little lights

[naturephotographer]

A customer asked if I could put little lights on her print, like headlights for a car, or lights in the window of a house. What kind are used for this and where can I get them? Thanks.

 

[framah]

Try a hobby shop that sells model railroad stuff.

 

[Rick Colunga]

Unless you are totally confident on how to do this, I would suggest not to. Paper and heat don't like each other and you don't want to be sued for buring down a house. There is no such thing as light without heat, yet.

 

[RoboFramer]

LEDs don't get hot do they? You can buy this stuff framed, it looks like (insert expletive of your choice here...........)

 

[stshof]

Originally posted by RoboFramer:
LEDs don't get hot do they? You can buy this stuff framed, it looks like (insert expletive of your choice here...........)

"tacky" comes to mind...

 

[Dave]

After my parents passed away I found in their closet a serene winter night scene that looked like a tranquil country neighborhood. An electric cord dangled from the back of the slightly boxy frame package and aroused my curiousity, so I plugged it in and turned on the switch.

Much to my humor and surprise, the full figure of a shapely woman appeared as a silhoutte in one of the windows of the home...

It brought a smile to my face as I realized that this was once considered so racy my parents stashed it away in a closet.

In today's world I lament the fact that this would be considered so passe and even now smile thinking about the naughtiness of such a piece.

Reminds me of the song...

"Look through any window, yeah...anytime of day..."

Dave Makielski

 

[JohnR]

You could use yellow and white LEDs. They won't get too warm. Current through the LEDs should not need to exceed 5ma and supply voltage can be 12 Volts DC. A simple circuit is represented below. VVVV represents the current limiting resistor and ->| represents each LED. The number of LEDs and their type and the supply voltage determine the value of the resistor.

+--VVVV---->|----->|----->|-----

Radio Shack should have all you need. Let me know the LEDs and number of them and I can determine the resistor value for you.

If you don't have basic wiring or soldering skills, I'd pass on this project.
John

 

[Danimal]

John,
Using LED's in series like this would be limited by the supply voltage. The voltage drop for each led would be about .6vdc. A parallel circuit would be more appropriate for this using a limiting resistor for each leg. You could string many more with this configuration and only be limited by the supply current.

 

[belinda]

Originally posted by RoboFramer:
LEDs don't get hot do they? You can buy this stuff framed, it looks like (insert expletive of your choice here...........)

I just recently did a poster setup for a guy that had an open shadowbox frame and LED ropelights. They don't get hot, but we left the box open so we could change out the poster (mounted onto gatorboard/zgel/velcro)

As far as I know, they do not get hot and last a long time. For smaller pieces, the wiring can be tricky though.

 

[JohnR]

Danimal, Voltage drop for white and blue LEDs is around 3.4 volts and for standard red, orange, yellow it is about 1.2 volts. For example: If the design called for two white (headlights) and two yellow (window lights) a simple series circuit with 12 volt supply would be sufficient as the four LEDs would drop 9.2 volts. The rest would be dropped in the resistor Going parallel with each leg would require a low voltage higher current supply and would waste energy in each resistor.

If more than 4 LEDs per leg were needed, I'd recommend a separate series circuit.

Another way is to use the LM317 regulator IC in current limiting mode using with a 20 volt supply. Programmed for 20Ma, as few or as many LEDs could be used in series (up to max voltage drop of the supply) without worrying about dropping resistors or values of them.
John

 

[Baer Charlton]

Originally posted by belinda:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by RoboFramer:
LEDs don't get hot do they? You can buy this stuff framed, it looks like (insert expletive of your choice here...........)

I just recently did a poster setup for a guy that had an open shadowbox frame and LED ropelights. They don't get hot, but we left the box open so we could change out the poster (mounted onto gatorboard/zgel/velcro)

As far as I know, they do not get hot and last a long time. For smaller pieces, the wiring can be tricky though. </font>[/QUOTE]Rope light in a "open" area is rated at 10,000 hours. If you lay the rope against a wall, the hours drop by 20%. If you enclose in any way, MFG says it breaches warrenty, and absolves them of liablility . . . and down grades life to up to 90%. (1,000 hours).

Short answer: Yes they do get warm. No they aren't made to go in boxes.

 

[Julie-Tulie]

I have a catalog from a company that does lighting for dollhouses...and will be lighting my dollhouse soon with their products...
www.cir-kitconcepts.com
They have the transformers needed, small seed-lights, spotlight bulbs, tons of light options...and seem very informed...they are out of Rochester, MN
Check them out!