Looking for some suggestions for overhead lighting.
Right now I am leaning towards dimmable LED track lighting.
What do you guys use? What are the pros and cons?
Thanks in advance.
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
As the lighting industry evolves, the new technology, (LED), has changed a lot. Interesting are flat panels, much easier to install, limited or no heat associated with incandescent and florescent fixtures. There is extended life with this product, 5, 6 years, no maintenance, and no repair/a throw away, if it does not work.
LED track lighting is a good way to go. I took out my incandescent can lights and replaced them with LED surface mount lights. The nice thing about that or track lights is you can adjust them to give yourself more light if your working on the layout.
Attachments
Images (1)
I'll 3rd the LEDS. I purchased some LED shoplights at costco online for a steal, but my layout is in the basement.
Heres an old thread Dave Minarik posted when he added can LED lights to his layout, fabulous. This is the thread that inspired me to go with LED lighting. They use a fraction of the electricity, don't throw off the colors like flourescent, and last a long, long time.
My basement has 6" cans with 65W incandescent spotlight-type bulbs spaced about every 8ft across my finished basement ceiling. Those lights were rather dim to me for train layout running/work. I looked at the above linked LED light ideas today. One idea posted a lot in the thread was for LED trim insert retrofit kits for existing recessed incandescent ceiling cans.
After reading the above-linked posts today, I Googled LED lights and found not only LED kits to replace the entire incandescent ceiling cans using a kit that adapts to the bulb socket, but I also found many LED BR30 bulbs that can be screwed directly into the existing incandescent bulb socket. So, I bought four of these this afternoon and am pleased with the result ... https://www.homedepot.com/p/Cr...2DE26-1-11/304006402 The price is better than buying the kits and installation is merely unscrew incandescent bulb and screw in new LED replacement bulb. I bought the 5000K 100W-equivalent LED bulbs that are rated at 1400 Lumens, but one can also get soft or warm white and other Lumen ratings if that color rendition/light brightness is preferred. BR30 is the standard bulb size for incandescent screw-in bulbs so make sure to check that on any LED screw-in purchases. Also, these are dimmable.
Anyway, thought I'd share my experience with finding an easy/low cost means of converting my finished basement ceiling recessed incandescent cans over to bright LEDs without needing to replace the entire cans. The above linked posts were from 2015; perhaps these LED bulbs were not available at that time. I also found some online info that states that there may be some added heat buildup at the bulb socket from direct screw-in LED bulbs as LED bulbs dissipate their heat mostly at the screw end whereas incandescent bulbs mostly dissipate heat across their extended length. Since my basement is pretty cool temperature wise, I think the heat dissipation likely won't be an issue for my application.
Regards,
Tom
About 3 years ago I converted all my overhead 4 tube 48" fluorescents over to P n P led replacement tubes. Huge improvement. Way less power draw and at least twice the brightness. Then last year I converted several IKEA overhead track fixtures (that I use when running) over from 24 volt 50 watt hologen bulbs to led replacements. Another great improvement and they are nice because you can aim them however you want. The latter are not supposed to be dimmable, but I find they can be dimmed to about 2/3 of max brightness without issue, for regular running. All good.
Rod
SantaFeJim posted:Looking for some suggestions for overhead lighting.
Right now I am leaning towards dimmable LED track lighting.
What do you guys use? What are the pros and cons?
Thanks in advance.
You can see at the top of the picture I have LED track lighting. It is nice because each lamp can be adjusted to where you want more or less light. It is expandable. The ceiling fan is dimmable led and make a nice smoke spreader when the steam engines are on the line.
No cons.
Attachments
Images (1)
Any idea how many amps the LED tubes would draw?
tncentrr posted:Any idea how many amps the LED tubes would draw?
Depends on which ones, of course.
What's the wattage? What voltage are you using? Then, you can figure out the amp draw.
tncentrr posted:Any idea how many amps the LED tubes would draw?
The ones I got are rated at 19 watts each. Made by Luminus, bought at Costco 3 years ago. 4000K cool white colour and 2200 lumens each. Very happy with them. No flickering and instant on. Best feature by far though is NO rewiring! 
Rod
If you go with track lighting, mind the focus you buy. There are spots, and floods, & combo-lens, of the same shape and wattages.
Spots at what you want bright, then Flood it for eveness. Mixing and placement can create a whole lot of mood to accent things nicely; shadows, tone/ hue. There are small hand held transmitters for remote controlled RGB (RedGreenBlue) color change spot bulbs for "cheap". $10-25. Nearly any color could be made like 1 big pixel 
)
I went REALLY cheap with three 3ft. LED fixtures from Home Depot. A lot of light for my 4' x 12' layout and no UV like the fluorescents they replaced, plus they're much better for taking photos: no color problems. As for dimming, I pull the string, they go out, and the lights on the layout illuminate everything - just like they did when I was a kid.
I use track lights with GUI20 bulbs. I have about 16 bulbs lighting my layout. I believe each bulb draws about 8 watts. I have a mixture of bulb colours. You can easily aim them to get the lighting coverage you need, and they can be clustered in areas that require more light. they do not give off much heat, so room stays a the right temperature.
I'm using track lighting available from one of our sponsors, Menard's (patriot brand). Without having the package in front of me I believe they are 3000/3200 lumens of brightness. They use about 8 or 9 watts of energy each. The average 14ga 15amp 120volt circuit has 1800 maximum watts available. 1800 divided by 9 = 200 lamps. I currently have approximately 50 plus lamps installed with plenty of room for more expansion. The only limiting factor I can see is the dimmer switch. The ones I'm using can only handle 600 watts each so I currently have three of them.
Rod Stewart posted:tncentrr posted:Any idea how many amps the LED tubes would draw?
The ones I got are rated at 19 watts each. Made by Luminus, bought at Costco 3 years ago. 4000K cool white colour and 2200 lumens each. Very happy with them. No flickering and instant on. Best feature by far though is NO rewiring!
Rod
Do the fixtures still have a ballast?
BobbyD posted:Rod Stewart posted:tncentrr posted:Any idea how many amps the LED tubes would draw?
The ones I got are rated at 19 watts each. Made by Luminus, bought at Costco 3 years ago. 4000K cool white colour and 2200 lumens each. Very happy with them. No flickering and instant on. Best feature by far though is NO rewiring!
Rod
Do the fixtures still have a ballast?
Yep! My train room fixtures have a total of 20 tubes, so at 19 watts each, thats a total of 380 watts, or about 3.5 amps draw.
Rod
My cave came with a host of T-12 2x4s. I added 20 T-8 2x4s. Then more recently I added 8 T-5s. All similar temp/color ratings. Switched to electronic ballasts. Bundled groups on motion detector activation, my only claim to economy as a sole operator.
Sixty 94 C.R.I., 5000 Kelvin tubes do a decent jobs. All positioned over the around the wall bench work. Could use more, maybe could get away with less. 8' ceiling helps disperse light.
S-Runner posted:My basement has 6" cans with 65W incandescent spotlight-type bulbs spaced about every 8ft across my finished basement ceiling. Those lights were rather dim to me for train layout running/work. I looked at the above linked LED light ideas today. One idea posted a lot in the thread was for LED trim insert retrofit kits for existing recessed incandescent ceiling cans.
After reading the above-linked posts today, I Googled LED lights and found not only LED kits to replace the entire incandescent ceiling cans using a kit that adapts to the bulb socket, but I also found many LED BR30 bulbs that can be screwed directly into the existing incandescent bulb socket. So, I bought four of these this afternoon and am pleased with the result ... https://www.homedepot.com/p/Cr...2DE26-1-11/304006402 The price is better than buying the kits and installation is merely unscrew incandescent bulb and screw in new LED replacement bulb. I bought the 5000K 100W-equivalent LED bulbs that are rated at 1400 Lumens, but one can also get soft or warm white and other Lumen ratings if that color rendition/light brightness is preferred. BR30 is the standard bulb size for incandescent screw-in bulbs so make sure to check that on any LED screw-in purchases. Also, these are dimmable.
Anyway, thought I'd share my experience with finding an easy/low cost means of converting my finished basement ceiling recessed incandescent cans over to bright LEDs without needing to replace the entire cans. The above linked posts were from 2015; perhaps these LED bulbs were not available at that time. I also found some online info that states that there may be some added heat buildup at the bulb socket from direct screw-in LED bulbs as LED bulbs dissipate their heat mostly at the screw end whereas incandescent bulbs mostly dissipate heat across their extended length. Since my basement is pretty cool temperature wise, I think the heat dissipation likely won't be an issue for my application.
Regards,
Tom
my basement is lit with the large recessed cans and the H. depot LEDs too. They flood the area pretty well and if you have dark areas you can just add more while you're doing it.
I have 6) 4 door led shop lights from Wal-Mart @$21 each. Also presided for dimable track lighting
I have 6) 4 foot led shop lights from Wal-Mart @$21 each. Also presided for dimable track lighting
I was lucky, my son works in the lighting industry, he added LED bulbs to my room overhead light and fan, then added directed LED's to each corner of the layout, if gives illumination to the entire layout, and allows me to add or dim lights as want, the only drawback is the IR sensors I use for my PRR signal bridges are sensitive to them and stay activated when use them, a slight penalty.
I would say go with a mix of both indirect lighting, and LED, if your able to mix and match, you can have dramatic effects on your layout.
I found 4 foot LED units that daisy chain together up to ten units. I found them online for $20 and as I bought 10 units free shipping. Great light easy and cheap.
AMCDAVE. Can you post a link?
E-UNIT-79 posted:AMCDAVE. Can you post a link?
I looked up my invoice and they came from the site below. The exact units I bought are not now listed......but other are. Thx
