Some years ago I bought 1/4 inch golden white LEDs. They are orange in the off
state but look good when lit. Anybody know if they are still available? From who?
Thanks to any and all responding.
Look for 5mm LED'S on ebay.
Intermountain uses (or at least they used to use) the type of LEDs that you are asking about but they were 3 mm which is closer to 1/8". They don't have a parts listing on their website but they are good at answering enquiries.
http://www.intermountain-railway.com/
If you can't find what you want, and you are not happy with the tones of white that are currently available, you can use Tamiya Clear Orange paint to tint the LEDs. It may take several applications to get the tone you want.
However, I think if you look at the newer warm white LEDs you can probably find a suitable colour. Look for something in the 3000 - 3500 colour temperature range.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
What do you using that size LED for?
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
LEDs come from CHINA, and like the rest of the world they use mm rather than inches and foots.
Ligting in the USA is measured by 1/8ths of an inch. A P20 lamp would be a pear shaped bulb 20/8th of an inch in diameter. A T12 lamp would be tubular lamp 12/8th" in diameter or your regular old fashioned flourscent tube.
For LEDs the 3mm LED is sometimes called a T1, a 5mm would be called a T1.5 LED.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I've always use the Miniatronics Yelo-Glo LEDs, not as cheap as mass quantities from a CHinese selelr on eBay, but they are clear cases with just a small block of orangish-yellow in the middle when off - kind of looks like a light bulb at the base of a large lense when turned off. I've had some locos come with the ones that are orange when off, which is OK if the LED is not visible when off.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I believe many of the earlier "white" LEDs had a cooler, bluish color temperature and manufacturers used the amber tinting to achieve the "warm-white" appearance.
As manufacturing processes and materials became available to "fine-tune" the color outputs, the amber envelope became unnecessary.
Some of the bluish-white LEDs I installed early-on, I put a amber tinted piece of acetate behind the headlight lens to cut down on the blue wavelength. This was before the "warm-white" variety became commonly available.
Of course, we modelers are at the end of the manufacturing chain. The real R&D development money is paid by the television, smartphone and home lighting manufacturers. We benefit from the factory seconds or the over-production runs.
I remember when blue LEDs first came out and they were about $5.00 each! As manufacturing quantities ramped up, prices sank to more like $5.00 per 1000.
Ed
Wgc53217,
My layout has a combo of incandesants, SMD'S and Led's,SMD lighting strips in the 1.7mm to 3mm range. Every building has some kind of lighting in it. All except for SMD strips, I had to add resistors and I got tired of soldering resistors.....so I did some searching and found these on E-bay....they are not from China. They come from right here in the states. Leads are already wired, with resistors and shrink wrapped. I bought them in Jan. they were 7.01 then for ten. They are 3mm warm white, which I sand around the whole perimeter, including end, with 220 grit sandpaper....lights shines in a 360 degree radius and they look very close to incandesants. I purchased 50 of them and got them in just under 6 days...free shipping. Click on link if interested...they also have the size You seek, also already wired:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-3mm-Warm-White-Round-Clear-Pre-Wired-LEDs-Light-12v-USA-/111252607429?
I have already used 30 of them and no bad one's.
Take Care!
Frank
Some years ago, Jim Hinds (Richmond Controls) made quite a project to come up with the proper tinting of white led package to get a warm white look. The result af about a years worth of samples runs yielded a very close to incandescent bulb look from an led. It is an amber shade when off. Jim sent a bunch of the samples out to us to sample back then. Richmond Controls still has these leds available. price can be higher than other China sources but Jim picks each and every light and he is picky.
Martin Myers
I got what I needed.
Thanks again to all who responded.
WGC53217
WGC53217:
For those who have been following the thread, can you give us a little information about what you got, where you got them and what you are using them for? Just curious.
Thanks
LION used to buy all of the LEDs of him from All Electronics.
Today him buys all of the LEDs of him from Walmart or Menards. Both Big Box Stores, All lamps sold as Christmas sets. Wlamart has sets of 50 on sale after Christmas for 99c each. I bought a whole case of them.
LION pulls the lamps out of the sockets and saves them in buckets. On a 25' long string of lights you will aslo yield 50' of wire that can be salvaged.
LION uses 1000 ohm risistors. Him buys thes in bulk (1000 at a time) from All Electronics for about $12.00
LIONS are happy and the LPPs on the layout of him are well illuminated.
LION buys colored lights the same way now. The Christmas LEDs are far brighter that the standard ones. Buy the kind with the little plastic do-dads on the top as these will have the smaller 3mm LED inside, and the color og the LED will match the color of the do-dad, they will not use white LEDs under a colored do-dad, since the colored LEDs are by far cheaper.
So Bright, LION must now put shades over the signals of him just to cut the lighs scatter way down.
LION especially likes the Nano and the Pico LEDs alluded to here and or elsewhere, him thinks these will work graat on the subway trains of him.