I want to light a 2-stall engine house, and in using two large LED bulbs, found it not to be enough light, and I didn't like the spot light effect. I have some 12v and 6v grain of wheat lights I thought I would try. I thought I would use a 2"x 6" sheet of styrene, build a wriing circuit on one side with power wires, resistors, and duct tape..... wiring the lights in and dropping them through holes to hang on the underneath side. The sheet would then be glued to the inside roof rafters.
Will the heat be too much for the styrene? Any idea of how many bulbs it might take? (I was thinking four or six).
Thanks for the help. Hal
If you hang the lights down from the roof the heat may not be an issue. As for the spot light effect from an LED there are a few things that can be done. You can bounce the light off of a reflecting surface or place them in a tube or square tube and cover the outlet with clear styrene frosted with liquid cement. The frosted effect makes them look like a modern lighting fixture. I have seen LEDs used to light up clear styrene rod in 8 foot lengths to look like a florescent light fixture. That looked cool.
Pete
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You would probably be better off using 1.5 volt lamps from Miniatronics. They also have lamp shades. They have a wide range of low voltage lamps and LED's. Lamps like this produce a lot less heat. You might have to experiment.
Below is an idea of what is at our club.
Rich
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I have an Athearn SDP40F (actually FP45) at home, and back around 1990 or so, I wanted to move the headlight down into the nose of the locomotive, which I did with a grain of wheat bulb. Ran fine at home. Took it up to the model railroad club I belonged to, and it was running fine until I noticed that the headlight wasn't lit up and that there was a small dark spot next to it on the door. I stopped the train, and the bulb had come loose and gone over against the shell on the front of the nose, melting a spot into the nose. I could probably put an LED in for the light to make it light up, but for the dent, I just make the excuse that something hit the nose.
Kevin
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The grain of wheat bulbs should be okay to use as long as they are not too close to the styrene -- hanging down 1/4 inch or so.
Another option would be the super bright inverted cone LEDs which emit light in a 360 degree arc. All types of unique LEDs are available from:
http://www.superbrightleds.com and/or http://www.moreleds.com
I notice on the package for the bulbs I have are called "mini-lamps" (Radio Shack 272-1140). Perhaps these are not the same as grain-of-wheat? If not will they be cooler and not a heat issue? Thanks for the previous solutions.
Hal
Keep in mind that engine houses did not really have a lot of light, hence the reson for all the windows and transoms etc. I would try using resistors on the LED to get the effect your looking for rather then switch to incandescent bulbs.I run the gamete on my structures, Minatronics, grain of wheat, grain of rice from Micromark but the really really nice thing about LED's is that they virtually never blow out. I should say they last far longer then the demand we put on them.Unless your looking for the look of a lamp it's self like the ones hanging or mounted to a wall LED's are the way to go in my o/p
Think about having to swap out those lamps in the future so maybe a little experimentation now will pay off in the long run.
Hal,
If it going to be for interior lighting and they don't have to be "prototype" size because they won't be visible, I would use 12V bulbs and run them with a DC power pack. With the ability to "dial down" the power of your bulbs, this has two advantages:
55-60% power is usually quite ample lighting - especially with several bulbs lighting up the interior of a facility.
You can also use brass light shades to direct the light down and out and away from the styrene ceiling. (Hal, I actually paint the inside of the shades with a primer white to get better reflection with the lower lighting.) The Miniatronics 1.7mm bulbs fit snuggly enough in the brass shades that you don't even need to glue them in. This makes light bulb changes much easier.
Also, if it's not too late - I would leave the roof of your engine house unglued so that you can more easily get to your lighting when bulbs do begin to burn out.
Hope that helps...
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
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This is a picture of a subway station, but I've used the same technique for a roundhouse and an engine house:
The bare copper wires run the length of the station. I've used 16-volt Miniatronics bulbs, along with the shades you can see. The station is normally covered, so the viewer can normally only see the bulbs and shades. I run the 16-volt bulbs at 12 volts, which gives a nicer glow and greatly extends bulb life.
By suspending the bulbs like this, I give them plenty of ventilation, even in an enclosed space.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
donhalshanksWill the heat be too much for the styrene? Any idea of how many bulbs it might take?
Thanks for all the great ideas. You've given a clinic on solutions: aluminum foil, open wiring, 360 degree cone LEDs, frosted LED's, minibulbs w/shades, keep roof unglued! One of these will work for my engine house.... and I can see plenty of future applications for the others in the future. I'm leaning to the 360 LED's or the open wring at the moment. Thanks to all.