RMweb Premium Ray H Posted July 18, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 18, 2015 My proposed layout is located in an integral garage. A large part of the terminal station area has wall mounted cupboards overhead with a clearance of about 15 inches - other measuring systems are available - between the underside of the cupboards and the bare baseboard! The area beneath the cupboards would benefit from some additional lighting under the cupboards. I'm loathe to add fluorescent lights because they'll reduce the space between underside of the cupboards and the layout and may swamp the are with too much light. LED strip lights are readily available via ebay and these could be connected to the layout's 12v DC supply (with appropriate resistors if required). Is a strip of LEDs liable to throw enough light over the area that close below - the layout's scenery will obviously be closer than the bare baseboard? My only experience of a strip of LED lights was their use to provide nominal surround lighting - to see a door lock under a cover on a boat - and the blue light used did what is was designed too but the area to be lit was much larger/deeper. Can anyone recommend a particular style/brand of LEDs (if they're thought suitable)? Many thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozzer models Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 I am using a set of the Muti LED lighting fitted to the pelmit 100_7897 by Mozzer models, on Flickr the LED strip is Multi colour controlled with this 100_7905 by Mozzer models, on Flickr and heres some close ups with the LED off & on 100_7908 by Mozzer models, on Flickr 100_7909 by Mozzer models, on Flickr using the 6 arrow buttons you can change the light shade each light on the strip is made up of 3 LED's red, blue & green the buttons change how bright each colour led gives out 100_7920 by Mozzer models, on Flickr PS the 2 buttons in the top left hand only work with the pre set colours here the lighting is running on fade 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted July 18, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 18, 2015 Thanks. I'd not thought of several rows. That may overcome my concerns about the amount of light available from strips. I think that I'd be happy with a single colour like warm white although I suppose that I could go for something brighter and reduce the intensity by adjusting the supply voltage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 l used one strip of LED lighting on the fiddle yard on 'Ashcombe' and they were very bright, just wired up to a 12volt transformer with no resistors... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium terrysoham Posted July 19, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 19, 2015 I am very happy with the LED lighting on Neely. I bought day light ones from a UK supplier on eBay. In 5 metre reels. They come with built in resistors and can be cut into lengths in multiples of three LEDs. I used three equally spaced strips about 600mm above the 600 mm wide baseboards. The strips are self adhesive but I found that they needed further support so I used hot glue tacks every 300 - 450 mm to secure them. In addition to the LEDs, you will need a suitable 12v power supply unit at 6 amps. The lighting is nicely diffused and produces very little shadow. If you have any questions just let me know. Regards Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted July 19, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 19, 2015 Cheers for the suggestions/comments chaps. I'm torn between not providing enough additional lighting and providing too much given that the LEDs will be just 15ins above the baseboard level and possibly less than a foot above the roof of any structures. I'm also wondering whether to paint the underside of the cupboards - made of rough plywood - a light blue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasatcopthorne Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Ray. Used the same stuff as 'terrysoham' above. Got the power source from the same suppliers. Ours worked just as well. You could cut the LED strip into 3s and spread them out but you will have to joint each 3 LED long bit by soldering connecting wires. They have solder pads to make it easy. How about ordering the less bright versions. Should be a obvious what ones they are on the eBay site. Best of luck Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meil Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 LED strips have to have a heat sink or they won't last 5 mins. Either use aluminium strip/angle/channel or use the special aluminium adhesive tape sold for the purpose. Direct attachment to wood will result in early failure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ed7 Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 LED strips have to have a heat sink or they won't last 5 mins. Either use aluminium strip/angle/channel or use the special aluminium adhesive tape sold for the purpose. Direct attachment to wood will result in early failure. Some years ago I installed LED strips under kitchen cupboards. The strips were self-adhesive and I stuck them direct to the underside of the cupboards. They are on most of the day in a rather dark kitchen, but generate virtually no heat So far I have had no problems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasatcopthorne Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 LED strips have to have a heat sink or they won't last 5 mins. Either use aluminium strip/angle/channel or use the special aluminium adhesive tape sold for the purpose. Direct attachment to wood will result in early failure. Sorry but don't know where you are coming from on this. No heat sink needed here mate. Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelp Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Got a 5M roll of LED strip from Ebay, no mention of a heatsink required. Michael Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted July 19, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 19, 2015 Cheers for all the help chaps, I had a look on ebay and found ones similar to those mozzer models showed above so I've plumped for them. The ones on our narrowboat were mounted on the wooden top plank and never gave us any problems so I don't aim to have a heat sink. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwinian Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 I am very happy with the LED lighting on Neely. I bought day light ones from a UK supplier on eBay. In 5 metre reels. They come with built in resistors and can be cut into lengths in multiples of three LEDs. I used three equally spaced strips about 600mm above the 600 mm wide baseboards. I'm considering something like this for my layout which is 14 feet long including the fiddle yard, just a tad under the full 5M. Do you have separate power supplies for each 5M strip or is there a way to use a single supply? Darwinian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 I'm considering something like this for my layout which is 14 feet long including the fiddle yard, just a tad under the full 5M. Do you have separate power supplies for each 5M strip or is there a way to use a single supply? Darwinian I split a 5m set into two 'halves' and wired up between the two for the folding lighting pelmet I use on my layout (approx 12ft long) They're fitted with a dimmer and it's basically plug and play. I found one strip to be sufficient, you may want more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium terrysoham Posted November 7, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 7, 2015 I'm considering something like this for my layout which is 14 feet long including the fiddle yard, just a tad under the full 5M. Do you have separate power supplies for each 5M strip or is there a way to use a single supply? Darwinian Yes I have a separate psu for each 5m strip. The PSU is rated at 12vdc at 6amps. From memory the PSUs were about £10.00 each. Kind regards Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium ColinK Posted November 7, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 7, 2015 Thanks for this discussion. I will have the same problem soon, and thanks to everyone here I have the solution. I had not thought of including a dimmer, but that is such a good idea as my stock has lights and I'll now put lights in the buildings too. Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted November 8, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 8, 2015 Update: I bought a 5m reel with PSU from a well known Internet auction site. I can vary the colour emitted by the LEDs and could probably do a lot more with them - other than cook a Sunday roast or weather a loco - if I were to read the (approx. A8 size) single sheet leaflet that came with them. My biggest problem was securing them. The underside of the cupboards - which are constructed from what amounts to 18mm shuttering ply - is far from smooth and had received a coat of emulsion a few days before the LEDs were initially fitted thereto. At this stage I should add that the strip folds back on itself twice - once at each end of the cupboard run. The strip seemed to hold initially but I invariably found that it had parted company with the surface to which it was "stuck" in several places overnight. There always seemed to be plenty of "tack" on the back of the strip. After several unsuccessful attempts to re-seat I tried using a hot melt glue gun with the glue applied to the adhesive on the reverse of the strip. I could only do this to relatively short lengths at a time before the glue started to set. There was no improvement - the glue failed to adhere to both surfaces in different places. I then fixed strips of double sided "sticky" tape to the underside of the cupboards and the tape is still there. However, the LED strip once again parted company from the "sticky" tape as it went round the "corner" and the weight of the unsupported section - there are two of these "corners" within about six inches, each with a radius of about 30mm - was too great. The increasing unsupported weight was causing the join to fail causing the LED strip to part company with whatever it was in contact with. This increased the unsupported weight which brought more tape down etc. In the end I pre-drilled some holes in the underside of the cupboards alongside the tape and inserted the fixing pin from 6mm cable clips into each hole such that the cable clip prevented the tape falling more than a few millimetres. The LED strip has now been in place for several weeks although some of the sections between cable clips have lost their "tack" but the clips are working as they were intended and I can get back to modelling. I eventually came to realise that the "corners" where the LED strip changed direction by 90º had (and couldn't avoid) very tight radii with the consequence that I couldn't secure the LED tape Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium terrysoham Posted November 8, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 8, 2015 I too found that the adhesive on the back of the LED strip was not good enough. Mine are located in plastic channels and held securely every 100mm or so using blobs of glue from my heat gun. They have been in place for 9 months without problems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Frutigen Posted November 8, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 8, 2015 Thanks for this discussion. I will have the same problem soon, and thanks to everyone here I have the solution. Same here, thanks everyone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted November 8, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 8, 2015 I have had a subsequent thought. The LED strips come on a reel. The LEDs themselves are mounted and protrude on the upper side of the strip. Thinking about it as I write I do seem to recall that the underside of the strip - the adhesive side - possibly wasn't completely flat when unrolled. This may have been caused by the strip being pulled tight (over the protruding LEDs) and assuming the reverse of the LED lens shape so that only the outermost parts of the tape were making contact with the surface the strip was stuck to. Just a thought and probably miles from fact! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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