Yesterday I replaced the miniature fluorescent tubes at Dunalistair by LED strip lights. These have been fitted provisionally, as a secure backing frame made from wood strip still has to be installed. I just drilled large holes in the frames of Inverlochan and threaded them through, securing them with wedges at each end after I put them at the correct angle.
The strip I got was 2 metres and self-adhesive, although the adhesive was a joke - it lets go from almost any surface, especially from wood framing. I had about 1 metre left from a job done elsewhere, which I connected up by soldering leads between them. They work perfectly together on one switched power unit.
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Foddphotos%2FIMG_1850.JPG&hash=2ad19bee02c4897149a475738e71957aa6de9079)
The old lights cast shadows and bright spots and confused my cameras which sometimes gave images far too yellow, that couldn't be corrected as part of the spectrum seemed to be missing. Compare the two below:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Falbum%2F2015december%2Fimages%2FIMG_1480.jpg&hash=e6e67737c93adc9bc2f619e71e87768f7214a905)
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Foddphotos%2FIMG_1856.JPG&hash=fc4619111da5706f3103355a2c119f97b2d86280)
And the next two:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Farchive%2F2015%2Falbum%2F2015december%2Fimages%2FIMG_1710.jpg&hash=4689683190ab515008e0c5fea6e95b21dd2652e5)
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Foddphotos%2FIMG_1867.JPG&hash=f19bb9888e32e3a768e18587a701e967c3044981)
Here are two more showing the more natural light:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Foddphotos%2FIMG_1864.JPG&hash=2d1d62c72f643b783eeb939bfcb2202c8055cb79)
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.009dutch.nl%2Foddphotos%2FIMG_1847.JPG&hash=950decce7e9bc6c74f41ba0666cb66392e67bca9)
Actually I liked that yellow touch - the new pictures look much colder. But you can in any case correct pictures electronically to the effect you would like to show.
So you will save energy now and do something for our planet! (shouldn't sound sarcastic, I like this technology and have LEDs in most rooms of my house...)
Thanks Gerhard - I agree they look a little colder. But I can manipulate the colour temperature of the photos with Photoshop. The difference with the old ones is that the blue component of the light was very weak and couldn't be boosted without ruining the photo. The new ones are far more balanced.
Following advice from an NGRM forum member I fitted seld-adhesive plastic cable ducts behind the sagging LED chains, which has improved the look and the way I can focus the light.
Ted, these are excellent photos and certainly do your layout justice. I like the colour temperature of these LEDs they are similar to those we have used on several layouts and are as close the daylight as you can get. It is probably the case that you have got used to the warm white lamps and it is a bit of a shock to make the change.
By the way, we have found that LEDs have been good enough to light our layouts for Railway Modeller articles.
One thing to watch, as I have mentioned elsewhere, is to watch out for what 240v AC to 12 volt drivers you use for the LEDs. It is always best to match the drivers supplied by the same manufacturer as the LED strip otherwise in our experience you can can get flicker. I think it may be something to do with the power required by a particular make of strip. We had a similar problem changing 12 volt GO10 lamps to LED versions in our bathroom recently.
We have used both Conrad LED strip on a 30m reel with their drivers but the best so far were pre-built lighting strips from Simply Lighting with their dedicated drivers - one driver can supply four metre long strips and they are pre-wired with plugs to do this.
Thanks Jim - with LED lighting the colour spectrum seems to be more natural. The light is made up from the emissions of separate LED components, red, blue and green. Somehow these seem to cover the entire spectrum seen by a camera.
The strips I use come in 2m and 4m lenghts from a local DIY market, but they all seem to use the same power unit. I used a cut-off I had from a lighting project in the Valkenburg museum to extend my strip. It works without trouble.
In my experience, the most important thing is you don't use a unit with a dimmer function - when you switch on the room light they must come on full power. Dimmers also seem to create a sort of flickering which is no use on layout lighting.