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[Stan]

L E D lighting is a bit of a taboo subject but I personally think not. The picture attached shows a bank of resistors, one for each cabin light. Because I wanted all  the lights to come at the same time the resistors on the input are all connected together. To make life easy you can see red and black dots on each L E D  making wiring up easy. All of my models that use L E D  for lighting are wired in parallel rather than series .If you are thinking about having a go at fitting L E D lighting it is not rocket science just common sense if explained in a simple way. I forgot to mention the model is a small tug.

Stan.

[JoJoElbe]

Hi Stan,

why a taboo subject?  It's more the problem that it's too new and there are so many different options (LED types).
You can either use resistors (and always have the same voltage) or use 'constant current sources' (of 20mA, 10mA or 5mA depending on the LED) which habe the advantage that they work for a range of incoming volatage but always deliver the same amount of mA (the LED brightness is the same).
I have a setup wher I can use 2S LiFePO, 7.2V NiMh or 9V block battries/accus and even 12V would work and give the same brightness for thee LEDs.

The only disadvantage is that you have to check if the LED brightness fits before you use them in your boat.
Meanwhile there  are diffuse warmwhite (not yellowish) or daylight-like ones wich work very well as lightbulb replacement and usually last much longer.
BUT AS ALWAYS: It's no believe, ist just alternatives, LED+resisitor, LED+ccs or bulbs.

Thanks for bringing this up and showing your setup, basically it's easy and a good alternative to bulbs.

Regards,

Joerg

PS: The spots are a bit too white but they are high brilliant standard 5mm LEDs -- no heat.

[Stan]

HI to many fitting lighting using L E D is taboo mainly due to the fact they feel afraid of having a go. If the ask for advice they normally get a load of technical mumbo jumbo that they do not understand. Keep it simple this is what Component Shop have done on the back pages of there catalogue use this simple information and the muddy water becomes lot clearer.

[Colin Bishop]

Not all that new. My Isle of Wight ferry Shanklin was fitted with LEDs back in 1984!

Colin

[Subculture]

White was a problem until blue LED's came along in the 1990's- white LED's are blue LED's usually with a yellow phosphor cap, although some are now using quantum dots for greater efficiency.

[JoJoElbe]

Hi Stan,
being afraid of too many new things is ok. In younger age one usually runs after upgrades etc. at some point it's just annoying: **** mobile, new OS is totally different than the one I used before ....'

I'm personally 'afraid' of too much electronics. Not that I wouldn't understand if I would spend enough time, it's the time I don't want to spend.
Anyways, there will be more and more using LEDs.
And hi Colin,
cool, 1984 so it was red, green and yelow or wher white ones already existing that time?  I still have a few old ones but they are so 'dark'.
OK, was just answered while I write this.  But yellowisch for old ships still works.

Best,Joerg

[Colin Bishop]

Yes, I used yellow back then but more recently warm white for accommodation lights and pure white for navigation lights.

Colin

[Stan]

Hi I only use 2mm L E D in all my installations wired using very thin copper wire. And of course if possible match the colour to the time period. My message is still the same keep it simple.

[canabus]

Hi
In the first picture the bank of resistors on the left look the same resistance, I would use one resistor and  multi connect the LEDS to that.


The resistor drops the voltage to the required voltage to run these LEDS.


5mm white LEDS ran on 3.2 volts, but an increase of the dropping resistor will dull these down.


Canabus

[Stan]

HI canabus  thank you for that suggestion. You mention 5mm L E D were do you fit them ? They are large I use 2 mm and get good results 2mm white are no different than 5mm still need 3 volts and give good lighting effect. You must have big models using 5mm.

[grendel]

I am going down a slightly different route to achieve the same end, as I am using micro led's (0.8mm x 0.5mm) and using different types, the average operating voltage was 3.0v, so I am using a voltage regulator to drop the lithium cell voltage down to 3V (I am uso using a dip switch at the helm position for manual switching).
then I wanted the lighting to be modular and easily disconnected, so I went with a veroboard populated with pins, and connectors on each circuit.

[JoJoElbe]

I am going down a slightly different route to achieve the same end, as I am using micro led's (0.8mm x 0.5mm) and using different types, the average operating voltage was 3.0v, so I am using a voltage regulator to drop the lithium cell voltage down to 3V (I am uso using a dip switch at the helm position for manual switching).
then I wanted the lighting to be modular and easily disconnected, so I went with a veroboard populated with pins, and connectors on each circuit.

Hi,5mm LED for spots in 1/20 scale, position light usually go well with cylindrical diffuse 3mm LEDs.J