Lighting and knowing what works best with what, (ie: watts, ohms, volts, ect ) has never been my strong suit. So my question is what works best for lighting layout buildings, as well as street lamps? The old - grain of wheat OR the newer LED lighting? And then what voltage 6v or 12v for the grain of wheat or 12v or 16v for the LED. And there are probably others. – thanks –
What era are you modeling? The light from LEDs is different from that of incandescent bulbs. The harsh reality of modern life is better modeled with LEDs, while the kinder, gentler nature of the Transition and Steam eras is better suited to incandescents.
I use 16-volt incandescent bulbs for all my structure lighting. The Walthers streetlamps I use in abundance also run at 16 volts. However, I run them at 12 volts, because i prefer the softer, warmer glow of the under-driven bulbs, and they also last much longer. I’ve bought a couple of hefty 4-amp, 12-volt power supplies for this, and I may need more. The power requirements of these bulbs, about 30 milliamps per bulb, add up. LEDs, on the other hand, draw almost no power at all and you can put a lot more on a string before you have to worry about current draw.
I think using LEDs for buildings and structures is too much of a hassle.
I just use the miniatronics buibs. I string them together in series. And then hook them up to my basic DC controller to and able to dim them.
The white 1.5v ones here: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/475-CL01301
The information so far has been wonderful. I did forget to mention that the era is Colorado (late 1920’s - early 1930’s). With steam locomotives.
I’ve recently started using Evans Designs “Universal” LEDs. They make a couple of different sizes. They’re a bit pricey (five for $15 list price) but come with diodes or resistors or whatever already connected, so you can use them with AC or DC up to 19 volts. In a couple of spots on my layout where I wanted to light a building, I just connected the LED to DCC track power and it works fine.
Indeed, they have a diode and resistor already attached. It really is worthwhile to learn to solder - for $15 you can probably get 100 LEDs and resistors and solder them yourself. If you use a DC power supply the extra diode isn’t needed.
–Randy
The LION uses ONLY LEDs. They have warn white ones now too. If that is not warm enough a dab oy yellow paint will do the trick. LION buys them as Christmas sets, so he can only get them once a year.
Him buys resistors by the thousand, and uses lots of them. A 300’ long subway platform can cure eat up a lot of lights. LION has 45 platform edges on his layout, plus buildings and other lights. When I am done, there should be no need for room lights.
Much cheaper than incandescent.
ROAR
One more question!! The street lamps I am interested in come in 6v, but they will include a 12v (82 ohm) resistor or 16v (150 ohm) resistor with each 6volt lamp post. DOES THAT SOUND WORKABLE ?
I also found some 12v grain of wheat lights for the structures. ANY ADVISE ?
6 volt lamps… No problem, just wire three of them in series on a 12 v circuit. That will under power them slightly which should be nice.
ROAR
I agree. The resistors add power-wasting components to the circuit, so you’ll need a bigger power supply (assuming you have a lot of these) and you’ll be soldering more connections.
Test the various combinations, though, and make sure you’re happy with the amount of light you get. Try them in the dark, too, and see how much light they throw around. For your era, I think having the lights kind of dim, creating a small pool of light on otherwise dark streets, is probably going to be more effective.
12-volt bulbs are fine in themselves, but once again I’d under-drive them at 9 or 10 volts.
Sometimes your supply has too much voltage for the lamp but too little for lamps in series.
Instead of resistors there is a simpler solution requiring little calculation but some knowledge of electronics: Zener diode.
I use Walthers Cornerstone streetlights. I watch for them to come on sale, but they’re still kind of pricey, and the bulbs are not replaceable. So, running them well below their rated voltage is a way to extend their life so they don’t have to be replaced. I also run a separate lighting bus for just my streetlights, so I can have structure lights without running those expensive streetlights except for showing off.
I say this because 6-volt bulbs aren’t common, even if your streetlights have replaceable bulbs. With reasonable precautions, though, they can last a long time.
If anyone would care to look: the 12 volt grain of wheat lights are on E-bay #150616573081 and the street lamps are a 6 volt on E-bay #400110157892. But also you are saying that an LED (a softer LED) would hardly draw any voltage. What size of an LED would you recommend?