PruittQuestion 1: What's the best way to drill out a hole in the center of the lampshades?
https://www.ngineering.com/hole_punch.htm
Good Luck, Ed
I would use an existing power source form your layout and experiment with resistors for the brightness I wanted. I use a 12 volt switching power supply for all of my accessories. To get specific voltages such as 5 volts for my Arduinos I use DC to DC buck converters, 12 volts in and adjust the output to the wanted voltage.I think you will find the LEDs are much brighter than needed and operating them at very low current. Most of my SMD LEDs are operating at 1ma to 2ma.This truck has 12 0402 LEDs and 1 1206 (cab roof ambers on fiber), total current is less than 3ma at 12 volts.The Rolls draws 1.2ma, 5 0402 LEDs.
EDIT:
This is a warm white 0402 LED running at 900ųa (.9ma), very bright.
This is the headlights on another Kenworth tractor.
Four 0402 Warm White LED headlights.
Mel Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California Aging is not for wimps.
Here's an update an a couple more questions. I received the warm white wired LEDs yesterday, and the Ngineering lampshades today. I'm about ready to try putting together the first lampshades / LEDs.
Question 1: What's the best way to drill out a hole in the center of the lampshades? (yeah, I know. With a drill!) They're shaped so that the drill should find the center from the inside, but what's the best way to hold the shade while drilling? I figured I could use a larger drill to make a dimple in a scrap piece of wood, but how to hold the lampshade so it doesn't just spin when I drill?
Question 2: The LEDs list a voltage range of 3.0-3.2. Doesn't list amperage. I can certainly hook up a 3V wall wart, but don't I need to limit the current?
Sorry if these are dumb questions. Haven't worked much with LEDs.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
tstage RR_Mel Actually I didn’t ding one I dropped it and it will never be seen again. Mel, Wrap some packing tape - sticky-side out - around your four "non-thumb" fingers. Dab the area lightly where you think the LED might be and you should be able to find it in no time... Tom
RR_Mel Actually I didn’t ding one I dropped it and it will never be seen again.
Mel,
Wrap some packing tape - sticky-side out - around your four "non-thumb" fingers. Dab the area lightly where you think the LED might be and you should be able to find it in no time...
Tom
TomThat would work if I had a clean environment and where Mel is working clean isn’t in my vocabulary. My wife hits my hobby room with the vacuum a couple of times per week and the floor is clean for about 10 minutes after she leaves.I can find larger items like couplers but anything as small as a SMD part is a goner.
Now if it had wires and couple of milli amps I could find it. This is a 0402 warm white LED with wires and go juice.
Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I use a lint roller.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
RR_MelActually I didn’t ding one I dropped it and it will never be seen again.
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Those little toothless clips work super great!!! I have been soldering wires to some 0402 LEDs this morning and have done 6 successfully only dinging one out of the seven. Actually I didn’t ding one I dropped it and it will never be seen again. The tiny clips work great for holding the Litz wire, holding the wire is more important for me than the LEDs.It is very important to tin the LED first, a tiny blob of solder attached to the 0402 LEDs makes tacking the wires simple.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
You guys are putting me to shame!
I tried my Mel SMD holder and It worked great!I soldered two 0402 warm white LEDs and didn’t screw up ether one doing it. That’s a first.They weren’t easy for Shaky Hands Mel but I did it. The 0603s and 1206s should be much easier. EDIT:
Better picture, higher LED current, 1ma
PruittSince I have to install lampshades, I'm thinking I might order 50 pre-wired LEDs and feed the leads through the shade.
Hi Mark,
I have soldered wires to a fair number of 0402 LEDs but ultimately I decided to go with the prewired ones. Doing the soldering wasn't too difficult but it sure was tedious. I decided that, for the price, the pre-wired LEDs were well worth it.
Having said that, someone mentioned that quite often the wires on the prewired LEDs are too large to fit in many applications. When that happens, soldering your own would seem to be the only way to go.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I remember every time I needed a light or two, I would get out all the stuff to get going on the production and there was always a learning curve to get through again. I then decided to just sit and do a ton of them all at once and banged them off quickly with a much lower fatality rate. I now have a margarine container full of them with 10cm leads on them ready to go.
The pre-wired ones I have looked at always had wire that was much too thick to look good. Of course, it doesn't matter if it is hidden. Also, remember with these low-power LEDs you can get creative in certain situations and use copper tape and that paint on stuff that will carry enough current.
This was an early experiment where I soldered the wire to copper tape. Once done I painted the copper tape white and it was invisible.
I also ordered many different width rolls of copper tape from China for a fraction of the cost.
PruittOne thing's for sure - I'll need a soldering iron with a very fine tip!
Mark,
Even for 0402s: I would use the same 1/16" chisel tip I normally use in my soldering iron to solder the wires along the long side of the SMD LED pad. As long as the tip is nice & shiny it will transfer the heat evenly and well. And, with the 1/16" surface area, it will do it quickly. A slight touch @ 650-700oF and it's soldered.
Well, the LED's showed up a couple days ago. These things sure are tiny!
I should have put more thought into this before I ordered these. Since I have to install lampshades, I'm thinking I might order 50 pre-wired LEDs and feed the leads through the shade. Then I'll cut the leads short and solder them to the transmission wires just above the shades, so they look kinda like the lights here:
Maybe I'll save these for discrete lights over doorways, inside structures and so forth, where I only have to solder leads to one or two at a time.
One thing's for sure - I'll need a soldering iron with a very fine tip!
I have been lucky and have had no shorts. I painted the shades first and I guess that was enough to insulate them.
That ngineering wire is insulated and reasonably tough. I think a little experimenting will show if it is doable.
I'm mostly concerned with the metal shade shorting the leads to the LED. The other concern is how to solder the continuous wires to the LEDs with a lampshade in the way. Attaching leads to the LEDs and then the wires would be problematic because the leads are so short that soldering one end would unsolder the other, wouldn't it?I have used lampshades like the ngineering ones in the past, as you can see above the coal chutes on this coaling tower.
This thread has been worth it just to see the work you guys have done! Very nice - all of you!
This was a mock-up I did for my RH project. I found the pre-wired LEDs wire much too thick and went with the stuff from Ngineering. The shades are also from Ngineering.
I think stringing the lights on the wire with the shades is very doable and will be easier than you think.
I get the shades with the SMDs already in them. Like Dave, I use a tiny dab of clear (I use several applications of canopy cement, it dries with a nice translucent effect) at the base of the wires which gives them a bit of strength.
Light_pole1 by Edmund, on Flickr
PRR_Tower1 by Edmund, on Flickr
These need to be straightened a bit but they are the direct from China lamps with shades:
Tank-Dock by Edmund, on Flickr
https://www.ebay.com/itm/402379521859?hash=item5dafb03f43:g:z34AAOSwFV9XysH0
I've ordered dozens over the years. Sometimes they are nicer than others as far as paint quality and such.
I put a bunch under my Huletts:
IMG_0389_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
PruittI'm not sure about adding the shades - that's another level of complication in the installation that may be just too much to contend with.
The lamp shades are certainly optional. You can alter the appearance of the bare LEDs to look more like light bulbs simply by dipping them into epoxy. I would use 0402 LEDs for this purpose, and maybe paint the base of the 'bulb' and the wires black.
If you do want to do shades, Ngineering makes lamp shades that would suit your purpose:
https://www.ngineering.com/stamped.htm
Personally I don't think that adding shades would be complicated. All I have done is add a little epoxy to the LED to insulate the leads and then slip the shades over the wires.
I made my duck-bill "helping hands" some years ago:
SMD-clip1 by Edmund, on Flickr
SMD-clip by Edmund, on Flickr
I soldered them to a couple lengths of #12 copper wire so I can flex them as needed.
Still, I buy 90% of my SMD LEDs prewired. One less task I have to be bothered with.
Cheers, Ed
I couldn’t find a picture of the construction of my lamps but I made the lamp shades from 2mm washers (.264" HO to 23" full size).
I placed the washer on a nut and pressed it in the center with a rounded metal rod (10 penny nail .134"D) to form the shade.
I use incandescent bulbs for all my structures but it should work with tiny LEDs too. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Lots of good info here to help me wire the LEDs when they arrive. Thanks everybody!
I'll be wiring the LEDs in parallel onto a pair of parallel wires so it's similar to the string of lights on this prototype icing platform.
I'm not sure about adding the shades - that's another level of complication in the installation that may be just too much to contend with.
Until I get one going I’m a little unsure how easy a 0402 will be, the 0603 and 1206 look easy. I’m not interested in their process with wires leaving the LEDs from the center, I’ve been quite happy with the leads out the ends. I’m going to try three clips, one in the center to hold the LED and one on each side to hold the wires.I use red and black wires, #36 Stranded Litz Wire, seven strands .05mm, the insulation measures .28mm. EDIT:
The holder should work with SMT doides, resistors and capacitors too. I'm using more and more of the tiny parts on new projects.
I like the toothless holder idea. You can get a bag full at the electronics store and epoxy them to a board and set up a whole bunch in a row and solder them all at once.
hon30critter Ngineering has the perfect tool. Scroll down to the LED/wire holding tool: https://www.ngineering.com/other_cool_tools.htm Dave
Ngineering has the perfect tool. Scroll down to the LED/wire holding tool:
https://www.ngineering.com/other_cool_tools.htm
Thanks for the link Dave, that looks very good and will probably work very good. I ordered some of the toothless clips to give that idea a shot.Managing the tiny wires are more trouble than soldering. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I used to solder leads to my 0603 and 0402 LEDs but I have gotten lazy (and more shakey) so now I just buy prewired LEDs.
However, if you want to solder your own leads to the tiny LEDs, Ngineering has the perfect tool. Scroll down to the LED/wire holding tool:
I'm lazy and bought the prewired LEDs. More expensive, yes, but a lot less pain in my old caboose.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
I added lighting to an oil loading dock made from two Walthers kits. Since I already had a bunch I removed from strings of Christmas tree lights, I used 3 mm diffused light warm white LED's. I used the wire leads of the LEDs to create the mounting brackets and painted the back and sides of the LEDs to simulate a simple can light. 1000 ohm resistors give the LEDs the warm incandescent look I need for my 1950's era layout.
Hornblower
Old Shaky Mel uses Surgical Hemostat Clamps.I had to put a bend in the arms of the clamps to prevent them from crushing the LEDs. I have three clamps bent to fit the three tiny LEDs with color coded tape on the arms. My problem is shaky hands and what seems like a baseball bat size soldering iron. The clamps work great once adjusted to the proper size but nothing works very good for my shaky hands.Mel Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
RR_MelI might add that soldering wires to the 0402 LEDs can be very tedious, old Shaky Mel normally screws up at least one 0402 every time.
I came up with this holder for doing the soldering. I screwed a paint edger to a scrap piece of hardwood flooring. Just slide the LED under the edge to hold it while you solder and then turn them around to do the other side.
I got my wire at Ngineering.
https://www.ngineering.com/
I also buy my LEDs off eBay from China and have had very good luck with fast shipping. I might add that soldering wires to the 0402 LEDs can be very tedious, old Shaky Mel normally screws up at least one 0402 every time.If you don’t have tiny wire I would order that too. I use #36 Litz wire, very flexible.https://www.ebay.com/itm/T028BL-10m-BLACK-0-28mm-Solder-Micro-Litz-PTFE-Stranded-Wire-Electronic-Weld/193112745563?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649Mel Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.