A while back I made the decision to illuminate all of my structures with 12V LED bulbs. I settled on using screw base units that were constructed with 6 LED's for 360* illumination. I purchased some bulb sockets from a dealer at Allentown, the bulbs on eBay ( about 35 cents each) and a bunch of small $1 full wave rectifier boards also via eBay. The boards were about 1/2" x 1" and contained 4 rectifiers, a filter capacitor and a tiny red low glow LED that shows operation. Figured that pure DC would give the best illumination and longevity for LEDS.
Here's what resulted. For certain the illumination was far brighter than small 12V bulbs would have provided but the color is a bright pure white light and not the soft glow of incandescent bulbs. Painted the LED's with a small brush and Amber bulb dye and that softened the glow to a softer yellow and it now seems to blend in better with the 1950's theme of my layout. Was it all worth the work of soldering the rectifier boards in line using LED's for illumination and painting with bulb dye? That's a tough call . Seeking opinions on your lighting methods?
