Large Scale Central

mini-lights

Modeling
#1

found something new (to me)

mini christmas light chains.

20 lights of half the size of a grain of rice bulb each.

the whole thing looks like two thin wires connected every now and then by tiny blobs of glue. the wires come out of a winebottle corch-shape batteriehousing with three button cells in it.

the cells are marked LR44 - wikipedia tells me, that they have 1.5 V nominal and 1.0 V terminal each.

there are two types of chains. multicolored and bright, warm white. (of the latter i took a dozen. more than enough for the modeling of the rest of my life.)

each chain costs me only about US$ 0.95

as these “blobs” are no lightbulbs, i suppose, they are some kind of LED. and being wired in paralell, i think, i’ll make some trial to solder 3 or 4 of them in serie and hook them to the transformers of the former so popular “wireless” landline phones.

#2

Korm

Yup I found those around here (Maryland) several years ago, battery powered. some have different colors and blinking, etc. I actually use them on my outdoor layout on the trees for Christmas decorations. Mine also have built in timer for about 8 hours on and 16 hours off. I have never taken them apart to look at the individual LEDs, so let us know what you find after surgery

Jerry

#3

Jerry Bohlander said:… I have never taken them apart to look at the individual LEDs, so let us know what you find after surgery

i will. but don’t hold your breath. i’m becoming slow and slower.

#4

I first saw similar in a gift shop here about 5 years ago and they were very pricey, so I passed. Recently my wife purchased a string that is powered by a USB wall supply, like a phone charger. If I build a regulator to run them from 12V, they would make good replacements for the filament bulbs I’ve put in vehicles and buildings with poor life results.

I think these can be purchased as individual LEDs as well, but if you don’t mind the surgery, the strings may be cheaper.

#5

When it comes to LED’s many try to figure out which LED volt to buy and will work with what system you have. Now if that’s your thing do it that way, but I have found just buying LED’s on eBay, the 9v/12v (3 and 5 mm ones) (both bright white and soft with) ones with an inline resistor all ready installed will work in most installs. This is if your power supply is not over 12volts, but I have also found them to work on more volts, 14.8 volts will not blow the LED’s. I would say here that you need to purchase LED’s in the upper volt range 9v-12v with resistors and you will find them to work just fine even only powering them with 5 volt, at 3 volts they may not even lite up, so I always test them first before I install them, plus I always power up and test one just to see if it can stand the 24 hour test. I use a transformer and regulate the voltage with a test meter and set the voltage for the test, plus you will find that using resistors with adjust the brightness of the LED. Everything I run on my railroad is power with these LED’s and no problems, plus I’m not spending all my time trying to figure out which ones to use with what voltage, I even use the 9v battery to power my passenger equipment, interior lights and marker lamps, your battery will last a long time. These are the ones I use, both 3 and 5mm in both soft white and bright white, just search eBay there all there, plus I look for U.S. sellers, China is less expensive, but takes 30 plus days to get and order, if you get it. https://www.ebay.com/itm/20-x-Pre-wired-9v-3mm-Warm-Soft-White-LEDs-Prewired-9-volt-DC-LED-Light-8v-7v/161606954180?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20200520130830%26meid%3Dd0b0774b8cfb4d75a73f8f2a7e3e6fb4%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D151052047853%26itm%3D161606954180%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bDemotion&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851

trainman

#6

Korm I have picked up several of them in the last few months, only mine take 2 or 3 AA batteries, I will try to light up the insides with the warm and the bright white, and I got 2 multi color sets to light up a train for outside, these all say they can be used outdoors.

#7

John,

.…I have found just buying LED’s on eBay,…

not my preferred option.

second week of november bought a bag of toy soldiers from the states. $24 the figures, $18 for freight. they will be here before february…

my other option is, drive to the capital (300 miles, about $150 in fuel for both ways) and search half a dozen electronic shops for what i want.

so, it is using (and hoarding) junk for me and my modeling.

Pete,

the coloured chains i put in the store for selling. in my 1860ies setting i dont need much coloured light. save for locos and campfires.

for that i bought a box of flickering “candles” ($0.40 each) i think one red with one or two yellows will give nice fire flickering.