Source for extremely small LEDs

SpaceRanger1 · Post by **SpaceRanger1** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:24 pm

Here's a source for some tiny LEDs that may offer solutions to some of the issues associated with lighting our models:

http://www.ngineering.com/lightng.htm

I have not tried these and have no association with the company, but I have seen some of the products at model railroad shows, and they look promising.

Shizman · Post by **Shizman** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:02 pm

They are good but you can get small LEDs for cheaper on ebay especially in bulk. I've ordered from Lighthouse LEDs too for 0402 SMD LEDs.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:48 am

They do have some very nice instructions to help solder small LEDs.

Richard Baker · Post by **Richard Baker** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:19 am

There are a couple of builds on HT using SMT LEDs in lighting the BladeRunner Spinner kit. Worth the read if you are wanting a good idea of what it takes to use them.

travisc · Post by **travisc** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:27 pm

These guys have small prewired plug-n-play leds
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/ledlights1.html

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:39 pm

travisc wrote:These guys have small prewired plug-n-play leds
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/ledlights1.html

Those are huge in comparison. The above guys are 1mm on the longest side. Tiny. Really tiny.

Rocketeer · Post by **Rocketeer** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 1:50 pm

I've used Ngineering LEDs on a couple of my models. The tricky part is soldering on the wires, but using my Optivisor and a soldering iron tip filed down to a point, I got pretty good at it!

They also offer similar-sized resistors, useful to limit the current through the LEDs.

The teeny LEDs are great for illuminating flight decks; just glue a couple to the ceiling.

Glorfindel · Post by **Glorfindel** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 7:10 am

Love Ngineering. They have 1"x 1" flasher & strobe circuit boards that, even though the soldering is tricky mostly because of the size, they fit in to nearly every model easily.

Mr. Engineer · Post by **Mr. Engineer** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 10:11 pm

To be honest, the 0603 LEDs are the limit I would go to as far as using them. it was really tough to solder them in the beginning but after some practice with a pair to tweezers and a sharp iron tip, I got the Cylon Raider roving eyes done. (If you want to see this, you would need to go to my Website for the build/design-log)

Based on experience, the wire-wrapping wires are the best but because of the size of the LEDs, it IS really easy to break them. All you need to do is to accidentally pull the soldered wires or, use a little bit more force and you'll find you need another LED again. And again.

But at the end of the day, in my case, it depends on how small the model is, and not which smallest LED I want to use.