I need help with lights in my layout room

[electrolove]

I just looked at a Swedish model railroad forum. And they talked about fluorescent lighting. Philips have a lamp called Tld 950, and it's color temp is 5000k, and a excellent colour rendering index (>95) Please tell me more about this lamp, is it good or bad? It sounds good to me, but everything does [:D] You can read more about this lamp here:

http://www.akva.sk/obrazky/typy_svetiel/philips/philip2.jpg

[electrolove]

WOW, this was not easy. I appreciate all nice answers. I think I must read these posts many times before I know what to do.

At the moment I don't know at all what's the best for my layout.[sigh] [zzz]

[Pruitt]

Thanks, Joe, I've already planned for the valence lighting in my design.

Right now the plan is to use the same type of fluorescent for each deck as I use for room lighting - just a different style. I'm not hard set on that, though - the inability to dim the fluorescents is a big concern. Day will shift suddenly into night - no transitional period.

On the other hand theres a big advantage to having the same room lights as I'll have on the layout - anything I do on the lower deck won't "colorshift" when I add the valence lighting.

[icmr]

You also need plug-ins.



ICMR

[icmr]

You have to have lights.



ICMR

[rexhea]

Electro,
Heat from standard incandescent lights that can be used in track lighting is no different than those in your reading lamp, watt to watt. However, you will notice a significant difference with the use of halogen bulbs, but not to the point of making the room uncomfortable if you have average ventilation by air conditioning. Again, I use halogen over the standard because you get more lumens per watt of power and I use track lighting so I can adjust and move the lighting effects as I see fit to do so.

As all ready stated, a fluorescent bulb tops the lumens per watt of power with a halogen second, if this is a critical issue. FL is also the cheapest way to go. Halogen will produce a more life-like lighting effect and can be directed to emphasise a certain layout area more than another. With FL you will flood the entire area with the same amount of light on each area and is not life-like even with "daylight" bulbs. (Proof of this is when you go buy a shirt at a clothing store that has these bulbs and go out in the sun and realize that it is not the color you thought it was.)

I would suggest that you visit a local lighting store and make comparisons of all the options given to you in this thread. Someone mentioned that a combination may be the way to go. This will allow you to emphasize special (bragging) areas of your layout with track lighting, while giving you a broad coverage of light in the room with fluorescent.
It really comes down to what you have heard many times on this forum." ...do what will satisfy you." and "What works for me may not work for you." [;)]

REX[:)]

[jfugate]

Mark:

It is also true that room level lighting won't work on a multideck layout design -- you have to adopt some sort of valance display lighting if you don't want the lower deck to be a dark and shadowy cavity.

In order to have consistent look on both decks, I installed a valance with the same porcelain sockets and bulbs on *both* decks.

[Pruitt]

Right now my layout is lit with my general room lighting (when I start on the second deck, I'll install the layout lighting)., for which I use Philips Natural sunlight bulbs. The T12 style have a color rendition index of 92, meaning the bulbs produce a very broad spectrum, and the quality of the light allows you to discern small differences in shading and tone of very similar colors (two close reds, for example). From my research, any bulb with a CRI over about 85 provides very good color difference distinction to the human eye.

I plan to use smaller bersions of these bulbs for my layout laighting, when that installation begins.

[jfugate]

You actually have a couple of basic approaches, depending on what you are trying to do.

If you are trying to simply light a room well that has the layout in it, that's one thing. But if you are up for installing more sophisticated "display" lighting, that's entirely another.

For a "lighting the room only" approach, then some sort of full spectrum florescent fixtures on the ceiling would be sufficient. However, dimming the lights won't really be an option in that case unless you want to spend the big bucks.

For a "display lighting" approach where you want to emphasize the layout and make it look its best (almost a museum quality), then porcelain fixtures in a valance give you great flexibility at the lowest price. You can do low wattage incandescents (like I've done), use inexpensive low wattage florescent bulbs of your desired light color, or go with the more expensive dimmable florescents (refer to my previous post).

IMO, using track lighting or tube florescents for display lighting limits your options and/or costs you more, with little benefit over standard screw-in fixtures.

[Anonymous]

As I recall Joe actually lost an operating session when the heat of a Halogen lamp melted the ties on some switch work on his layout. In defense of the halogens I believe he was doing some filming and the lamps were in much closer proximity than you would normally use in layout lighting.
Three other things, I like the idea of the mini/screw in flourescents aas I have used them in lamps around the house for energy saving and like them in that application. Second, the fixtures you posted of the flourescent fixtures with the plastic defuser might be advantageous, as the defuser may give you UV screening to prevent color fading. Third, the track lights you posted are the larger sized units, and would probably work well for you. My preference is for spot type of lamps in these type of fixtures to put more intense/focused lighting on the subject rather than flood type lamps. However there are smaller track light fixtures available here where we have 110 volt systems, and you may also find some "low voltage" type of smaller track lights as well. I also prefer reflector lamps as they push all the light out of the fixture instead of having it illuminate the inside of the fixture thus getting wasted.
Good luck in your "hunt" for the best way of getting the "dark sucked" out of the layout room.
Will

[Anonymous]

For the heating effects of lights, the rules are all the sam regardless of the type of light, being incandescent, flourescents, halogen, etc.

Heat output = watts input

If you put in 250 watts of lights, you'll get about 250 watts of heat. The vast majority of the energy does NOT produce light, even in the most energy efficient lights.

Incandescents are MUCH worse than flourescents. You'd have to put in 1000 watts of incandescents to equal 250 watts in flourescents.

Halogen lights are higher efficiency incandescents, but not as efficient as flourescents. They're hotter, smaller, allow you to better direct the light, and give better color rendition. They also cost more.

My philosophy is to put in the best lighting that you can afford. Overkill it, and make it controllable so you can dim it down as needed. When doing detailed work you'll need the bright light. When operating you probably don't need as much light as when you're working on the layout. Maybe be able to either dim the lights or selectively turn off a few of them.

Track lights on a dimmer for operations, plus some big ugly flourescents on seperate switches for additional lighting when working on it would be a good mix.

Mark in Utah

[tsasala]

As a note, if you use electronic FL ballasts instead of magnetic ballasts, the flicker will not be noticable (to humans). Electronic ballast usually supply AC in the 20Khz range instead of 60hz like magnetic ballasts.

In terms of efficiency, any FL lamp will be more efficient than any incandescant lamp. As such, you will get more light for less watts out of FL verses incandscent. Example, you can get a 15 watt PC lamp that outputs the same amount of light was a 70 watt incandscent lamp. When you have 10 or 15 lamps, that's a lot more light for a lot less energy (= $$) Plus, you can choose your color temperature to a certain extent. Again, 5500K is daylight, 4500K is "warm" and 6500K is "cool".

-Tom

[electrolove]

rexhea:

How much heat will incandescent lighting with halogens produce?

[rexhea]

Originally posted by electrolove

Track lighting, do you mean something like this?



Yes, as Selector has already said.
What I like about these is the flexibility of being able to direct your light anywhere you want it. You can add as many lights to a light track as you need providing you stay within range of your wiring specs. Remember, all you have to do is buy a track light accessory that replaces your light fixture. You just remove the light fixture and wire it in its place. The track slips in and locks into the new fixture. You can add more tracks as needed by just inserting into the ends of the existing ones.

I guarantee that you will like incandescent lighting much more than florescent as far as the looks of your layout goes. Your colors will be much more vivid and life- like than any kind of florescent. I started out with florescent and spent a lot of money trying different types of bulbs, but wasn't happy with any of it. Finally, I put up the track lighting with halogens and I am very pleased with the difference.

REX

Rex "Blue Creek & Warrior Railways" http://www.railimages.com/gallery/rexheacock

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