Joe Fugate, in his article on layout lighting, recommends using one 25 watt incandescent bulb every two feet behind a valance for scenery that is two feet deep. One typical 25 watt bulb puts out 170 lumens. So that works out to 85 lumens per linear foot of layout.
I’ve found that the newer generation white LED’s put out around 3.5 to 4.0 lumens while the older technology puts out about half the light. That means with the older LED technology, about 48 LEDs per foot are required and with the newer technology about 24 LEDs per foot are required to get 85 lumens per foot.
LEDtronics sells rectangular rope light with 24 white LEDs per foot for $11.80 per foot and round rope lights with 12 LEDs per foot for $5.46 per foot. If the LEDs are the newer technology and the LEDs are wide angle, then one of the rectagular rope lights (or two of the round rope lights) should give lighting equivelent to 25 watt incandescent bulbs every two feet. Considering the low profile, the life of the bulbs, and the fact that LEDs generate very little heat; this option may be a cost effective way to light a valanced layout.
Does anyone have experience using LED rope lighting on a layout?
I’d be very interested in hearing from someone who has tried the new 85 lumens LED strings. I can envision regular light bulbs going the way of the dinosaur in time, now that bright white LEDs have come on the scene. That certainly seems to be happening in the automotive world – LED headlights, tail lights, you name it.
I have a 10" wide upper shelf over my yard that casts a shadow. I happened to have a 12’-15’ string of white LED rope light that I tried under it. It does help with the shadow, but the light is somewhat different than the ambient light in the room. I still use it as it helps the eyes see what is there easier.
Don’t know about the LED lighting, but I recently saw some modules and layouts lighted with the screw-in corkscrew fluorescent lights. No heat, more light than equivalent incandescent bulbs, low wattage. Worth a look.
I saw this company that states each LED bulb puts out 80 lumens. Can LED’s really put out 80 lumens with just 0.067 watts per bulb? I have been reading that LED technology was just getting to the point of putting out 80 to 100 lumens per watt. I wonder if that is what they meant. That would be 5.36 lumens per bulb and seems more feasible.
Are those led rope lights a little bluish? The leds I’ve seen in little battery powered flashlight type rigs are bright enough but quite blue. Sounds like a cool way to go. I’d wondered about using strings of those holiday type rope lights for illumination.
Those corkscrew floresents work great in track lighting, with a 20amp circuit you can get at least 80 100 watt eqivalent bulbs, that is a lot of light!!!
For me, I’m making a multi-deck no-lix layout. Thus in order to keep the grade to a minimum, the spacing between the top of the rails from deck to deck is nominally 14 inches. I obviously want to keep each deck as thin as possible. That is why the rope lighting is very attractive. LED rope lighting is more attractive because of its low power consumption, little heat generation, and dimmability.
I had a double run of the old style lights and took them out. Were not bright enough and the color was off so I went to 15 and 20 watt clear bulbs and am very happy.
For about $50, you get four 12" strips containing a row of white LEDs, each of which have a separate power cord and can be hung independently. I’m not sure how much light they put out, but one could feasibly use these strips to very nicely illuminate a small layout, or have several modules in place in a row for a longer run.
I am using three strands of the blue colored rope lights, tucked strategically along my ceiling rafters, to create night effects. My layout is mostly snow covered with ceramic buildings with snow on the rooved. The even blue luminescence creates a believable moonlight effect.
The Model RR club I’m in uses white Rope Lights in our staging yards and the covered helixs and they do very well, I was going to use this before I switched Scales and layouts.