I’m looking for suggestions on where to get decent LED lights to light up my coaches and buildings. I’ve read some posts about strip lights for buildings and newer coaches which are all good. But I’m looking for some LEDs to put in several of my Bachmann Jackson Sharpe coaches…lights like the one in the picture. I’d like it to be flush like the one seen…but am ok with something hanging. I’m working on recreating the original Santa Fe and Disneyland coaches.
Thanks,
Richard
Are you looking for the actual fixture, or just a LED?
Hey Chris,
Either is fine with me. I have some LED Christmas lights that are a white ball shaped globe. I’ve been experimenting with them and I can get the actual globe off of the green portion of the light. My issue is the clearance in the ceiling of the cars…only have about a 16th of of an inch to play with. I plan on detailing the interiors so will be installing very thin balsa wood for a wood interior…including the roof.
I buy my LEDs from here: (click name for link) hdamodelworx They are better quality than the Chinese 1000 for $1.00 ebay specials. Resistors for 12V operation are included and sometimes wired. Look around, you can find quite a variety from standard LEDs to very small SMDs.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the website. I’ve emailed them what I’m looking to do and will hopefully hear back soon.
Richard
I like to get LEDs from this guy, because he makes them with a tiny circuit board attached that regulates the voltage and polarity. Makes it really easy to hook 'em up if your “electronically impaired” like I am:
Chris Kieffer said:
I buy my LEDs from here: (click name for link) hdamodelworx They are better quality than the Chinese 1000 for $1.00 ebay specials. Resistors for 12V operation are included and sometimes wired. Look around, you can find quite a variety from standard LEDs to very small SMDs.
I like the resin encased ones, they might fill your requirement. Price is reasonable also.
Get the warm whites.
You can also dim them by using a higher value resistor in series with one of the leads.
For interior lighting, I use “straw hat” warm white LEDs. These have a wide dispersion so you don’t just light up a spot on the floor.
I just get them from Amazon. $6 for 100.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BV2OTIY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_oa-oBbJWW4Y39
I use the same place Ray does, work great and have the resistors wired in.
Thanks for the different links…I’ve checked them all out and each seem to have really good quality products from what I can see. I’m like Ray though and not much of an electronics person…so the pre-wired resistors is very appealing to me.
Happy 4th of July to all!!
Richard
Dave at https://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/collections/hobby-leds has been very helpful…thanks Ray Dunakin for the link. I’m happily awaiting the LEDs to install in my Santa Fe and Disneyland Retlaw 1 coaches.
Richard
They are so cheap, I tend to use the name brands, supplied for professional electronic design, those can be purchased from Mouser or Digikey.
Yes, I know they are more expensive this way than the cheap Chinese “fallouts”, but I know I can buy more of EXACTLY the same one I purchased a year ago, and they will be EXACTLY the same color and EXACTLY the same brightness.
So, since I try to standardize within my fleet, this actually saves time and grief for me.
Greg