Floodlights

I did the same thing with our MTH towers... replaced them with high output LEDs. Now they are more than enough light, and the best looking IMHO. I would stick with the MTH flood lights 

Can you elaborate more on "high output" LEDs?   I could also use some brighter LEDs and was wondering what you used.

Thanks,

Ed

Ed,  I purchased the LEDs on Ebay, 100 LEDs for $3.79. 

Light output rating is:  20000 MCD

Steve those LEDs are great fo a lot of things but not flood lights. Way to small and not enough output. They are rated at 20 mA max and the ones I used are 120 mA each. 

These are the LEDs I used:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-x-L...?hash=item233374c2a5

We have six MTH floodlight towers around the turntable, three on each side. More than enough light, and we can adjust the output up or down. The stock bulbs don't even come close to this output, and they burn out fast if you crank the voltage up. MTH had 2 different versions, rated at 14v and 18v, but they never included any paperwork to tell you which ones were which.

I think these are 8mm LED's, with 120 mA output. I had to drill out the light cans to get them to fit, and then used black rtv to glue them in the back. Then all the wires were tucked in, and I painted and weathered the towers. 100% improvement, not to mention the stock bulbs burn out quickly.

You've come a long way Doug, looks like you're not cooking any more LED's nowadays.

Not yet anyway, give me a few months

Thanks for the input guys.  Will be useful in my new application.  The 20 ma LED worked well in my previous application, I was high lighting an apartment building front.  The flat top 5 mm size neatly plugged into the existing MTH floodlight sockets.  Brighter LEDs would have washed out other lighting on the apartment front.

For those of us not well versed in LED's could you tell me what voltage you are using for these LED's. And is there a diode or resistor in line? I have these towers also and would to change out the bulbs. Thank you for your patience. 

shorling posted:

 .  Brighter LEDs would have washed out other lighting on the apartment front.

That's why I used an adjustable power module/converter to allow me to turn the voltage up or down, making them universal for several lighting options

Bruce, I used 12vdc as the source voltage so I didn't need a diode.  I did add a single resistor feeding all 4 LEDs.  The upgrade was a little tricky.  The LED leads need to be clipped and shaped to fit existing MTH sockets.  Also the MTH sockets were wired in series parallel. Top 2 in series, bottom 2 in series.  Top and bottom in parallel.  Also, the MTH wiring was not consistent, top & bottom, so getting the polarity correct took some investigation and planning.  Resistor size is dependent on LEDs used, wiring configuration and voltage source.  I'd guess the increase in brightness was about two fold over the original incandescents.  This worked for my application but not bright enough for illuminating my rock wall.  Hence this post.  I'm also considering dimmable ceiling mounted track lighting since the rock wall is part of a logging and vineyard mountain scene.