Using LED’s to light Model Train Layouts

[electrolove]

Why Switch to LED’s?

There are many reasons to switch to LED’s instead of regular incandescent lighting!

LED’s do not get hot like an incandescent, so you will not melt the roof of your
building or the housing of your train, water tower, model emergency vehicle or model airplane!

LED’s last and last!! Over 10 years (100,000 hours!) per light. So, you will not have to take apart your building locomotive, passenger car, model, or diorama to change out the lighting when it burns out! A standard incandescent bulb will last about 750 hours or so.

LED’s give a lot of light in a very small package.

LED’s are tough and durable. There is no filament to break, and the diode is encased in solid epoxy. You can use pliers to install these lights if you need to.

So my question is, have anyone used LED’s to light Model Train Layouts? I do not mean lights in houses and things like that. I mean to light the whole layout.

[CSXDixieLine]

There is a current thread on the ScaleRails website where a member is posting step-by-step photos of how he is installing his layout lighting using strips of LEDs. If you click the following link, scroll down the page about halfway:

http://www.scalerailsonline.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2210&whichpage=46

Also, here is the link to the website for his layout. There are several pictures where you can see the finished installation and also just how much light these put out:

http://www.bcrdawsonsub.ca/

I considered using these, but the cost is just too high. For my layout, I am using standard light sockets but with low wattage energy efficient twisty fluorescents. This solves the heat issue but not the dimming issue. The LED lighting would have cost me about $30 for a single 12 foot strip, while I can do the same 12 feet using the twisty lights for about $36. However, I believe you need multiple strips of LEDs to get the necessary brightness, so just two strips would bump the cost to $60. Jamie

[dinwitty]

I have walked into Lowes and theres a display of just 3 LED's, with a good incandescant color, and very bright, mostly as an undercounter light. Thats about right for my module situation.

I like the LED idea, because I want to have 24 day/night lighting, what holds me back as far as superbright led's go is they still dont have the brightness without using a ton of them, at least for now. The LED flashlights now use an array of OffWhite (they call it white) LED's. I need a daylight color. My plans are using a 12 volt incandescant lamps for daylight for now (them bright ones you know, the name eludes me), and an array of christmas lights setup for 12 volts for day cover and night. LED technology will improve for sure, I like whats happening.

 

 

[loathar]

If your using a 12v. power source, your still going to have the heat from the resistor which can be worse than the heat from an incandescent bulb.

I wish someone would make a 3mm incandescent white LED that didn't cost $1.50/each.

[cacole]

Two good sources of LEDs that are cheaper than most other dealers are

http://www.superbrightleds.com

http://www.moreleds.com

 

[Randall_Roberts]

The only argument I've heard for not using LEDs is that they "aren't prototypical".  To my way of thinking light is light.  The only un-prototypical thing about an LED is that it is either on or off, it doesn't have a decay time which makes it "fade out" when it's turned off.

If any of you remember the original "Battlestar Galactica" series (I've never seen the new one), you may remember that the Cylons' "eyes" were a red light that moved back and forth.  This was done with incandescents because LEDs didn't fade and the visual effect wasn't nearly so striking.  As a result, the belts that were part of the Cylon costumes were very heavy, because they were a series of large battery packs.

Imagine being the Cylon at the Universal Studios Theme Park and having to wear that thing on a summer's day in 100 degree heat. I had a friend who did that.

 

[Packers#1]

When it comes to lighting, I think i'll be using LEDs. Aren't they smaller than bulbs as well?

[UP Chayne]

i work for a sign company, and you would not believe the change that has taken place over just the last year.  so many people are going to LED signs.  getting rid of neon and fluoresent bulbs.  i have so many strips of LEDs that we take out of old signs, that i am trying to find a way to use them on my layout.  the problem i have it most of them are red or blue.

[loathar]

i work for a sign company, and you would not believe the change that has taken place over just the last year.  so many people are going to LED signs.  getting rid of neon and fluoresent bulbs.  i have so many strips of LEDs that we take out of old signs, that i am trying to find a way to use them on my layout.  the problem i have it most of them are red or blue.

I don't understand how they can sell colored LEDs for .07 cents, but true whites are still $1.50. I saw how these are made and it has to do with the distance between the elements, (anode/cathode??) and not the plastic housing color. Looked like it was the same manufacturing process for both.

[Artur]

What are you guys talking about LED's are cheep, in any colour. Right now on ebay you can get 120 3mm water clear bright white LED's for $4.50 you can find even better deals. LED's

[Randall_Roberts]

i work for a sign company, and you would not believe the change that has taken place over just the last year.  so many people are going to LED signs.  getting rid of neon and fluoresent bulbs.  i have so many strips of LEDs that we take out of old signs, that i am trying to find a way to use them on my layout.  the problem i have it most of them are red or blue.

I don't understand how they can sell colored LEDs for .07 cents, but true whites are still $1.50. I saw how these are made and it has to do with the distance between the elements, (anode/cathode??) and not the plastic housing color. Looked like it was the same manufacturing process for both.

Yes... if I recall correctly the anode/cathode junction determines the color.  What you have to remember is that white light is not a single color, it is the combination in equal parts of a set of colors, usually the primary colors red, green, and blue.  Therefore a "white" LED actually has to have three junctions tuned to combine properly. 

[loathar]

What are you guys talking about LED's are cheep, in any colour. Right now on ebay you can get 120 3mm water clear bright white LED's for $4.50 you can find even better deals. LED's

And I can almost guarantee you those are going to look blue and crappy. (right SteamFreak??)

[Artur]

Yes some of the bright white LED's have blue tint to them thats because they are blue LED's with a yellow lens which eliminates most of the blue light. Too get the real headlight or street lamp light effect you have to look for the golden white LED's. $6.35 for 50 you cant go wrong. I recently got them.

[loathar]

There are some called sunny white and incandescent white that look the best. THOSE are the $1.50/each ones. The places on E bay with those cheap deals are almost always in China and only take PayPal (which I don't have) or credit cards which I don't feel comfortable giving to someone in China. I know someone who ordered some of their "white" LEDs and they turned out to be blue.

I think the golden whites look as bad as the blue white. (I get pretty picky about light color)

[mbshaw]

I'm looking at using LED's as well to create lighting effects; i.e. rising/setting sun, dusk, night, etc. I know it can be done but will require a little...ok...a lot of work to program the lights.

If you've ever traveled through the airport at Detroit and had a chance to go through the tunnel all the lighting is done with LED's that are programmed. Granted that is on a greater scale but I know it can be done. 

Also, I know LED's are getting 'brighter'. I recently worked on a project where we installed LED's inpavement for aircraft navigation. Everything runs off a 12V transformer and is bright enough to be seen from well over half a mile to mile.

 

[stebbycentral]

I made one pass at LED's and found them to be unsatisfactory.  I use halogen puck lights set in a suspended ceiling about 4 ft over the layout surface as my primary means of lighting.  I only need a three light set to cover the entire layout.  When the primary power transformer on the light string went out last summer, I decided to try set of LED puck lights, as they were less expensive than a replacement transformer.  When I put the LEDs in place over the layout, I found that the diffused light of the halogens was replaced by a highly directional beam that only illuminated the layout in 3 spots directly under the light fixtures.  My son quipped that the UFO's had arrived.

Obviously the issue here was the type of LED set I had used.  Rope lights would have been more effective, but would have required that I install a valance to hide them.  So I went back to the halogens.