I'm sure I've missed this in my OGR Forum search, need to illuminate a hallway 6" wide x 24" long and 4" tall and duplicate 40's - 50's light color with 12 volt DC power. Recommendations?
Thanks!
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Look at one of GRJ’s items. Perfect fit for your application.
LED lighting regulator at henning's Trains
What color do you want - warm white or fluorescent light blue white?
Connect the leds to the regulator in parallel - preset the regulator for the voltage specified when you purchase them.
If you have a 12vDC bus - use the boards available on eBay to reduce the voltage that are DC-DC
I would shop a few of the leds by mcd or brightness to suit your taste and operate them at the constant fixed voltage specified.
Going for the older warm white Carl. Any suggestion on the DC-DC boards?
When you say "dimmable" is this a one-time adjustment? Or do you want to periodically change brightness such as day-time vs. night-time operation?
Note: if using 12V DC LED strips, they light up dimly at about 9V, and reach nominal full brightness at 12V. Point being if your power source is 12V DC, some/many of the DC-to-DC converter modules have a so-called headroom. That means if starting from 12V DC input, the max output might be, say, 11V (or whatever) due to the headroom requirement.
Depending on the answer to the first question, an alternative to the tiny screw-driver adjust DC-to-DC modules, you can use a few 1 cent diodes connected in a string of taps dropping the voltage in ~0.7V increments. So for 5 cents in parts, you would have 12V, 11.3V, 10.6V, 9.9V, 9.2V. Then use a toggle switch for simple 2-way (hi-lo) brightness choosing 1 of 2 voltages. Or a surplus ceiling-fan switch for 3-way (hi-med-lo) brightness. Or if this is a one-time adjustment, choose the desired voltage tap, wire it up and you're done.
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Hey Bobby D.......Woodland Scenics has your answer. They have an INCREDIBLE lighting system and YES it is dimmable. Also the little LED lights have a self stick backing so one may "slap them" up onto a wall or the ceiling. You'll have to buy accessories for these lights such as a power pack; extensions; and the dimmer "box", yet it is a really KOOL system.
BobbyD posted:Going for the older warm white Carl. Any suggestion on the DC-DC boards?
These are not recommendations - but some that I quickly found on eBay to provide examples of some of the components.
Step down voltage regulator - note that the output range is 1.25 - 37. It's the low number that's important. Some that find start at higher than what will power an LED.
The DC voltage regulators that RichO found for the Eagle Scout museum layout didn't have a meter on the board and were under $2. We tapped off of a 12volt bus for various items. Greeting card sound boards, small fans for effects, various lights. We just adjusted the board until the device worked well. Then, I checked the voltage with a meter just to be sure we wouldn't cook anything with too high of an output. I pre-set some of them as we knew what voltage was required.
These 5mm wide angle flat tops are nice for lighting a building and are bright at 10000mcd too bright
Try a 3mm
You can see from the replies that there are many ways to too get the job done. The guys at Model Train Software make it really easy with there ready to go components. Check their led stuff.
You can get the desired result without being an electrical engineer.
Thank you guys, I'll look into all those suggestions. Stan, this will be a one time adjustment.
In all my passenger cars, I use these: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/162724139001
Since it is a one time only adjustment DC in and DC out. I use a 1 1/2amp full wave bridge rectifier on the DC in, then just hook up the AC and check the voltage at the output and connect your lights, I run my stuff at 10volts output. I use prewired 12volt led's for reference...
Marty
