Interior lighting for ho scale styrene models

[Watchword]

Anyone have experience installing interior lighting in HO model buildings? I am building a small business district for my train layout using kits by Cornerstone, DPM and Small Town USA (so far) but have been unable to find any information on lighting.

[Roger Hensley]

Depends on how elaborate you want to get. You can just put in one light bulb and call the building lighted. Or you can put in many small light bulbs, floors, walls and paint the interior black so that light doesn't leak and fake an interior.

In other words, it's up to you as to low deep you want to get. yes, I have down both ways getting interiors with floors and ceilings and just general lighting.

[Dave S]

One thing I just learned just last night though. If you decide to use LED's paint the inside of the building roof white to give the beam something to bounce off and it will spread the light a lot more evenly.

[Watchword]

Thanks. White ceilings are a good idea. Specifically what type of LED bulbs do you recommend? I assume I can run all the lighting on the 16 volt transformer that powers my Peco switch machines. On the Smalltown USA I just finished I divided the floors and the rooms so they could be lighted individually but maybe this is not really necessary. I’m building this in northern Thailand and order everything from the US--including a book on model building that unfortunately doesn’t mention lighting.

[diburning]

Why not go all the way and put an interior to the building?

Bulbs will get too hot and can warp the building (this is why the Walthers street lamps are made of metal)

[Dougget]

I plan to go with white LED's. They require very low amps and do not get hot. You can get ones with 'frosted' lenses so that the light spreads and is not focused.

I also plan to use black construction paper inside the buildings to contain the light.

Shop eBay for LEDs. You can usually find packs of 5, 10, 20, 100, for a fraction of what you would pay at Radio Shack. All of that retail packaging is expensive.

Doug

[Watchword]

Thanks, Doug. I'm still not sure exactly what LED's to look for. Do they run on 16 volts? I purchased a couple of LEDs here in Chiang Mai to indicate a reverse loop but they immediately burned out. I divided up the interior of this model with sheet acrylic painted black so that I could light up only the business area and to keep from seeing in one window and out another, but I will use black construction paper on models where it is OK to light up both stories. Yes, I may eventually add some interior objects later.

[UPBigBoy]

The reason they burnt out is that most - not all - LEDs run at approximately 3.5 Volts, you'll need a resistor in one the the feed lines to the LED to drop the voltage. Usually a 470OHM resistor will work - just keep the resistor away from the plastic as they do get warm.

Jim

[Watchword]

Thanks Jim; I appreciate your help. Can one resister work multiple LEDs? Can the resister be installed under the table away from the plastic?

Or should I get a third transformer to go from 16 volts to 3 volts and forget about resisters? I already have one 220 to 110 volt transformer and one 110 to 16 volts.

Your message also indicates "LED's from 2MM - 5MM - super bright white, wired with resistors now in stock". Do you sell these things? Do you have a Website?

[DianneB]

LEDs are a current-operated device and should NOT be operated without a resistor but you CAN wire multiple LEDs in series and use one resistor to run that lighting string - that's what I have done in model boats - and the resistor can be at the power feed point rather than close to the LEDs.

I have used flat black paint on styrene walls and ceilings to stop the light from shining through the plastic and then applied the colour over the flat black.

If you want to do LED strings, the resistor calculation isn't too hard:

Take the supply voltage, subtract 2.5 volts per LED, divide by .1 and that will give you the value of the resistor in Ohms - use the closest standard value available and you will want at least a 1/4 Watt resistor so it doesn't get too hot.