I have looked around the forum and couldn't find anything on this, no doubt someone will soon put me straight on this though :shock:

I'm about to start building my 'street consisting of Metcalfe low relief houses and shops in red brick. Ultimately I want to have lights inside them and wondered what the best way to do this would be? I'm guessing LV filament lamps are out due to the heat generated so maybe LEDs are the answer? Only thing is, I've never used LEDs and am not sure how much they would 'throw' the light. If LEDs are the way to go maybe someone can point me in the right direction towards where is best to purchase the right type and also what is involved with wiring them. I'm ok with electrickery as I did an apprenticeship with the stuff but to be honest haven't really done much hands-on stuff for years apart from extra sockets in the garage etc.
Anyway, can anyone help?

TF, I would as a starter have a look at the index under L  - there are 6 topics . Study those & then fire specific questions at us.

I have standard grain-of-wheat bulbs in my Metcalfe shops and no sign of any scorching, not that I run them for long periods of time.  I was also careful to keep them clear of the card. They are 1.5 volts and they run off rechargeable AA batteries.
 In the Metcalfe goods shed I have a single 12v grain-of-wheat bulb, and again no problems. It runs off the controller.
 I'm sure LEDs would be fine and would throw plenty of light but I have never used them. I'm electrically challenged in the extreme

Mike

Found this info about lighting buildings up, step by step guide, you may find it usefull?

http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Scenery/lighting.htm

When you get on the page just scrol down.

Phill

Trainfish,grain of wheat/rice bulbs are fine,they only scorch if left on for hours
 and if they are to close to the card, but a bit of kitchen foil behind the bulb stops that.
i have used 6vlt g,o,w on my layout with no probs.
if you decide to use l.e.ds then try this seller on ebay  "handsignalman " he
supplies them plus the resisters very reasonable.

lol::cool:

I only have LED's in my street lights and inside buildings and the small yellow types cast a fairly good incandescent glow with suitable "throw of light" which unfortunately l cannot show you a night view digitally yet… yet!

I also have higher intensity ones in my yard lights so my consumption is very low for 20 or 30 "globes".  The other advantage is that the heat is really minimal almost non existent  unlike incandescent globes. Plus at 80000 hours life, you don't change as many…

Hope this helps

Trevor

I have fitted LEDs in several Metcalfe buildings. I use yellow ones runnning off 12volts with a 1k resistor in series with each LED. Here are a few night time pictures of the station buildings if it helps.
















This last one is just a favourite shot of mine showing a late night traveller waiting under a station lamp. The lamp is again a yellow LED with 1K resistor off 12 volts.


 

Hi Geoff,

And thanks Mate you saved me the trouble of showing the ambient light effect! LED's the way to go!

Regards

Trevor

Alternatively;

I use incandescent 12 - 15v bulbs in card buildings and have had no scorching or overheating

over plus 5 years. They are powered by old 2nd hand Marklin controllers (cheap)using the variable

output so that the brightness is controlable from dim to bright.

Some examples.

 



 




 




 



 






 

Please see my

"Help to identify these components please."

If those bits are any use to someone, please PM me.
They can be had for a modest donation to a local Childrens' Charity.
Donation will be to me via PayPal.

[user=394]ddolfelin[/user] wrote:

Please see my

"Help to identify these components please."

If those bits are any use to someone, please PM me.
They can be had for a modest donation to a local Childrens' Charity.
Donation will be to me via PayPal.

I have responded to your "Help to identify these components please" post, let me know what you want and I'm sure we can sort out a suitable donation.

To all the others, thanks very much for your help, it really is appreciated. I think there are possibilities for each different type of lighting and I will have a play with some to see which suit me best. Even the idea of using an old controller has given me an idea for the spare HM2000 units which I have. The idea of being able to dim lights sounds good to me. Ok, the HM2000 is probably a bit over the top but I have 2 or 3 so they won't cost me a penny! Does anyone see any problems with using these? I was going to sell them and the HM4000 I have but it seems silly to do so now.

if i have this right :roll: the only thing to remember isnot to turn the control knob to reverse
as this changes the polarity, led` don`t like that you could burn em out.

some one will correct this if it is wrong ;-)
lol::cool:

Just feed all of your LED power through a single 1N4002 diode connected to the forward positive terminal at the controller output. You can then connect up to 100 LEDs each with 1K ohm resistors to this diode. Turning the controller into reverse will then have no affect. Also if you accidentally connect an LED the wrong way round, you won't blow it up.

cheers Geoff i did not know that,now where is that spare …

:pathead:cool:

I have had reasonable success with lighting kits from "First Class Trains" a bit fiddly but they do work, I am about to experiment with a random light controller from train tech, if this is ok I will use them for a 1 metre (actual size) length of Metcalfe low relief terraced houses. I will let you know how it works out.

Looking forward to the report FC.

Marty

I have found the light emitted by the standard 3mm dome ended led is quite directionsl, focusing about 2 inches away. By filing a flat on the plastic case it seems to spread out more suiably for an interior application.

Doug

Do you mean filing the flat on the domed head Doug ?  I must try that …………:roll:

Yup, just flattening the domed end. A more definte cut off can be obtained by simply dipping it in black paint.

Doug