Alan,
Thanks for the details and comments! The blue LED rope lights were where this edition of lighting started. Before that, I installed under-cabinet thin tube florescent to light my brief stretch of double-decking's lower deck. Very clunky but looks good.
Depending on one's budget, it's just a great thing there are lots of really good, affordable options available now with LEDs. If that was the case 20 years ago, my layout would've probably been all double deck. Mountains wouldn't have been so high, though, and I'm generally happy with my no-lix design. Probably won't be a do-over unless there's a move in the future and I'm doing my best to stay put. But it'd definitely be double-deck all the way now that we can light both decks so easily with LEDs.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Mike,
The 3.5A @12v draw is the LEDs themselves. Measured at the connection to the strip. I am using switching power supplies which are more efficient than conventional iron transformers. I believe the reason why 5M is the maximum run between connections is due to the conductor size on the strips themselves. Every 12v strip I have seen has the same limitation.
Your blue LEDs make a terrific night scene.
Alan
Freelancing the LK&O Railroad
Wow, those things are pretty impressive. I've heard people discussing them, just never bothered to look them up before. The price is pretty agreeable also.
The only thing that's a bit of a bummer is the amp draw. It's a transformer, so my guess is that a lot of that is heat and not the load on it. Can these strings be connected so that a larger more efficient transformer could be substituted or are they limited to 5m at a shot? That might help with overall amp draw.
I thought I'd mention an alternative, which may work for some. I recently installed some line voltage LED strips, The write-up is in this thread:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/213765.aspx?sort=ASC&pi314=2
They replace many of the Halogens-from-Heck I previously used, so a big consideration given the heat they used to put off was getting things cooler. Doesn't help that my ceiling is only 6'6". The ones I used are Meridian brand, got them from the local big box, ~$40 for 12', $20 for 6'. They operate on 120V, thus the "line voltage" in the name I guess. The lack of the transformer really drops the amp draw. 12 feet draws 9.6 watts, so it's like .08 amps. Total connected length can be as much as 192 feet, so simple to supply and switch power to them. Here are a couple of pics.
Silverton, currently lit with one pass through as part of a 48' string.
Rockwood, has two 12' light strips Obviously, one advantage to the 12 volt 5050s is that if cut through with a saw or drill, they won't shock you like the lights strips I'm using would. They're basically a flat cable, so probably also a little more difficult to point exactly right, but I have my methods. Anyway, yours is an impressive installation. Looking forward to seeing trains cover that sweet looking benchwork.
Rockwood, has two 12' light strips
Obviously, one advantage to the 12 volt 5050s is that if cut through with a saw or drill, they won't shock you like the lights strips I'm using would. They're basically a flat cable, so probably also a little more difficult to point exactly right, but I have my methods.
Anyway, yours is an impressive installation. Looking forward to seeing trains cover that sweet looking benchwork.
I'm not so confused by the disparity in prices as the difference in the lighting itself. Micro mark has Bright White and Warm White listed. Both show SMD5050 LEDs. What's the difference then? What would be best to represent the cool blue I've previously used as fluorescent tubes for Appalachian modeling? Can the LED strips be used by them selves for lighting the layout? Do you have to supplement the LEDs with the CFLs? How about for night lighting, are the blue LED strips sufficient? Lots of questions and confusion. Thanks, Roger Huber Deer Creek Locomotive Works
Roger,
SMD5050 is the package description for the LEDs. SMD means Surface Mount Device. 5050 means the LEDs are square measuring 5.0mm x 5.0mm. They come in a variety of colors including many "shades" of white. Whiteness is measured on the kelvin temperature scale hence the K designation. The higher the K number the bluer the white light looks. As reference points, incandescent light bulbs are roughly 2700K and look reddish, cool white florescent bulbs are roughly 4200K and look yellowish, daylight florescent bulbs are 5000K and look greenish. A bulb with a temperature higher than 6000K will look very blueish.
The reason I have both LEDs and CFLs is twofold - brightness and color...
First, getting the amount of light I desired would have required an awful lot of LEDs. The problem was not so much the number of strips but rather the size of power supplies to run them and the interconnecting wiring. Each strip eats 3.5A of current. The total current demand really starts to add up if you have many strips. As it is I have 13 strips. That's 45.5A of current! Had I lit the layout with only LEDs I would have needed 3 times that much - 150 amps!!! The CFLs put out a lot of light and since they operate on 115V they consume very little current. It is the CFLs that are doing the bulk of the lighting. The role the LEDs play here is to even out the light spread thereby minimizing the bright spots caused by 24" spacing of CFLs.
Second, and more towards your question, is color. In early tests I discovered I didn't like any one single color of lighting. But when I combined two colors (5000K and 6500K) the result was a very natural looking sunlight color. The highest temperature CFL you can buy before the price gets out of hand is 5000K. Color doesn't affect the price of LEDs. So my LEDs are 6500K (very blue) and my CFLs are 5000K (greenish). Together they look right to my eye and my pocketbook.
I highly suggest you experiment with a variety of white color bulbs and LEDs before making a commitment to any one.
Check it out... I am totally finished with my layout lighting.
Moving on now to sub-roadbed. About to saw up a bunch more plywood and get one step closer to running trains!
There are many, many more lighting pics here: http://www.lkorailroad.com/lighting-completely-finished/
Bart, there is a complete description of my lighting on my blog. Far more information there than there is space for here.
http://www.lkorailroad.com/category/layout-lighting/
I am lighting a lower deck on a multi level layout---approx. 15 inches form the lights to the rails below. SO far I have installed one strip and the lighting output looks very good to me. I used the Neutral/Daylight 4200K version and feel it is just right. I have even light over the tracks with a bit of shadowing up near the upper benchwork. From my research, the only measuring mark that I could find was the "K" classification.....warm light 2800 K----neutral 4200K------Bright white 5000K. I have seen some options on the high end upto 6500k. Alan, supplemented his with CLF and he would be best to answer those questions but for the space that I needed to light up I feel this is a very effective option. Can't speak to the blue light option as this is my first and only experience.
I have a larger distance to light up for the upper deck and I'm not sure how I will attack that level yet.
Bart
Just as a followup for those that are interested. I went ahead and purchased a 5mreel of these lights from Micro Mark...natural daylight 5050, 300 led per reel, rated 4200k. The cost was 49.95 which is much higher than those I found on Ebay but these seemed to have amount of light that would work best for my uses. Happy to say that I have two reels installed now using a similar method of installation as Alan has shown above. Wood glue to a lattice stip od wood and then screwed to the joists under my upper level. Although I spent a bit more, I think I have the right amount of light...not too warm--not too bright. My decks are spaced about 16' s apart and 24 inches deep---looks good to me.
Bart,
I used LED strips that utilize a SMD LED #5050. The LEDs are on 0.65" spacing which yields 300 LEDs per 5M strip. The 5050 is the brightest of the commonly available LED strips. I bought mine on eBay. I don't believe there is really a quality difference regardless of where you buy them. I have bought 13 strips now and haven't had a issue with any of them. Search eBay for "5050 LED 300".
My LEDs are 6500K color. My CFLs are 5000K color. Together they make a very convincing natural sunlight color. The CFLs do the majority of the lighting (high lumen output) while the LEDs add uniformity and just the right amount of blue. The CFLs are 9W on the upper deck, 5W on the lower deck. The reason for the different wattage is because of the vertical distance from lamp to layout and the center to center spacing - upper = 24" vertical on 24" centers; lower = 16" vertical on 16" centers.
There is a ton of detail that will help explain my system available in the Layout Lighting category on my web site: http://www.lkorailroad.com/category/layout-lighting/
I am currently researching LED strip lighting for my lower deck. Can you explain your system...I see that you have sockets as well as LED strips. Also, what spec's did you decide on for the LED's--- I am really confused by the disparity in the pricing....have seen prices on the 5m reels from 100+ to low as 15 or so ( off ebay )
Thanks,
I have all the lower deck CFLs and reflectors installed. Now I am putting up LED strips. Wood glue works great to augment the PSA that comes on the strips. Bunch more pics here.