The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[Chris333]

I sort of explained why with my electical panel in the way, but yeah good times 

[davefoxx]

Two of the larger fluorescent light fixtures are down.  I used their wiring to hook up two junction boxes with an outlet on each to plug the LED lights in.



The wiring of the lights in this room is haphazard.  The good news is that I’ll be able to eliminate about seven light fixtures and the associated hodgepodge of wiring.

DFF

[davefoxx]

This lighting project is practically finished.  It was stupid easy.  I don’t know why I waited so long to tackle this. I installed nine LED light fixtures over my 6’ x 14’ layout in the place of two four-bulb fluorescent light fixtures.  Not too dim or too bright, and the light is well diffused and does not seem to be causing weird shadows on the layout.  I should now have better angles to shoot pictures where before the trains were often backlit.  Eventually, I’ll install more fixtures at the other end of the room over my workbench, but that’s for another day.



DFF

[eric220]

Lookin’ good!

[davefoxx]

Lookin’ good!

Thanks!  I decided to put the layout back together, since I won’t have time for the rest of this weekend to work on the final terraforming.  I am JFRTM right now.  Hell, yeah!

DFF

[davefoxx]

I finished up the layout room lighting project tonight. I installed five LED fixtures over my workbench, which light the area nicely.



Notice the one remaining single light bulb fixture hanging near the LED fixture second from the right in the picture above.  Since the former fluorescent fixtures were gone and their piecemeal wiring had been removed, I needed a way to power the LEDs on this side of the room.  Because I’m lazy and didn’t feel like running wires back to the wall switch, I removed the single bulb, installed a light socket outlet, and plugged the LED fixtures into the overhead single bulb fixture.  The pull string turns these lights on and off.  Perfect!



I’m no expert in electrical work, but I’d love to know how much the circuit is relieved by removing five fluorescent fixtures with sixteen four-foot tubes and replacing that with nine LED fixtures.  Also, I’ve only used fourteen LED fixtures overall, so I have two spares in the event of a failure.

DFF

[Chris333]

I have this thing called a " Kill a watt" that you plug in and them plug something into it. Then it tells you the wattage and that good stuff.

For instance I have a string of screw in LED blubs. When not working in a certain area I just unscrew those lights. The Kill a watt tells me the wattage each time a bulb is dropped from the line.

[davefoxx]

That’s pretty cool, Chris.

[John]

Meh, we’ve talked about this before.  I don’t have the finances to put $$$ into remodeling the layout room.  There’s other projects this house needs first.

The plan is to hang 24” strips of Masonite as a backdrop on the walls over the layout.  That also can be easily removed when and if we move, leaving this unfinished room as it existed before.

DFF

That works for me .. I used masonite in 12" strips on the M&O painted a sky blue to hide the bricks .. I did however paint all my basement blocks with whatever white latex paint I had available to help reflect light ..  cheap and easy one weekend project ..

[davefoxx]

Thanks, John.  Masonite seems to be the next step for me.  Both backdrop and fascia.  I've always used 1/4" Masonite and wonder if I can get away with the 1/8" Masonite that others seem to use.

DFF

[Point353]

I’m no expert in electrical work, but I’d love to know how much the circuit is relieved by removing five fluorescent fixtures with sixteen four-foot tubes and replacing that with nine LED fixtures. 

Depending upon which fluorescent tubes (and ballasts) you replaced and which LED tubes you're now using, the LED tubes typically draw only about one-half to one-third the power of the fluorescent tubes. Plus, the LEDs should have longer life.

[pdx1955]

Thanks, John.  Masonite seems to be the next step for me.  Both backdrop and fascia.  I've always used 1/4" Masonite and wonder if I can get away with the 1/8" Masonite that others seem to use.

DFF

Since you appear to be mounting the Masonite to a furring strip frame, 1/8" will work just fine. My longer freestanding backdrops use this method and they have held without warping for a long time. I'm sure it will work fine for you.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The lights look good.

They really are game changing, aren't they?

[davefoxx]

The lights look good.

They really are game changing, aren't they?

Thanks!  It was your suggestion months ago that led me to pull the trigger on these LED lights.  Yes, they really are game changing for me.  It's difficult to explain it, but the lighting is so different in the layout room that it's taking time to get accustomed to it.  I think it's because the old fluorescent lighting was so bad (hot spots and dark spots), and the new lights are so diffused and much more even.

DFF

[Bendtracker1]

I'm with you Dave, since changing out my fluorescents for LED's the overall lighting is much better, brighter, more even and it seems to bring out the colors better.
Wish I had done it sooner.