I have a tall warehouse kit (the Perkins Produce) with a basement freight door that will be open, and I'm thinking of putting a light in the building that will give some glow to the folks working in the freight door but also show in the widows of the upstairs rooms, although this latter is less important. I want it to be a very warm luminescence, not some blinding stalag searchlight. I don't know anything about lighting, but I hear a lot about LEDs these days.
What would you recommend?
Here is the commercial photo of the built kit. The freight door in this one is closed but you can build it slid open, which I have done.
Thanks for your help.
-Matt
Returning to model railroading after 40 years and taking unconscionable liberties with the SP&S, Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads in the '40s and '50s.
Matt,
For interior lighting you can go with either warm-white LEDs or incandescents. Depending on the bulb voltage and how you power them, it may require you to also use resistors to achieve an even warmer glow. Will the light fixture itself be visible through the windows or door?
I used 1.7mm-12V Miniatronics incandescent bulbs to illuminate both the interior and exterior of my NYC freight house below back in 2006:
The bulbs are a bit oversized for the HO lampshades but I really like the visual appearance of the glass bulb itself. Their 1.2mm bulbs were better-sized but I wasn't happy with how it cast the light. A number of them projected a crescent-shaped reflection onto the surface below.
Although the bulbs are rated at 12V, I hooked them up to the DC terminals of a spare MRC 1370 power pack and "dialed" them up to only 8-9V to give them the above appearance*. That gave them a nice warm glow, as well as extends the life of the bulb operating them at the lower voltage.
*[The photo makes the exterior lighting appear brighter than what it actually is in-person. The interior lighting is more representative of both.]
I do like LED lighting but my main experience with them is using them for headlight illumination. The small flat SMD (surface mount) LEDs are especially handy for lighting brass headlamps and give them a more prototypical beam than the bulb-type. The bulb-type I usually use when illuminating a headlamp through the clear plastic lens from inside the locomotive shell.
I do have some MTH passenger cars that use warm LED strips for interior lighting and they look fantastic. I've even toyed with the idea of using either a function-only decoder or a lighting module board to turn lights on & off independently inside a structure.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Hi Matt,
I have done a lot of lighting with LEDs and I think your warehouse is perfect for lighting effects. Here are my recommendations. Don't be put off by their apparent complexity. If you can add one LED, then you can add several just as easily. Here are my recommendations:
- First, make sure that the structure is sealed against light leakage. You don't want glowing walls or light coming through the corner joints or out from under the foundation. The wood walls are much less prone to light leakage so you really only have to worry about the seams and the foundation. To block any light leakage, first make sure that the joint is completely covered with glue and then paint the joint black. You can put more appropriate interior colours over that. Light leakage at the foundation can be eliminated simply by putting a floor in the bottom of the structure;
- You definitely want to use warm white LEDs. Something in the 3000 kelvin (colour range) is ideal. You can get them on eBay. There are a lot of choices. The cheapest LEDs are generally the 3mm size. I use the much smaller 0402 or 0603 with the wires already installed. This is just one example. These are in Canadian dollars:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/364105546113?hash=item54c661b981:g:cnkAAOSw4btjvKvj&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4OgSE6vNjMTnPsVbE8BSKckHlwKwsdlquWe67xVYZXoysvc1zpIAEOD4UdyOwhnYPvK%2F2wgF2eSSl2IeWRlp0JNcJWAANfzITsrtzucK5Mt3FufVDqNvt35%2B9H8Go4sJB%2FqLo07tHqKXib%2BkOW5Sqgb8gLvkVRqSponPC4VsD06k7teUBhm%2B4snxkOykkGHUiRf65s%2B2MJeeK865H4mlef7K8jkWO3eI5yPOMkHc3qzdZgmsteE3kR12IBG4hhWKBShTEKv67C%2BT4fDHJsHx03wJ3G3hXAWqwp4il8sMWYYH%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8CukuXCYQ
- I would suggest using several LEDs instead of just one in the center of the structure. I would have two LEDs at the loading door, one about 1 1/2" inside the door opening, and one outside over the door. You can buy LEDs with lamp shades already installed and painted. The outer LED will illuminate the deck outside of the door. You might want to install a couple more exterior LEDs for other entrances or stairways.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/152067514026?hash=item2367ee1eaa:g:iIAAAOSwVKhcnXGz&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4LyHOruMjeAzgvFe2bKsqiYq6r6qll7BfCJXBKrL5r5k0LhXp8N%2BB%2BtruwkP3exwZlo5uw6gbNd6TGdCoxKrlNTBspgjet0y2a2Mq6XWSdcMDb8K4nKXeYbnprZN7x6zrrnQ0vDKBtCXzveKiQRiafmgm6Pcjc%2BAJpXyg%2Bx4CFJPDqxIb9iBI1NrQ4ID%2BDRXDjGPxTkxqCsTYcSAVKTUrZwcz4G%2BrF7d8jXuhfSBoDX8ZaKjNTxp8odDqqxasAUVGPCa2Jj1MoATcxcbYFWR%2FFbx0aeiDsXl0WEGIItkurum%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-rP7ubCYQ
Depending on how the warehouse was structured there may have been two separate floors in the upper level, or it might have been one large open space. It depends on how you see the warehouse functioning.
- I will suggest that you use resistors in series with each LED. You can use a single resistor to control several LEDs but calculating the resistor value is a PITA. The standard recommendation is 1000 ohms per LED but that still leaves the LED pretty bright at 12 volts. If you want a softer light then I would experiment with resistors in the 5000 to 20,000 ohm range. Sounds extreme, but I have used resistors as high as 30,000 ohms to mimic kerosene lanterns. Resistors are cheap on eBay. I buy mine from Digikey.
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I'm old school and I use and like small incandescent bulbs for interior lighting. I use 16 volt Miniatronics bulbs and I run them at 12 volts DC. The bulb manufacturer isn't that important, just what my LHS had, and if you have AC power that works, too. I do like to keep the voltage lower than the bulb rating. It gives a warmer glow and results in longer bulb life.
The suggestion about sealing the corners and doing something to prevent the building from glowing is a good one. I usually download a wall texture, print it and glue the paper inside to prevent bleed through, and I always use balsa strips to reinforce corners, and that seals the corners well.
If the structure will be close to a wall, block off any window that will allow light on the wall. Seeing a window on what should be empty sky is disconcerting.
On larger buildings, I like to install floors and sometimes walls. Nothing fancy, just thin foam board cut to shape. Then I use a few bulbs scattered around so parts of the building are illuminated but other parts are dark. Yes, it takes me a month to do a 4-walls-and-a-roof kit, but the results make me and my little figures happy.
Thsi is the rear view of the DPM hotel, now sold by someoned else. I have put in floors and walls. Inside those windows, neatness isn't terribly important because they mostly serve as light blocks. I've glued interior textures to the inside walls.
This is a hotel, so it shouldn't be all lit up.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Thanks guys. Great ideas here, stuff I wouldn't have thought of, and just what I wanted to know.
MisterBeasleyYes, it takes me a month to do a 4-walls-and-a-roof kit, but the results make me and my little figures happy.
The warehouse looks great! I love the weathering on the chimney and the rust on the roof.
You seem to have a pretty good grasp of how to install the lighting but I would point out the following:
crossthedogI wanted to make sure I left access for replacing bulbs
If you use LEDs it is highly unlikely that you will ever have to replace them, especially if you use higher value resistors (5K ohms?) to reduce the current flow. LEDs have a life of at least 10,000 hrs and most will last up to 50,000 hrs. Just don't forget the resistors or you will instantly have DEDs (Dark Emitting Diodes).
One other point. Lots of 'warm white' LEDs aren't particularly warm in colour. You want something around 3000 kelvin, but if the LEDs are too 'white' then one or two coats of Tamiya Clear Yellow will give them a nice yellowish tone. That's what I did with this lantern and this headlight. Both have 0402 prewired LEDs:
Very informative thread.
Lynn
Present Layout progress
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/290127/3372174.aspx#3372174
Several years ago, I went to one of the local big box hardware stores the day after Christmas. All of their remaining Christmas decorations were on clearance. I found lights strings of 100 warm white diffuse LED's for a few bucks each. I bought several. Yes, I had to disassemble the strings of Christmas lights to get to the LED's but it wasn't all that much trouble. The cool part turned out to be the diffuse lighting feature. Each 3mm LED was molded with an inverted cone in the tip. Thus, the light reflects to the sides of the LED instead of being focused out the tip. This means this type of LED is perfect for lighting building interiors. I also discovered that, when looking directly at the tip of the lit LED, that the tip of the inverted cone creates a hot spot of light. This hot spot makes the tip of the diffuse light LED look exactly like a lit sealed beam headlight. Hey, would these work as diesel loco headlights? Heck yes! I have replaced all of the headlights in my blue box EMD F7 locos with these lights and they look great! I started by tearing out the original headlight mount and replacing it with a piece of .040" styrene super-glued to the inside of the frame (similar to the original metal mount). I then replaced the shell on the frame after removing the original headlight lenses. I then used a drill bit that just fit inside the diameter of the headlight openings and carefully drilled centerpoints in the new styrene mount. After removing the shell again, I finished drilling the LED locations in the styrene mount. I next fitted the LED's in place and replaced the shell on the frame to check clearances and the accuracy of the LED placement behind the headlight openings. Once I was happy with the LED placement, I glued the LED's to the styrene mount and painted the rear and sides of each LED with flat black paint. The final step was to use Testors Clear Parts Cement to create new headlight lenses in the shell. The photo below shows the headlight on and the Mars light at slightly less than full on.
I also used several of these diffuse light LED's to light the interior of the Holly Sugar building behind the loco in the photo. Although the LED interior lighting is on in the photo, the "daylight" lighting of the photo and the multi-pane windows of this kit make it difficult to see the interior lighting without turning off the room lighting.
I have attached a few photos of other structures I have lit with these LED's for comparison. Note that all of these photos were taken with "daylight" room lighting.
Hornblower
Has anybody thought about painting an led with yellow paint? I know there are clear dyes that could be used to do that.
ndbprr Has anybody thought about painting an led with yellow paint? I know there are clear dyes that could be used to do that.
Curious as to why you would want to do that ? Warm white LEDs are already the correct color for tungsten bulbs.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
ndbprrHas anybody thought about painting an led with yellow paint? I know there are clear dyes that could be used to do that.
You must have skipped past Dave's earlier post:
hon30critterOne other point. Lots of 'warm white' LEDs aren't particularly warm in colour. You want something around 3000 kelvin, but if the LEDs are too 'white' then one or two coats of Tamiya Clear Yellow will give them a nice yellowish tone. That's what I did with this lantern and this headlight. Both have 0402 prewired LEDs: Cheers!! Dave
The Tamiya paint that Dave is referring to is their X-24 Clear Yellow. I like to thin mine 2:1 with Tamiya X-20A thinner. It takes more coats but allows you to acheive more subtle results between coats.
My preferred method for applying the clear yellow is dipping. If I need more control, I use microswabs. And I let each coat dry thoroughly before applying the next.
If you can't find suitable Christmas light strings or don't want to have to pull them apart, the diffused light LEDs (sometimes called 'straw hat' LEDs) are available in bulk from eBay for pretty good prices. Here is just one example:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/133966209868?hash=item1f3102234c:g:WYYAAOSwJTthu3SJ&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4Hd25F%2B9NNFM0NlQXjnEGO9asR9vznHm0jXsHs9Jw6q06%2FQL8cg2YWYlUackJ44WHgtMyP6EPsq%2FQLaEHjYkmINzGPVYJKWHi5IVN2nWxC6XOd%2Fgc13RnT3Xupo%2FSSKSj2owbRwslEQEgdUkq2yVRTsM1ID3iQrKzkO6oxZQBgtgairXh8qTtVP%2FwRZyrNb7%2BIv8rPP1vQhmnSiMRBDzuH0%2BF6J7k0K0YT%2FHp7YzYQm3hjqJaBgobwsWrzmntTOcIzDAPhipwO%2Fdm2TpTMICavw8SActvdtxgJsqVhwu33Z4%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7jHvu3GYQ
Don't forget the resistors!
Several of you have mentioned LEDs and resistors. This is the division point for me between what I can easily imagine doing and what seems arcane and difficult, but I think I want to go that way if the light is not too harsh.
Here's where my journey has taken me so far: I found an inexpensive INCANDESCENT bulb at my LHS last week (he had "warm" LEDs but I wasn't yet convinced), and stuck it in the building and wired it temporarily to an old Tyco power pack's DC terminals. I turned out the lights in the garage. It looked great (although it showed light leaks around the windows and doors EVEN THOUGH I had insulated their insides with glue and then painted the glue black as instructed above -- still trying to figure out how that light is getting through).
I understand if I use warm white LEDs with resistors, I may not ever have to replace them and I may be able to reduce their bright-whiteness (intensity? luminescence?). But I don't know how to use resistors, where to place them, their care and feeding. They sound grouchy and hard to negotiate with. And I know nothing about ohms. The "warm white" LEDs I see online look awfully bright (which could be great in other applications -- I actually bought a few to replace the headlights in some of my old YB Atlas locos).
I want to try the LEDs for this Perkins kit and other structures, but in this direction I can only perceive a wilderness without a pathway ahead.
In any case, thanks all for these great comments and suggestions.
What resistors did you use with the Christmas light LEDs? Did you just cut off individual bulbs and use the original wires to power them?
crossthedogI want to try the LEDs for this Perkins kit and other structures, but in this direction I can only perceive a wilderness without a pathway ahead.
Hooking up an LED and a resistor isn't much different than installing an incandescent lightbulb but there are two things that you need to do with an LED vs a regular bulb. The first is to install a resistor in series between the LED and the power supply. One resistor per LED is the simplest place to start. It doesn't matter which lead the resistor is connected to and the resistors are not polarity sensitive (LEDs are polarity sensitive). The second is to make sure that you have the polarity correct for the LED. If an LED won't light, try reversing the wire connections to see if that works.
The LED/resistor calculation is very simple. In fact, I don't do any math at all. I just guesstimate. Let's assume that you are using a 12 volt DC power supply. Twelve volts is too much power for an LED without a resistor installed in series. The resistor restricts the amount of electricity that can get to the LED. A very common resistor value is 1000 ohms with the resistor rated at 1/4 watt minimum (you can use 1/8 watt resistors but they can get very hot). That generally makes the LED very bright which is how they are shown in the ads but not what you want in this case. The higher the resistor value, the less light the LED will give out. I have used resistors as high as 30,000 ohms to make the LEDs glow like a kerosene lamp or a very early lightbulb. I would suggest starting with something around 3000 ohms and working up from there.
Here are some warm white 0603 LEDs with one 30,000 resistor per LED installed in my McKeen Motor Car:
If you are going to install several LEDs in the same structure, it is often easier to make up a circuit using brass, copper or phosphor bronze wire just like you would wire a real house. I recommend getting some phosphor bronze wire from Tichy Trains. It is stiff enough to hold its shape but it also solders and bends easily, and it can be used for other things like making handrails etc.
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_wire/p/1102-015-phosphor-bronze-wire/Default.aspx
I buy my LEDs from eBay. Recently I have been spending a little extra money to buy the 0402 size ones with wires already attached just to make life easy, but soldering wires to a regular 3mm or 5mm LED is pretty simple. The '0402' indicates the size of a SMD rectangular LED, i.e. 0.040" long by 0.020" wide. The '3mm' or '5mm' indicates the diameter of a round LED. The round LEDs have long leads on them so they are easy to solder to. Hold the LED lead with a pair of needle nose pliers next to the body of the LED to keep the LED from getting too hot. You can buy the rectangular SMD LEDs without leads attached but soldering the wires to them requires some pretty good skills. I used to do it but I got lazy.
Resistors are cheap on eBay or you can buy them cheap from suppliers like Digikey or Mouser Electronics. I would suggest buying a small selection of 4 or 5 values between 1000 ohms and 10,000 ohms incl.
As for connecting wire, I would buy two rolls of 26 gauge stranded wire, one black and the other red or white. I also use a red paint pen to mark the positive wires if there is any doubt about which wire is which.
If you have more questions please don't hesitate to ask. LEDs are easy and reliable.
Hi Matt
Here is a link to a thread on roundhouse lighting. If you want to take a stab at lighting we can all walk you through it.
https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/p/284690/3284542.aspx#3284542
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Llenroc fanWhat resistors did you use with the Christmas light LEDs? Did you just cut off individual bulbs and use the original wires to power them?
I have found that 1k (1,000) ohm resistors are a safe bet for most LED's. As far as how to use the LED's for strings of Christmas lights, the individual bulbs are actually seperate pieces that plug into sockets along the string of lights. Simply remove each bulb from its socket, pop the clear or colored plastic dome off the top of the socket, then straighten the wire leads of the LED so that it will slide right out of the socket base.
Sounds easier than I had imagined. Thanks for the information.
BATMANHere is a link to a thread on roundhouse lighting. If you want to take a stab at lighting we can all walk you through it.
As you can see, resistors are included. I can imagine how all this fits together mechanically, the nuts and all, but what do I have to know about the resistors? Where to put them in the wiring? Can I hook them up to the old Tyco power pack, which I think is 12v? Also, how do I know if these resistors are sufficient? Mr. "wehonest" on eBay provided them (which I hadn't even realized was part of the deal, so plus points for thoroughness there), but I don't know how...er... resistant they are.
These are awfully tiny gauge wires, too, can I just crimp them in connectors or do you solder them and tape them? I'm completely new to working with resistors. So many questions.
A diagram is always helpful for me.
Google We Honest, they have a "Product Instruction" page.
It appears these LEDs run on 3 volts (without resisters) or 9 volts with the resistors that were included. 1k would probably be right for 12 volts.
The instruction page doesn't have instructions for how to physically connect everything but they appear to have a distribution board that would simplify eveything.
Peter
That's a neat but not dainty solution to afix the lamp.
It doesn't matter what lead you put the resistor on, but you should pick on or the other to be consistant. I wonder how many resistors are manufactured in China? Probably most of them. You can trust the resistors but I don't know what the Tyco puts out.
In the above referenced thread, it looks like Brent wired one resistor in series with the LED's. I didn't think you could do that without the downstream LED being much dimmer. I'll leave that to the gurus.
Your wires look like decoder gauge wires. It never occured to me to crimp them. I would solder and use heat shrink tubing or liquid heat shrink.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
CNR378The instruction page doesn't have instructions for how to physically connect everything but they appear to have a distribution board that would simplify eveything.
HI Matt
I use this LED array wizard to help plan things out.
http://www.hebeiltd.com.cn/calculator/v5/led.php
On this mock-up I did, I used one resistor for each LED. If you look closely you can see a little square resister where the wire from the light meets the beam. These are chip resisters and are perfect for our hobby.
Here you can see the chip resistor above each light. I used copper tape as a power bus, soldering the chip to that on one side and the wire to the chip and the other wire to the tape on the other. I bought copper tape in several widths from China for about $2.20ca a roll.
I ordered these step-down converters from China for $2.00ca each. I order ten at a time as they do fail.
I order my resistor chips from Digi-Key. I got my order from them in 19hrs to rural Canada.
https://www.digikey.ca/?utm_adgroup=Digi-Key&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=EN_Brand_Digi-Key&utm_term=digi%20key&productid=&gclid=Cj0KCQiArsefBhCbARIsAP98hXRFxXbnzZB31-5nJXvfCsUHBdyUgdZGT22PwsIMaqNZqbjJJ1yMQoYaAk_7EALw_wcB
I order lots of stuff from China as well and it takes eleven days to get here on average.
You can use those large resistors, generally, you can hide them somewhere out of sight. I ended up using one resistor for each light as I just ran into issues doing it any other way.
BigDaddyThat's a neat but not dainty solution to afix the lamp.
BigDaddyIn the above referenced thread, it looks like Brent wired one resistor in series with the LED's.
BATMANOn this mock-up I did, I used one resistor for each LED. If you look closely you can see a little square resister where the wire from the light meets the beam...
I think the most difficult part of this will be soldering connections. I used heat shrink tubing once with a soldering iron and it made a gloopy mess. It looks like you've left yours uncovered.
The other thing is, even with that distro board that WeHonest sells, he admits the wires on the LED wires are too small for the screw connectors to grab, so he talks about soldering pin ends to them, but I don't see that he sells the pin ends.
So I have a little homework to do, but I'm very excited because I think these lamps look pretty good.
Thanks again.
hon30critterHooking up an LED and a resistor isn't much different than installing an incandescent lightbulb but there are two things that you need to do with an LED vs a regular bulb...
Matt
Just cut a piece of solid wire of a suitable size and use that as a pin by soldering the light wires to it.
I made this hoodadaddy to test the brightness of the LEDs to determine what resistor I want to use in advance. I can try different resistors and the step down converter will also control brightness to some degree. Ignore the wire bender thingie, I use that to bend the tubing for the lights.
I have kept every wall-wart of every appliance/electronics I have ever thrown out so finding a power source is easy.
With such low voltage, I do not worry about sealing the soldered connections except where a short could possibly occur, then a dab of paint or nail polish will do. When you consider how thin the insulation is on the wire, paint or nail polish is overkill.
To remove the insulation on the wire you can just dip the end into a bead of solder. That removes the insulation and tins the wire at the same time. I use #38 magnet wire from Ngineering.
https://www.ngineering.com/accessories.htm
I misunderstood Brent's previous post. I was unfamiliar with the resistors he used.
To understand serial vs parallel imagine a simple DC circular layout with a standard Alas terminal piece. Every piece of rail is connected in serial.
If you are collecting Medicare, when you were a kid, Christmas tree lights came as a serial connection. If one light burned out, that was part of the series and none of the lights would light. You had to change every light bulb till you found the one that was burned out.
Parallel connection, big improvement in Christmas lighting. Imagine you ran a two wire buss around your DC circle. And you connected two feeders from each and every rail to the bus. You could take a Dremel cut off wheel and chop through every track joiner and yet every piece of rail would have power. That's parallel
The WeHonest distribution board
They show male pin terminals like RRMel used to use. I don't have a link to his website. There are also female matching pins. They come in a big strip but you can score them to get any number of pins or sockets you need. You solder your wire to the small end of the male terminal.
My link to the terminals is the first one I found on Ebay. It is not a recommendation of the seller.
Henry told you about pin headers in the previous post. I strongly recommend that you buy some! They would work well for clamping the magnet wire into your WeHonest Distribution boards if you want to go that route (although, the easiest solution is to just nip 3/8" off of the ends of your resistors and solder the cut ends to the magnet wire). Also, in your case, using the pin connectors under your structure will make it easy to remove the building from the layout when necessary.
I use the pin headers to make up connector plugs for all sorts of situations. I have used them to connect locomotives to their tenders and to make easy disconnects for illuminated structures. I put them in line when I am hard wiring decoders so the decoder can be removed without having to unsolder any wires.
The pin headers that are shown in the eBay listing are actually both male and female. The pin(s) on one header section will fit tightly into the hole(s) in the next header section, like this (double click on the pictures to get a close up view):
Unconnected:
Connected:
The female sockets:
Solder the wires from one part of the circuit onto the exposed pins on one half of the connecter, and then solder the wires from the other part of the circuit into the holes on the other half of the connector. You will need a pencil tip soldering iron to solder the wires into the female sockets, and you have to be quick or the plastic will melt. I always tin my wires beforehand and I put a tiny drop of flux on the tinned wire and into the socket hole. You may want to practise soldering the wires into the female sockets a bit before adding the connectors to your project.
Here is a locomotive where I had to replace the original connecter plug with a new section of a pin header:
You can make the connectors whatever size you need simply by cutting or snapping the necessary number of pins off of the long strips.
I recommend using heat shrink tubing if you have it, or, as was suggested, nail polish will work well too. Colour coding the connectors isn't a bad idea too, so you can keep the polarity correct.
hon30critterHenry told you about pin headers in the previous post. I strongly recommend that you buy some! They would work well for clamping the magnet wire into your WeHonest Distribution boards if you want to go that route (although, the easiest solution is to just nip 3/8" off of the ends of your resistors and solder the cut ends to the magnet wire)
So far I'm tracking with everyone, and these solutions seem like good ones, but I'm confused at your mention of a "magnet wire". What is it and why are we talking about it? I don't remember seeing it on any of the WeHonest illustrations and the LEDs I bought only have two wires each, a black and a red. If I knew what you meant by that I might be able to understand why we'd be clipping off 3/8" from the resistor ends.
Thanks.