Downlighters for railway room lighting

[47137]

As it happens, a rectangular assembly like this will be running across the ceiling joists - so there could be four quite long wood screws going all the way through the assembly and the plasterboard into the joists. The combined thickness of ceiling centre and rose is about 50 mm, so an 80 mm batten gives room for the cable to go round a reasonable radius. I agree entirely about the weight, but the panel might be something rather thinner (say 6mm MDF) with some bracing on the top. There might even be room to flush in a couple of downlighters to give a different mood!

 

The good thing about ready-made LED battens for me is if they don't work out (too bright / wrong colour) they can go in the loft, which currently has one naked light bulb and no floor. But they ought to show me how many lumens I really need for the various installation options, and also the colour temperature.

 

Incidentally I've found it is fairly easy to warm up a cool light (just one incandescent bulb in a spot lamp to add a "sunshine" effect on the layout) but very difficult to cool down a warm light.

 

There is a sensible overriding constraint (or principle) to build something around the use of the room as a bedroom (Dave's post number 3 above), and then modify it to suit hobbies, but if I can end up with just four small holes in the ceiling to make good in the future I'll be very happy. I could go on and build much smaller pelmets for the two windows to hide LED strips for mood lighting.

 

If I then end up with ceiling panel + lighting rig for model making, pelmets + lighting rig for running trains, pelmets alone for use as a bedroom and panel light alone for house work like vacuuming and dusting I ought to be satisfied.

 

The two LED battens were very cheap. If they are a bit naff, they'll go in the loft.

 

- Richard.

Edited November 7, 2017 by 47137

[47137]

I misread the advert for the LED battens, so I ended up with one not two. It seems to be made to a reasonable standard, there is a fitted diffuser and I could pull one end off to get inside. There is a long narrow pcb with two rows of LEDs, and by going inside and cutting one of the wires I have turned off one row. The packaging claims a power consumption for the unit but no claim for the light output. From the advert, it might be 3,600 lumens, so now 1,800 lumens. This is a daylight (6000K) unit.

 

Anyway, I've tried it out in a few places in the room and one of the most effective places is on a shelf above the door like this:

 

Obviously I want a shorter batten to fit here, but in spite of the appearance of the second photograph it does "lift" the lighting across the whole room, not just a concentrated patch.

 

The batten measures 75 x 25 mm (and 1200 mm long) and the shelf is 200 mm deep. With the front of the unit 100 mm behind the front of the shelf I will never see the direct light from the source. I quite like the idea of a shelf here, and I imagine the light could be placed loosely, not fixed down. The shape of the room means I rarely look at the doorway, so this could be quite a unobtrusive installation.

 

The room needs a second batten if not all three in my sketch and this will probably be this 1200 mm unit across the window on the long side, at right angles to the doorway. I think it is best to concentrate on lighting the main circulation area of the room, and ignore the two alcoves for the time being.

 

The existing pendant light adds warmth. This is currently a 70W halogen bulb ...  if I put this on a dimmer switch then the overall colour temperature for the room can be adjustable. The light from the LED batten softens the shadows from the pendant lamp a good deal.

 

Anyway, it's nice to make some progress. I'd like to fix up the shelf and paint it before doing much else with the lighting. I've not ruled out the idea for a central panel over the ceiling rose.

 

- Richard.

[47137]

The shelf is now in place:

 

 

There is a strip of warm white LEDs across the top, an inch from the front. The effect for the room is good, especially when used with the pendant lamp, but it doesn't photograph very well. The colour of the light returned into the room seems to be set as much by the colour of the emulsion paint (a Dulux white) as the LEDs. The shelf needs to be used for some kind of ornament (and not the DVD storage I hoped for) because the LEDs highlight whatever is there.

 

This is the shelf with the LEDs turned on, and the white balance chosen by my smart phone:

 

I've bought some downlighters from Ikea to experiment with under the shelf. "Omlopp" (about 70 mm diameter) is a wide angle, say 120 degrees, and a fairly natural white. "Ledberg" is a much narrower beam and a warm white. Neither is much use for lighting a railway room. The specifications are rather thin, but both need 24V to make them work (the LED strip uses 12V). Two Omlopps might make a small lighting rig for a micro.

 

It may well be, downlighters are the wrong thing for this room, whether used as bedroom or a hobbies room, but I'm pleased with the shelf.

 

- Richard.

Edited November 20, 2017 by 47137

[Harlequin]

The shelf needs to be used for some kind of ornament (and not the DVD storage I hoped for) because the LEDs highlight whatever is there.

 

 

 

How about a bust of Pallas just above your chamber door? ;-)

[47137]

This is Joe Crow. Joe belongs to my friend, and he is her Christmas decoration. He was made specially for her, and I am privileged to be able to borrow him for this photo shoot:

 

Joe is of course a crow and not a raven, but I regard this as modeller's licence. He looks the part.

 

- Richard.

[Harlequin]

Quoth the Raven, "Eat my shorts!"