Lighting Question

FrankG

Member
I have a technical question about lighting. I'm using some 3mm LEDs to light a structure. Right now, I'm mostly concerned with getting this building lit, but eventually it will need to work on the layout. I should mention that this is the first structure I'm lighting. I using the AC output of my power supply to run the LEDs. My question is, how to I set up the resistors? Do I: 1.) Use 1 resistor to handle all of the LEDs in the structure 2.) Give each LED its own resistor 3.) Something else?
 
Frank, I think you might be disappointed lighting a building with LEDs. They show the majority of the light they shed straight on ( great for Headlights and such ). Bulbs will do much better and not needing resistors are much easier to wire. They don't have the longevity that LEDs do but I feel shed better light for buildings. Either individually or in a series or paralelled. The brightness can be altered using any old spare power pack variable DC or the static DC or even AC posts. Naturally it is best to darken, paint or black paper the interiors of your buildings to only show light through the doors or windows. It can be allot of work doing a number of buildings but will be well worth the effort. Good luck, Joe !
 

Pitchwife

Dreamer
A single resister of sufficient wattage will handle all of the LEDs in the buuilding. A 1/4 watt would probably be more than enough unless you are using dozens of LEDs. You can determine the wattage of a resistor by it's size (diameter). The bigger it is the greater the wattage. One the size of a small pencil is a 1 watt, and one half that size is a 1/2 watt. Next one, again 1/2 that size, is a 1/4 watt which should still be more than enough to handle the LEDs in 1 or 2 buildings, again depending on how many you are using. I could give you a formula to figure it out exactly, but the rule of thumb is that if in doubt, go for the bigger one. I should also say that while they will work on both AC and DC, They will be brighter on DC since with DC they are on all the time as opposed to being off 30 times a second with AC. The difference is usually too small to tell with the naked eye unless you compare them side by side.
 
Top