Researching Lighting

LED Technology for Lighting

Now that I have installed all the Fluro light fittings that I have on the layout, I now need to find an economical way to light the rest of the layout.

I have been watching the LED technology come along in leaps and bounds over the last few years and have found that with the new 5050 type LED (5mm x 5mm) in white can effectively light the layout. These 5050 type LED's come in 5 meter lengths with 300 LED's per the 5 meters.

I found a number of options on eBay and ordered a warm white with a colour temperature of 2800K to 3000K and a Cool white with a colour temperature of 6300K to 7000K.

After I received them I did some testing (See pictures) and found that the "warm white" to be too yellow and the "Cool white" to be far too blue.

After a heap of research and a heap of help from Ron McFarlane on the subject.
Ron sent me these pictures to show the colour temperature ranges.

The Fluro's that I have in the room have a colour temp of 4000K so could be a bit yellow but look OK to me (at present.)

After doing some more research I found a LED supplier that has what he calls "Pure white" 5050 LED's in the same 5 meter strip and he suggests that they have a colour temperature of 5500K.

I have now arranged to get a 5 meter length from that supplier and will do more testing. The advantage of using the local supplier, all be it slightly more expensive, is that if I don't like what I get from him I can return them. Where as, purchasing from eBay from Hong Kong, the return process is not so easy and the guarantee of the colour temperature is also hit and miss..

I will do some more testing over the next 24 hours with the 5500K LED's and see how that goes.

There is a significant cost advantage in using the 5m LED strips as 5 meters of LED including a power supply is about the same price and 1 x 1.2 meter fluro fixture. Not to mention the cost to run them is far cheaper.

Stay tuned for more updates.