White LED's

sd75mac Apr 2, 2000

  1. sd75mac

    sd75mac Guest

    0
    0
    0
    Has anyone else changed their yellow LED's over to white? What are your comments?

    ------------------
    Keep on Track'N
    Harold Riley http://www.phcomputing.com

    [This message has been edited by sd75mac (edited 02 April 2000).]
     
  2. rray

    rray Staff Member

    8,277
    9,277
    133
    There has been a lot of talk about white led's in the newsgroups lately, so I started looking into them.
    The new generation are very bright, almost too bright. The smallest are the T1 size but there are some surface mount types coming out any day that may be perfect for N-Scale ditch lights an stuff.
    Also from what I have read, it is best to put them in series with a regular diode because their reversing current protection is low, and they may burn out.(people say it is not really an led) Just a very small surface mount diode is enough to protect it.
    Also it is recommended to use 560 ohms instead of 1K because they run off of 5 volts.

    I'm by no means an expert, I just want to use white leds like you do Harold, and there has been so much talk about this, that I had to look into it. [​IMG]

    ------------------
    The NP & UP N-Scale Railroad
     
  3. sd75mac

    sd75mac Guest

    0
    0
    0
    I ordered 12 T-1's and installed them on my Digitrax boards. They are bright, but I can dim them by using the Rule 17 CV in the programming. Overall, I am very pleased. They look real nice while nite running.

    ------------------
    Keep on Track'N
    Harold Riley
    www.phcomputing.com
     
  4. BC Rail King

    BC Rail King E-Mail Bounces

    904
    4
    24
    Have either of you noticed a blueish tint?
    I have seen some true white LEDs, but most of them, including the ones Kato will be using seem to be blue! It is very annoying!

    Also, how much is the switch to white LEDs?

    BC Rail King
     
  5. sd75mac

    sd75mac Guest

    0
    0
    0
    Technology has not progressed to the point of creating a true white LED. I understand it is being developed. Digi-key has them for $3.00 each (10 or less) or $2.78 each for 11 or more. Or you can get them from an N-Scale store in Anahiem CA for $10 each [​IMG]

    ------------------
    Keep on Track'N
    Harold Riley
    www.phcomputing.com
     
  6. BC Rail King

    BC Rail King E-Mail Bounces

    904
    4
    24
    LOL!! $10! Ha!

    Thank you for the info-I now also know a store to stay away from too! There is a store in gastown (Vancouver, BC) that sells Model Power and flocks it as the best running stuff around for $70, that is a place to stay away from!

    BC Rail King

    [This message has been edited by Alan (edited 10 April 2000).]
     
  7. sd75mac

    sd75mac Guest

    0
    0
    0
    BC Rail King, We visited Vancouver in mid-February. But since the border guards gave us SUCH a tough time in crossing, we only drove to Vancouver, turned around and left Canada. [​IMG]

    ------------------
    Keep on Track'N
    Harold Riley
    www.phcomputing.com
     
  8. BC Rail King

    BC Rail King E-Mail Bounces

    904
    4
    24
    They were looking for some terrorist guy that was running around trying to kill people-I don't blame them for being tough. Of course, there are just the people who are just plain old mean!



    ------------------
    Have a good day,

    //BC Rail King
     
  9. Harron

    Harron TrainBoard Supporter

    1,061
    0
    31
    Just catching up on the board, and noticed that nobody mentioned the 1.5V micro-bulbs! Forget the leds, I use (as well as my club) these little bulbs, which are truly white. Sometimes you need to add resistors, it'll depend on your decoder, engine, etc. Our Atlas/Kato RS-1s and -3s (HO scale) are all equipped with these, or at least will be as I get to them.

    And as far ditchlights in N, anybody heard of Fiber Optics?? You can just run them off of the headlight, kinda like what Kato did with the C44-9W.

    Just my thoughts, and ALL white LEDs I have seen have a blue tint.

    ------------------
    Corey
     
  10. Robin Matthysen

    Robin Matthysen Passed Away October 17, 2005 In Memoriam

    834
    1
    24
    I use the 1.5 micro bulbs and have installed 50 of them on my oil refinery. Does it ever look great. My aisle lighting is done with blue lamps so when normal layout lighting is dimmed then the blue light looks like moonlight. Seeing the oil refinery with these tiny lights make it look like the real thing. I use a Circuitron voltage regulator which has a variable resistance so lamp brightness can be adjusted. I use 8 volt AC input to the regulator and get 1.5 volts DC out. The output of the regulator works better the closer the input voltage is to the output voltage. The input transformer is 1.5 amps which can handle that amount of lamps. The heat sink of the regulator gets quite warm but so far can handle it. I also use some red bulbs for tops of the high points. These tiny light bulbs can be used in signals. I will definitely use them.

    Robin
     

Share This Page