Anyone use these led lights for your train room if so how do you like them? Thanks eh
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chester7 posted:Anyone use these led lights for your train room if so how do you like them? Thanks eh
What are you going to use them for? Ceiling? Close to layout?
Ya in the ceiling about 44"- 48" away from layout possibly a black ceiling haven't decided on that yet eh
Chad- these are OK but I would stay away from no-name LED's . These are probably from China (and cheap). The color temp (4000K), is very cool white too. Look for 3500K or below otherwise the light will be too harsh and will shift the colors in your scenery. Do a little research on color temperature and a term called "efficacy".
Spend a few more bucks on products from Cree, Halo, Philips, Sylvania, GE.
30 years in the electrical and lighting industry and I am still learning how LEDs have changed the market.
Those lights are pretty new so I don't think you'll find many, if any, users. They don't require a box and are not directional.
Jan
LED 120V light bulb prices are reasonable enough now that common Recessed Lighting fixtures will give you the most effective lighting with the most possibilities. The most practical Led Recessed Lighting will be the 120V LED flood lamps. See Housings.
To plan recessed ceiling light size and spacing, use Recessed Lighting Applications (pdf download) or similar.
Jan posted:Those lights are pretty new so I don't think you'll find many, if any, users. They don't require a box and are not directional.
Jan
What is the NEC-compliant way to install these? You can't just make splices in open air!
Chad,
I have lights that are similar. Add a dimmer switch to control the brightness.
Charlie
They installed a similar light in this episode of Ask This Old House.
These units have a metal box on a pigtail where connections are made.
The lights you have chosen are "CE compliant" which means that they can be sold in Europe. See the reviews from two electricians. Until approved for use in the US, you'll need to use a box.
Jan
All Kinds of good idears eh Maybe just go with track lighting but I like the flush look of the round ones eh
Any thoughts on these led lights?
If you read the instructions you'll see that the 120v connection is made inside a junction box. All the low voltage connections are made using the manufacturer's modular snap connectors.
You ought to check with their technical support about certifications and electrical code.
Jan
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I have recessed lighting with dimmer in the train room which I was using A19 floodlight bulbs. I just changed over to A19 warm white floodlight LED replacement bulbs.
The first thing that I noticed is that when you dim a bulb it will move toward an orange hue like sunset as you bring down the setting.
The LED replacements will not they will lower in the intensity of the light but will remain in the warm white color. Also I had to access the top of the dimmer switch and turn down the adjusting screw, which mine had, to allow the LED’s to dim.
Turned all the way up the LED’s are much brighter than the bulbs.
I would not recommend the bright white or daylight LED’s as these put out a harsh white in the blue spectrum.
ADD:
I have my lights recessed all the way up inside the cans as I did not want the harsh light of the fixtures detracting from the layout.
banjoflyer posted:chester7 posted:If I were to use these type of lights with my tenitive benchwork what kind of spacing do you think I would need, where do you think they should go and or how many lights? eh
Well the drawing gives no scale or dimensions so it's no help. As to can lights an r30 flood bulb in an 8' ceiling casts a circle of light 8' in diameter on the floor. With a table at 48" height I would guess the cast circle of light would be about 4' diameter.
I would place the lights in a grid spaced 6' from each other across the entire layout. That will give great illumination everywhere with all the lights "cast areas" overlapping by 1'.
Mark
Hey Mark
I was just over by a buddy of mine and he has lights similar and we were thinking about 6' would be the magic number maybe 36" to 40" from the wall eh The grid on my benchwork is ea sq.=12"
For my new layout, I've installed two sets of lights ... 5000 k shop lights (two) hung from the 10' ceiling in a 12'x10' layout room. These lights have a good CRI rating (color rendition index) and provide powerful general work lights for building the layout.
I've also installed six flood lights (4000k - CRI >90)) on a dimmer and those lights are the ones that are/will be for operations.
IMO, a high "k" does provide excellent illumination for work as well as for running trains. IMO again, the most important number is the CRI as it indicates how much the light distorts colors. I've found 4000k lights with>90CRI on a dimmer to provide an excellent source of clear light (non-yellow tint) to the trainroom.
Just MO.
I used these in my train room.
Feit LEDR56/827 1245 Lumen 2700K 5 & 6 Inch Dimmable Retrofit Kit - 120W EQUIVALENT
They give 1245 lumens where most are in the 800 range. Dimmable, 2700K. Above 2700K is harsh , very cold light to me.
I have had 27 of them running for 4 years and no issues at all and they are cheaper than the ones you are looking at. You can get them on Amazon and one seller has them for 9.99 now, that's a third of what I paid 4 years ago. I would not go with a black ceiling, it sucks all the light. That's why they paint night club ceilings in black. I always thought trains rooms should be warm and inviting, not cold and harsh.
Just search for Feit Electric, they are a California Company around since 70's
Feit.com
Sean,
To use your retro kits requires that you already have the recessed cans in place and wired. I don't think Chad has.
Jan
I used track lighting w/LEDS. easy to install and you add as many as you need. although not as clean looking as res. can lights.
I recently installed nine 6" LED lights. All individually adjustable on/off, brightness, and color temperature. I couldn't be happier. Makes for all kinds of various times of day, scenes, settings. I still can't get over the difference with the amount of light now (before it was just the LED track light) and the adjustability of brightness and color temperature per bulb was worth the extra up front cost.
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