Display Cabinet Lighting

berttt · Post by **berttt** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:42 am

Hey guys, I have a display cabine that I would like to light up. I was thinking of LED's but I se it is not as easy as grabbing a handful and going crazy.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what type of LED's might work for this aplication? Any fixtures I can use to mount them?

Also would halogen or xenon lights be too hot for this?

Cheers,

Berttt

USS Atlantis · Post by **USS Atlantis** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:47 am

berttt wrote:Hey guys, I have a display cabine that I would like to light up. I was thinking of LED's but I se it is not as easy as grabbing a handful and going crazy.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what type of LED's might work for this aplication? Any fixtures I can use to mount them?

Also would halogen or xenon lights be too hot for this?

Cheers,

Berttt

It all depends on the size of the cabinet.

For smaller display-cases I actually use 'fuse lights' - you mount standard fuse holders in hidden locations, the bulbs themselves look like standard fuses, but are incandescent lamps. Usually run on 6v, so you could even have them battery driven

Atlantis

berttt · Post by **berttt** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:52 am

Thanks for that, the cabinet is 1200 x 600 x 400 (mm - I don't speak imperial

)

Berttt

USS Atlantis · Post by **USS Atlantis** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:04 am

berttt wrote:Thanks for that, the cabinet is 1200 x 600 x 400 (mm - I don't speak imperial )

Berttt

American translation = 4'x2'x1.5' - so a medium size

The fuse-lamps might not be enough for that application - the one's I use them in are for my miniatures - case is about 400x200x100mm in size

Might want to look into small fluorescent lamps - I know they have them in 2cm dia x 12cm long or there-abouts

And yes, halogen's would be too hot for that size cabinet - might start melting paint on the models close to the source

Atlantis

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:33 am

Go with LED strip lighting, surface mount leds pre wired for 12 volts.

http://www.kc6sye.com/images/images_09_ ... strips.jpg

You can get them locally from fiberopticproducts and oznium but I got 200 inches from china for $99 dollars. they also sell a 12 volt power supply that can drive one the 99$ reel. From paypal clear to the day I got the shipment was 7 days (cleared Friday came next Saturday).

http://www.kc6sye.com/images/images_09_ ... n_reel.jpg

The strip from china is a little thicker than the ones you can get locally. They are adhesive backed.

all links and explanations are over here:
http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_9_8_07.html

en'til Zog · Post by **en'til Zog** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:04 am

Menard's (a big box home building store chain around here) has 'hockey puck' LED lights. That's usually a set of 3 hockey pucks with LEDs inside and a 'power supply' or converter - 120 V / 12 V. You can get 'em in WHITE or colors on special order. Maybe not the cheapest solution, but the coolest temperature wise. And simple.

I go for 'simple' a lot.

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 12:36 pm

I got some of the IKEA brand white LED pucks, they are extra slim, and the new ones they have are even brighter than the ones I got, with better diffusion so you don't see the LEDs directly.

Sadly they are $50 for four pucks and a power supply (no dimming FX either).

They do have a fancier version that has 3 LED colors and multi lighting FX, the white light it makes is really a mixing of all three LEDs on at a time. These would be good for some mondo model (think Matrix hover pads).

berttt · Post by **berttt** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:45 am

Thanks guys. Some food for thought there..

Anyone have any pics of their setup they'd like to share?

Balok · Post by **Balok** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 2:01 pm

Wow those strip LEDs are cool! Thanks for the tip, I have to get some now.

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:31 am

I just got a glass cabinet from ikea, I have to setup because I retired the toys from the dark and dreary computer room. They are in a bin on the floor in the basement. I'll be using some of the puck led lights and maybe some of the LED strips. There are some on the glass shelves already. I'll try to get a pic of the whole thing once its up.

This was what the basement looked like before I junked it up again.
http://www.kc6sye.com/images/images_07_ ... _after.jpg

Balok · Post by **Balok** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:50 pm

This was what the basement looked like before I junked it up again.
http://www.kc6sye.com/images/images_07_ ... _after.jpg

Dude, can I come over and hang out?

We're simpatico with the whole basement thing.

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:00 pm

It don't look like that anymore

Just cant have anything nice.

en'til Zog · Post by **en'til Zog** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:18 pm

Well, that proves the 'chaos' theory. No matter how well organized something is at one point, entropy and chaos take over and... Well...

Besides, that basement was too neat anyway!

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:00 pm

I had 9 harddrives, two CD roms, a floppy drive, and another tape drive to rip and strip. Now I have all these specialty gribblies to put away But its easier to just leave them on the floor.

TREKKRIFFIC · Post by **TREKKRIFFIC** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:53 pm

Here's the china cabinet downstairs where I have most of my ships. It only has the one spotlight on top:
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r259 ... lay005.jpg
Doors Open:
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r259 ... lay001.jpg

Here's my IKEA cabinet upstairs. It has an LED spotlight on top:
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r259 ... lay006.jpg

macfrank · Post by **macfrank** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:45 pm

TREKKRIFFIC wrote: Here's my IKEA cabinet upstairs. It has an LED spotlight on top:
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r259 ... lay006.jpg

I have two of those! They're pretty nice, and cheap (around 60 each without the light).

Sparky - it's easy to see that you don't live anywhere near an earthquake prone area!

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Display Cabinet Lighting

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