Have any of you increased the wattage of your typical Dept 56 house from 7 watts to 10 watts? I have tried this on a few and I like the look much better on most of them. Most do not get noticeably warmer either.
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How do you increase? By adding a higher wattage bulb? What I'm planning to do is switch to all led lighting in all my ceramic buildings any run some at 18v, 14v and just see which looks best while not all the same. (some brighter, some darker, some warm white. I think you get the idea.
With the amount of these buildings I have, I'd save a ton of juice and eliminate 30 or so 120v plugs and run these lamps off of Transformer power.
I put a couple of the original White LEDs in 2 houses and got a nice result. Because the original White bulbs gave off a blue light it made the houses appear as though they had Televisions running inside. I wouldn't want all my building to look the same, but it looked nice in a few of them.
I think Marty's idea of using different color shades and brightness is awesome. I'd love to see the result.
Emile
I have a number of these buildings and would also like to run them by 12v to 18v.
where did you get your bulbs?
I bought the "Blueish" White bulbs at Home Depot over a year ago. A straight bulb-for-bulb switch of 50 to 75 buildings would be really expensive. I think it would be better to order a couple of LED tape rolls from China and retrofit each house with a 3 LED section of tape and some hot glue, but this is far from my area of expertise.
I have tried Leds and they are not bright enough for my tastes unless you put 3 or more per building. They need to be placed in each building in the right places to light them the way I would like it. Not worth the trouble. I have been experimenting with clear bulbs and some colored at 10 watts.
I'm choosing to go the route of using bayonet bulbs, most led, some not, I feel this will give me the look I'm seeking. The cost will be a little higher than the rolls of leds, but will save a ton of juice and a ton of 120v cords on the layout. If I feel the use of the original lamp is best, I may use a few.
As soon as I get to a result that I like and get the layout going, I'll be happy to share results and pictures.
Look for C7 replacement LED's on the internet. I seem to remember a few places have them in bulk packages. Much cheaper than retail store prices for a small quantity.
ICRRE8
Look at
Then look for C7 LED Bulbs Ceramic Style Replacement Christmas Light Bulbs - 4 Lumens
25 for a rwasonable price.
I've switched the D56 buildings on my layout to to 12 VDC LEDs. I purchased inexpensive 12 VDC candelabra base LED buibs on-line from china. I installed power strips (16 outlets) under the layout which I powered with 12 VDC. I used the standard D56 building lamp cords and plug them into the 12 VDC power strips. Works great !!
The D56 candelabra base is E12.
TheBigCrabCake posted:I put a couple of the original White LEDs in 2 houses and got a nice result. Because the original White bulbs gave off a blue light it made the houses appear as though they had Televisions running inside. I wouldn't want all my building to look the same, but it looked nice in a few of them.
I think Marty's idea of using different color shades and brightness is awesome. I'd love to see the result.
Emile
You can dab the LED's with a transparent yellow or orange paint to take the blue out.
Alan
If you guys are looking for replacements, you might try looking at 1000 bulbs.com, they have a ton of all different types of bulbs, I bought LED replacements for my 4 lamp fluorescents. They also sell them by the case too.
I use these: https://www.amazon.com/G7-Powe...aps%2C155&sr=8-4 . They seem to be just a bit brighter than the standard frosted C7 bulbs that come with the Lemax buildings.
Tony
