams 027 Passenger cars. After reading that bulbs could be found for less than Scott’s Odds N Ends sells them for I came upon a site superbrightleds.com and ordered their White wide angle and White focused bulbs in 12 vac/dc @ 1.98 ea.
After installation, I found that these bulbs are not bright enough to even equal the illumination of the original bulbs. The company has a 30 day money back return policy, so I’m only out the cost of shipping both ways. I just thought I’d tell everyone my experience so they didn’t waste their time or money ordering
the White LEDS. I’m told what I really need is super white bulbs, and I’ll continue to look for them.

2

These LEDs aren’t too hard to find. They are used in cars for turn signals (indicators), dashboards, tail lights, etc.

Try this site for super white:
http://autolumination.com/otherleds.htm

What I am curious about is the different in the luminosity between the OEM incandescent bulbs in trains and switches, and the LEDs. I haven’t been able to find luminosity of the standard incandescent bulbs in trains and switches.

3

I also found the Autoilumination site, but ordered from superbrightled because the bulbs were a dollar cheaper. I’ve already placed an order with autoilumination and will report back when the bulbs arrive.

4

The brightness concept with LEDs has had me puzzled for a while. Here is my understanding of LED brightness versus incandescent bulb brightness. Please correct anything that is not accurate.

LED luminosity is measured in something called “mCD” – millicandelas.

The incandescent bulbs in O22 switches and various accessories, etc. are measured in “MSCP” – mean spherical candle power.

From what I understand:

  • The two measurements can not be converted exactly from one to another because of how they are figured/measured, but there are ways to arrive at a rough number for comparisons.

  • Millicandelas are a measurement of the amount of light falling on a specific area (such as an area of 4 degrees).

  • Mean Spherical Candle Power is measurement of light as it radiates in sphere all directions.

  • a filament lamp may have more overall light output, but an LED concentrates its light output in a very narrow angle/field which makes a more intense light.

Using the LEDs sold on SuperBrightLEDs.com I tried to get an idea of the light output in Lumens:

White LED:

  • Luminosity = 11,200 mCD
  • Angle = 22 degrees

Lumens = 1.293 (using the calculator found here: http://led.linear1.org/lumen.wiz)

1445 Incandescent bulb:

  • MSCP = 3.50

Lumens = 43.995 (based upon the formula MSCP * 12.57 = Lumens found at various places by searching for “MSCP Lumen conversion”)

The LED may be dimmer in terms of overall lumens, but the light from the LED is concentrated in one spot, so all of the lumens caluclated are all falling within that narrow field; whereas the light from the incandescent bulb spreads in a sphere pattern so the lumens are greatly dispersed.

This difference makes more sense if we calculate the lumens of the wide angle LED that uses an inverted lens as opposed to the focused beam lens. The inve