Does anybody know how the 50 light LED christmas lights from Walmart are wired? They have some "Warm White" lights that would be great for lighting houses and buildings, for 4.98. Thats a dime a light. Can I just cut one out of the string, add a resister and power it, with maybe 12 volts?
I buy warm while LEDs on ebay for less than four cents each for a quantity of 100 and free shipping ....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180855817171?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Then you don't have to worry about wrestling the LED out of the housing (X50) or trying to install the whole socket in your building.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
The Christmas light LEDs are tempting but far from the best value, as Mark points out. I recently bought 500 3mm warm white LEDs for less than 2 cents each.
You can also get resistors on eBay for 1 cent each:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100PCS-Resistors-1K-Ohms-OHM-1-4W-5-Carbon-Film-NEW-/201414888250?hash=item2ee5434b3a:g:RfwAAOSwuMFUi5tb
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I have a supply of around 100 LEDs pulled from Christmas lights (they were damaged by a lightning strike that fried about half of the lights). removing them from the housings was not an easy task and required cutting the plastic "bulb" and bending the leads of each LED to pull it out. If you can buy LEDs, I would definitely recommend that path. The ONLY reason I spent the time to salvage the LEDs from these is because I had them on hand and it wasn't worth the trouble to try to piece together usable strings, especially since somewere warm white (yellowish tint) and some were cool white (bluish tint).
That said, each LED pulled from the string is a 3v, 25mA LED. The ones I have are actually ideal for interior lighting because they are flat-topped with a slight concave indentation in the end so they diffuse the light more out the sides than out the tip. I believe the technical term for these is "wide angle."
In short, buy LEDs rather than use Christmas lights...you'll save yourself a lot of time, not to mention finger pain!
Robert Beaty
The Laughing Hippie
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The CF-7...a waste of a perfectly good F-unit!
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the
end of your tunnel, Was just a freight train coming
your way. -Metallica, No Leaf Clover
Robert!
Sorry about the sore fingers!
The wide angle LEDs are very useful for lighting structures, and they are also available on eBay for slightly more money:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-5mm-Warm-White-Flat-top-Wide-Angle-led-Super-Bright-Light-lamp-/231583320177?hash=item35eb710871:g:QDUAAOxyYSdTEGV~
You can get wider light dispersion from the regular 3mm round LEDs by simply sanding the surface of the LED.
If I had been thinking, I would have used an X-acto to pry the leads downward rather than my fingernails.
And yes, I have used the sanding technique before as well (lighting the engines of a Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper model). If you are installing a large number of LEDs though, that could be a bit more time-consuming than it's worth.
Incidentally, I found some eyelets in the scrapbooking section at Michael's that seemed to be ready-made lamp shades. You never know what you'll find useful until you look around!
Rather than sand the LEDs, I just paint them with some Dulcote or other clear flat. Sometimes it takes a good two or three coats to get a good frost going.
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
I got 100 string 5mm inverted cone warm white lights at Lowes last year. The LED pulls out with its holder. Then unbending the leads the LED itself slips right out. Some have a resistor on one leg which I cut off. I use as is for building lights, sand them flat for a headlight beam.
I got 3mm round tops from China via Ebay as I was ok with the 2 week wait.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
The LED according to the LION...
Click here, do you think I am going to write it all over again?
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I don't see that your question on resistors got answered. Yes, the 5mm ones I got from Christmas strings work well with 1000+ ohm resistors with 12v DC power supply. I buy Miniatronics 12v regulated walwort power supply types that handle up to 1A, though I add a 3/4 amp fuse to each lighting section (for buildings). Cheap 1/8 watt Ebay resistors from China. Draw for these LEDs was 9mA each.
I also got (for building lighting) the SMD rolls that are a series of 3-LEDs (cut 3, 6, 9, etc) attached to stick-on backed paper circuit stuff. Draw 25mA per 3-segment.
Related to resistor sizing, for the LokSound Select Aux-6 loco decoders that I tend to use, the LED brightness has some adjustability (for headlights, ditch lights, etc) so the resistor selection re: brightness is not as critical. Don't know if you're interested in using the LEDs for buildings, locos, passenger cars, etc.
1/8W resistors cost far more than 1/4W resistors. LION buys box of 1000 resistors for $12. from all electric.
BroadwayLion 1/8W resistors cost far more than 1/4W resistors. LION buys box of 1000 resistors for $12. from all electric. ROAR
And again, ebay wins .... 1000 1/8 watt 1000 ohm resistors for $5.25 with free shipping ....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1000PCS-High-Precision-1-8W-Watt-1K-Ohm-R-Metal-Film-Resistor-0-125W-1-/151576428946?hash=item234aa8c192:g:YxkAAOSwjVVVzgDO
Thanks for all the replies. I'll save the Ebay links. I already had a 50 light string of warm white LEDs that I just grabbed at Walmart because they seemed useful for something.
While you can always get stuff cheaper, there's no beating a local source for LEDs, Stock in a few strings when they're on sale during the holiday season and you're set for the year. The difference in cost is nominal, a few bucks. Plus with strings of LEDs, they are usually matched in output. Bulk purchases may or may not be.
Another thing is that the color temp of locally purchased strings can be evaluated. Whether you want warm white or cool white, there can be significant variations in what you actually see. If you get some home, plug them in and they look icky, then they're easy to return. Ebay? It's possible, but usually a pain.
When buying in store, you can easily check to see how easy the LEDs are to harvest. Pop open a box and try extracting one. If you can't get it out quickly with just your fingernails, try something else.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
You put the LEDS in this nice plastic jar. Then you untangle the strings and you get 50 to 100 feet of nice wire that you can use for all sorts of things. Three wires run the lenghts of the set, only one of them has sockets on them, the other two are quite usable.
Good point, Lion. Green is easy, and white nearly so. Now if someone would just start stocking LED lighting on red and black wire...