Inexpensive Lighting for a Layout

[jonathan]

The projects keep on coming.  This time is a little lighting project that I wanted to accomplish as cheaply as possible.  Searching the internet I found I could order LEDs direct from China for 3.75 USD per 100.  That's less than 4 cents per LED!  These are warm white LEDs.





For 29 cents per 3' piece, I got 3/16" dowels.  560 ohm resistors were 25 cents a piece, and lamp shades were 43 cents a piece.  The scrap wire is free.  That works out to about 60 cents per working lamp post.









The be even more economical, some of my lampshades are made from plastic wheels (free), taking the cost down to 17 cents per post.



What follows are some night-time shots of my layout using this cheap lighting method.  Oh, the 9v wall wart, used for the power source, was from the junk box.  So no cost there, either.



































Regards,

Jonathan

[rbryce1]

Boy, You da Man!

[jward]

impressive. i'll have to try this. all these years i've been throwing those old, non rp25 wheels away. i could have been using them for lampshades. you learn something every day.

[beampaul7]

You never cease to amaze, Jonathan. Thank You for sharing.

Now if I can only get you to start modeling in my era.

Paul G

[Joe Satnik]

Amazing. 

Sell the parts as a kit. 

Post the instructions, with photos, on a web site, say, perhaps, like, the Bachmann board.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

[richg]

Very nice, Jonathan.
Are those inverted cone, LED's? They sure look like it in the photos.

Can you include a source here? I am thinking you got them via ebay.
I have some inverted cone LED's that look nearly the same.

Rich

[jonathan]

Thanks, gents.

A few caveats:

The LEDs are wired 3-in-a-series with a 560 ohm, or 680 ohm, resistor wired on the negative end.  A 1K resistor seems too much (dim or no light).  I tried wiring one set with no resistor and one LED didn't live too long.  With 4 LEDs in a series, the lights would not light.  That's how I experiment.  Each LED is rated at around 2.6 volts, if memory serves.

I found the source through an eBay search, as Rich deduced.  I typed "3mm LED" and found these for the best price, free shipping as well.  Can't recall the name of the company, but could go back and look it up if needed.  They weren't called 'inverted cone'.  They do have a rim at the point where the leads come out.

The 3/16" dowels are a bit thick.  1/8" dowels would look better, but I wanted to make these more sturdy, to handle some bumping--not that we ever have a stray wrist or elbow in the way.   

And to keep some Bachmann content, the depressed center flat car is a Bachmann, as are the two locomotives facing the turntable; all modified of course.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Keusink]

Jonathon

You are still scaring me with the sophistication of your work (that is not said ironically).

Can you take a look at my general post of this morning about caboose lighting?

Chris