Led wattage difference

Nearly 7.6 watts.

Wow almost half. Do you think the LED bulb # 1445 would be a good choice? 

bob

Actually, almost all.

7.6 watts per pair of bulbs.

Rob is correct. You can do the math yourself, but you need to choose a voltage.

Town & Country Hobbies has what you need- ready to go, base and all. Get 18v warm white. They light at lower voltages. Just a higher max tolerance.

The engine will like the extra power returned to it.

Thanks for the info Rob & Carl.  Great sites.  

If you're running the LED replacements at the full 20ma rated current for the LED component, an 18V bulb would consume 0.36 watts.  You'd be saving about 90% of the power when compared to the existing bulbs.  Since you're running them at 14 volts, you'd probably have less power consumption by 15-20%.

So are you  saying that I should get 14V LED replacements in stead of 18V? 

No, the 18V ones will be fine, and they'll handle any voltage.  They won't be quite as bright on 14 volts, but I suspect the difference won't be enough to matter.

John, my track voltage never exceeds 14V. Most of the time its 11-12V.  !4V might work better!

bob

It will probably be brighter, and since the LED won't pose any excessive current or heat issue, might as well go that way.

What would be the percentage power consumption savings using 14V bulbs at 11-12V?  They also have 12V available.  I run 2 PW 2343AA units's on (1) 100'  mainline.  Also 4 "B" units that are lighted.  Extra 1895 bulb in each dummy unit.  App 30 PW heavy cars.  Plus 2 lighted 6517 bay window cabooses.  Thats (12) 1895 bulbs.  My track voltage in the far corner averages 10.2 -11V , 12V max, so the lights dont draw the whole 3.7 watts. So I'm gonna guess that maybe it draws 85% of 3.7 or 3.1 watts.  Thats still 36 Watts.   Amp meter goes to 9.6 at 11V.  After 12V it trips a 10A breaker.  Thats the big reason I wanna go to LED's. Be nice to save 90%.   Is my math "FUZZY" or am i in the ballpark?  thanks 

bob

At virtually any voltage level, you'll save 80-90% of the power with LED lighting.  Using my LED Lighting Regulator

 board, I light 18" passenger cars with around 30-35ma of current.  Before the conversion, they used to draw around 1/3 of an amp.  That's a 90% reduction in power consumption, and the cars are much more evenly lit, not to mention the lighting is flicker-free.  Here's a sample of one running on a measured 30ma of power.

Moonman posted:

Rob is correct. You can do the math yourself, but you need to choose a voltage.

Town & Country Hobbies has what you need- ready to go, base and all. Get 18v warm white. They light at lower voltages. Just a higher max tolerance.

The engine will like the extra power returned to it.

 

One issue I had with the LED bulb replacements was the directionality of the light. They are bright, but not necessarily in the direction you need in certain passenger cars for example. If you think about it, an incandescent bulb radiates light in a solid hemisphere, 180 degrees around. The LED bulbs don't. It depends on the application. I found the strips of LEDs like GRJ recommends thru Henning's to work much better for even illumination in passenger cars. Kind of like streamlighting.

cjack posted:

Moonman posted:

Rob is correct. You can do the math yourself, but you need to choose a voltage.

Town & Country Hobbies has what you need- ready to go, base and all. Get 18v warm white. They light at lower voltages. Just a higher max tolerance.

The engine will like the extra power returned to it.

 

One issue I had with the LED bulb replacements was the directionality of the light. They are bright, but not necessarily in the direction you need in certain passenger cars for example. If you think about it, an incandescent bulb radiates light in a solid hemisphere, 180 degrees around. The LED bulbs don't. It depends on the application. I found the strips of LEDs like GRJ recommends thru Henning's to work much better for even illumination in passenger cars. Kind of like streamlighting.

This discussion began with a question about replacing the headlight of post war Lionel engines, specifically.  A narrow angle bulb will work well. But due to the wide angle focus of readers, it's a new discussion.

Now ,the OP does want to reduce the power usage of the entire train.

Rob and I specifically addressed the first question.