passenger car lighting with led's

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Lighting with led’s. Since they only really project light forward from the tip, how do I get them to radiate light to the whole the interior space?

2

  1. LEDS (USE MORE OF THEM).

  2. One should not see ‘lighted’ cars in the daytime - only when it’s dark.

3

This thread would be better in the Electronics an DCC section. Ideas. Use LEDs. no heat.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&catref=C6&from=R10&submitsearch=Search&satitle=led+strip&sacat=19128%26catref%3DC6&floc=1&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D1&sadis=200&fpos=ZIP%2FPostal&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1&fsoo=1

http://www.trainaidsa.com/

This guy has free shipping over $50.00.

http://litchfieldstation.com/xcart/home.php?cat=22

http://www.awrr.com/lighting.html

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/nswmn/dcc_articles.htm

Rich

4

Quick answer - Rapido’s Easy Peasy Lighting kits - long answer - build your own & get the info at the DCC and Electronics Forum!![:)]

5

For do-it-yourself, the November 2007 RMC had an article “Lighting Passenger Cars with Surface Mount LED’s” mounted on on strip board. They point down, so the light goes where you want it instead of to the side. They are small, and need careful soldering.

6

Definitely use surface mounts.

I use 1206 Super Bright White LEDs. They give off a bluish white light and look just like fluorescent lighting. The direction of light is also perfect for passenger car lighting…just aim them down.

You can get them really cheap on eBay. Here’s 50 for only $6 (eBay LEDs) I think they may even be cheaper, I just linked on the first auction I found.

They are very very small. So they work great in HO cars. But you have to be careful when soldering. Do it fast and keep the heat down. Avoid touching any part (other then the super tiny solder pads) of the LED with heat.

7

Thanks for the info. I tried the electronics and DCC section but all I found was data on circuits for operating the lights. I will check out the surface mount ones.

PHILLUPS

8

DCFixer did a beautiful job on his UP passenger equipment. His thread is still floating on one of these front pages. Check it out and/or send him a message in his pm box. Very helpful gentleman.[4:-)][tup]

If this helps on illumination…

Hobby Town, and probably some other LHS’s that carry RC Airplanes, sells mirror chrome stickers that are 5 inches wide by 3 feet in length. Simple matter of cutting a 1" x 9" strip and applying it to the ceiling of the passenger car.

Neat aspect to this is that the light diffusion will be increased, even if the lights are not aimed directly at the ceiling. I’ll be using this on my passenger cars when I finish with the metalizing and weathering.