Wright writes.....

[landscapes]

4 minutes ago, Barclay said:

Preparing to do the same myself, though with fewer lights! Colour temperature is a subject I've been interested in for some time, and I intend to avoid 'warm white' and go for the brightest and whitest, but the differences will be interesting.

Hi

 

I have Daylight colour LED down lights on a track located each side above Haymarket and they do give a more natural look to the photos.

 

Also I can reposition the light fittings to suit the requirements on the part of the layout I am photographing.

 

Regards

 

David

[chris p bacon]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

With the cost of energy rocketing, today Bytham's 14 fluorescent tubes are to be replaced with equivalent LED strip lighting.

 

 the electrician's time

 

It's easy Tony...it's only a 2 wire system 😀

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

With the cost of energy rocketing, today Bytham's 14 fluorescent tubes are to be replaced with equivalent LED strip lighting.

 

I'll report accordingly. There are several things to consider; the cost of the equipment, the electrician's time, potential energy savings and any differences in the light colour with regards to photography. 

 

We'll have to be very, very careful installing the new lights!

My railway room, which you have seen, it lit by daylight fluorescent tubes.

[Jeepy]

I've got One tube in my 10' x 12' shed 😳....... Plus a lamp on my desk! 

 

Best wishes, 

 

Jim. 

[zr2498]

3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

With the cost of energy rocketing, today Bytham's 14 fluorescent tubes are to be replaced with equivalent LED strip lighting.

 

I'll report accordingly. There are several things to consider; the cost of the equipment, the electrician's time, potential energy savings and any differences in the light colour with regards to photography. 

 

We'll have to be very, very careful installing the new lights!

This has been concerning me for a while, but the thought of replacing the lighting system I have concerns me even more.

I have built the lighting on a free standing gantry with 34 fluorescents of different lengths on the top scenic section. Part of which is overhead, and part lighting the back scene (to avoid shadow). It is effectively 17 positions, however each consists of one Daylight (6000K), and one Interna (2700K). They are all dimmable and can be controlled to vary the 'mix' of colour anywhere between the ultra bright daylight to sunset glow of the Interna. I have recently bought a stack of spare assemblies as they are now selling at 90% off. Of course LED is the new direction, hence the discount.

The fiddleyard / cassette area has 10 fluorescents with Cool White (4000K) tubes, but a relatively lower wattage.

 

If only there was a way to fit LED strips into the existing T5  fittings - help with htis would be most welcome.

 

 

 

Here is a photo of part of the gantry under construction (many moons ago)

 

 

And another with the the plain scenic boards and lighting pelmits added

 

 

And finally an 'old' photo showing full Interna colour on the back scene boards only

 

 

[polybear]

4 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

With the cost of energy rocketing, today Bytham's 14 fluorescent tubes are to be replaced with equivalent LED strip lighting.

 

I'll report accordingly. There are several things to consider; the cost of the equipment, the electrician's time, potential energy savings and any differences in the light colour with regards to photography. 

 

We'll have to be very, very careful installing the new lights!

 

At a wild (but slightly educated) guess I suspect the payback time may well make this uneconomical to do.

[MarkC]

4 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

With the cost of energy rocketing, today Bytham's 14 fluorescent tubes are to be replaced with equivalent LED strip lighting.

 

I'll report accordingly. There are several things to consider; the cost of the equipment, the electrician's time, potential energy savings and any differences in the light colour with regards to photography. 

 

We'll have to be very, very careful installing the new lights!

I changed various fluorescent tubes for LED equivalents around my house about 2 years ago. Just a straight swap of the tubes themselves & changing the starter for what is basically a simple link, contained in a starter-style casing. One was supplied with each tube, and the supplier was Toolstation, IIRC. I found the LED lighting to be much brighter, with no perceived flickering, which occasionally happens with traditional fluorescents.

 

Mark

[APOLLO]

I had two eight foot twin fluorescent lights in my garage. A couple of tubes needed replacing and I quickly found they were unobtainable.

Earlier this year I replaced them with three twin 6ft LED battens from Screwfix, very easy to fit and wire. The positives are instant light (more than the fluorescents) and of course a lot less electricity used. Only negative is the colour temperature, a bit "cooler" but I have got used to it and don't really notice anymore.

 

I have read somewhere that all fluorescent tubes will stop being available in the near future (I have 8 x 5' in the loft). 

 

Brit15

[Tony Wright]

Many thanks for the interesting comments regarding lighting..........

 

The job is now complete (though three fluorescent tubes have been retained because they were installed before the layout was built and it was thought too risky to lean over some four feet of baseboards to try and replace them). 

 

And the results? I have no idea how long it might be before any costs are recovered by energy saving, but the illuminated meter we have now stays on green when I switch on the LEDs - previously it always turned amber. Not only that, the surviving fluorescents now have their own switch. Indeed, there are now five separate switches for the runs of lights, so I can just use enough to see well enough for running the layout but switch the lot on for photography (even the three lights over the MR/M&GNR bit can now be switched on/off separately).

 

Anyway, I've tried some photographic experiments. The LED tubes can be switched to any one of three positions - cool/natural/warm. 

 

 

This is cool.

 

 

This is natural (I can hardly see any difference).

 

 

This is warm. Too warm!

 

I chose natural.

 

 

The colours look fine here in my view.

 

The only bit of damage done was the felling of the yard's loading gauge when it caught on a dust sheet. As can be seen, it was easily fixed. 

 

 

Natural colours with a train in view as well. 

 

If anything, the LEDs on natural are a tiny bit warmer than the previous fluorescents, but the colours look fine to me (the Nikon Df gives muted colours, anyway - which I like). 

 

One other thing of note was the the exposures were slightly shorter; meaning, if I've got this right, more illumination but at less cost!

 

My electrician (Trevor from Bourne, who's brilliant!) told me that fluorescent tubes are being phased out and it won't be long before they'll no longer be available. 

 

I'm delighted with the results today...........

[Northmoor]

3 hours ago, APOLLO said:

I had two eight foot twin fluorescent lights in my garage. A couple of tubes needed replacing and I quickly found they were unobtainable.

Earlier this year I replaced them with three twin 6ft LED battens from Screwfix, very easy to fit and wire. The positives are instant light (more than the fluorescents) and of course a lot less electricity used. Only negative is the colour temperature, a bit "cooler" but I have got used to it and don't really notice anymore.

 

I have read somewhere that all fluorescent tubes will stop being available in the near future (I have 8 x 5' in the loft). 

 

Brit15

From September next year; this from Spearlighting.com:

"After 1st September 2023 linear T8 fluorescent lamps (600/1200/1500mm sizes), mains voltage halogen capsules with G9 cap and 12V halogen capsules with G4/GY6.35 cap can no longer be placed on the market although they can be sold from stock."

[Obadiah]

Tony.

 

Hartland Point

 

I do have some clips, unfortunately they are too big to go on here, I don't do youtube or such like, so I sent to you by other means!

 

Ian.

[uax6]

I converted some ex- GPO exchange florries some time back. These had the lovely fat tubes in them (which seem to have been un-obtainable for many years now), so I bought some LED tubes for them. As the starters were wired internally I took the option of removing the ballast from the circuit (as its no longer required with the tubes I bought), so it took a bit longer then by just swapping the tubes over. Interestingly the energy saving per tube isn't much, about 12W from memory, but it does add up. They are a bit brighter, so I can now see the colours of the wiring on the racks!

 

I guess theres going to be a huge amount of battens heading to the skip now, which is daft as they can just have the tubes changed over...

 

Andy G

[lee74clarke]

16 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Many thanks for the interesting comments regarding lighting..........

 

The job is now complete (though three fluorescent tubes have been retained because they were installed before the layout was built and it was thought too risky to lean over some four feet of baseboards to try and replace them). 

 

And the results? I have no idea how long it might be before any costs are recovered by energy saving, but the illuminated meter we have now stays on green when I switch on the LEDs - previously it always turned amber. Not only that, the surviving fluorescents now have their own switch. Indeed, there are now five separate switches for the runs of lights, so I can just use enough to see well enough for running the layout but switch the lot on for photography (even the three lights over the MR/M&GNR bit can now be switched on/off separately).

 

Anyway, I've tried some photographic experiments. The LED tubes can be switched to any one of three positions - cool/natural/warm. 

 

 

This is cool.

 

 

This is natural (I can hardly see any difference).

 

 

This is warm. Too warm!

 

I chose natural.

 

 

The colours look fine here in my view.

 

The only bit of damage done was the felling of the yard's loading gauge when it caught on a dust sheet. As can be seen, it was easily fixed. 

 

 

Natural colours with a train in view as well. 

 

If anything, the LEDs on natural are a tiny bit warmer than the previous fluorescents, but the colours look fine to me (the Nikon Df gives muted colours, anyway - which I like). 

 

One other thing of note was the the exposures were slightly shorter; meaning, if I've got this right, more illumination but at less cost!

 

My electrician (Trevor from Bourne, who's brilliant!) told me that fluorescent tubes are being phased out and it won't be long before they'll no longer be available. 

 

I'm delighted with the results today...........

Good Morning Tony,

 

If Trevor was installing the lights, it will be years before you see a return on your electricity bill. The amount of times Mo must have had the kettle on for him, it's probably drained Sizewell B.

 

Kind Regards,

Lee

 

[gr.king]

I've noticed occasionally an unwanted phenomenon when using a digital camera for close-up photography under an LED (SMD) spotlight. Horizontal banding can be evident in the image. I wondered if, when the LED source is the predominant form of illumination, some sort of  interference pattern or other interaction arises owing to the flicker rate of the LEDs and (presumably) a sampling / refresh rate for the image chip.

[grob1234]

7 hours ago, gr.king said:

I've noticed occasionally an unwanted phenomenon when using a digital camera for close-up photography under an LED (SMD) spotlight. Horizontal banding can be evident in the image. I wondered if, when the LED source is the predominant form of illumination, some sort of  interference pattern or other interaction arises owing to the flicker rate of the LEDs and (presumably) a sampling / refresh rate for the image chip.

 

Yes exactly that.

Also occurs with digital filming. I have some cheap led lights specifically for filming and there is no flicker visible on the video. 

However, I have an expensive LED task lamp, which is excellent for what its intended, but if used for filming produces flicker.

There are flicker free LED tube lamps, however, obviously they are more expensive.

I wonder if its to do with the frequency of the light produced by the LED's?

[zr2498]

A bit more info on lighting. I described the Feelux Dimslim T5 fluorescent system earlier which I have installed. It is both dimmable and have colour (white) variation.

 

The new Feelux LED system equivalant is:

 

http://www.feelux.com/en/2013/product/DIVA2_DUAL.asp?now=4

 

This is probably a double row of LEDs which can have the Kelvin value varied between 2700K and 6000K, and they are dimmable via the accessory contollers. Nice that the two rows sit in a single batton.

 

Looking at the power ratings the power used by  the LEDs is about 45% of the T5 fluorescents.

 

I don't think my life expectancy would be sufficient to get a pay back on the investment needed to change the system 🙂

 

If Tony can change the colour of his new set up on Little Bytham, he must have something similar?

 

[Tony Wright]

For those who like to see GWR items on WW, Geoff Haynes has painted the Nu-Cast Armstrong Goods I made earlier..........

 

 

 

I've yet to process the studio shots. 

[Tony Wright]

In one week's time, I should be set-up at the Wigan Show, in my role as demonstrator/loco doctor. 

 

Here are some of the models I'll be displaying, should anyone be interested..............

 

 

 

 

Three A4s.

 

 

 

Two V2s.

 

 

My latest 9F.

 

 

 

And the two 3D-printed items of rolling stock of late. 

 

I hope to see you there. It's always been one of the best shows in the exhibition calendar.............

 

It'll just be me. Mo's trying to finish off the gardening! 

 

I'll also be taking up some donated RTR items for sale on behalf of CRUK. My thanks to Syd, Ben and Chris for their altruism and extreme generosity.

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by Tony Wright
to add something

[Tony Wright]

Speaking of the Wigan Show, here are some of the layouts attending..........

 

 

 

 

Alloa.

 

 

 

Harlyn Pier.

 

 

 

 

Hope-Under-Dinmore.

 

 

 

 

And Purgatory Peak. 

[Blandford1969]

26 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

 

Three A4s.

 

Two V2s.

 

My latest 9F.

 

And the two 3D-printed items of rolling stock of late. 

 

According to the 12 days of Christmas (swearing I know) its

12 Royal Scots,

11 Modified Halls

10 Super Ds

9 2-10-0s ( so you are 8 short) 

8 Coronations

7 V2's (missing 5 here, but I bet you've got them) 

6 Merchant Navies

5 A4s (with hand action) 

4 Black 5's 

3 Flying Pigs

2 modified Hall's 

And a crap shot of a Dub Dee 

 

I'll get my coat, lol

 

Love the A4 by the way

[polybear]

32 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

It'll just be me. Mo's trying to finish off the gardening! 

 

 

Surely not that brick wall at long last? 🤣

[richard i]

Another brick in the wall. Part 2.

Edited September 23, 2022 by richard i

[Tony Wright]

51 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Surely not that brick wall at long last? 🤣

Almost!

[Dunsignalling]

On 22/09/2022 at 15:44, Tony Wright said:

Many thanks for the interesting comments regarding lighting..........

 

The job is now complete (though three fluorescent tubes have been retained because they were installed before the layout was built and it was thought too risky to lean over some four feet of baseboards to try and replace them). 

 

And the results? I have no idea how long it might be before any costs are recovered by energy saving, but the illuminated meter we have now stays on green when I switch on the LEDs - previously it always turned amber. Not only that, the surviving fluorescents now have their own switch. Indeed, there are now five separate switches for the runs of lights, so I can just use enough to see well enough for running the layout but switch the lot on for photography (even the three lights over the MR/M&GNR bit can now be switched on/off separately).

 

Anyway, I've tried some photographic experiments. The LED tubes can be switched to any one of three positions - cool/natural/warm. 

 

 

This is cool.

 

 

This is natural (I can hardly see any difference).

 

 

This is warm. Too warm!

 

I chose natural.

 

 

The colours look fine here in my view.

 

The only bit of damage done was the felling of the yard's loading gauge when it caught on a dust sheet. As can be seen, it was easily fixed. 

 

 

Natural colours with a train in view as well. 

 

If anything, the LEDs on natural are a tiny bit warmer than the previous fluorescents, but the colours look fine to me (the Nikon Df gives muted colours, anyway - which I like). 

 

One other thing of note was the the exposures were slightly shorter; meaning, if I've got this right, more illumination but at less cost!

 

My electrician (Trevor from Bourne, who's brilliant!) told me that fluorescent tubes are being phased out and it won't be long before they'll no longer be available. 

 

I'm delighted with the results today...........

TBF, the Auto White Balance setting on Nikons (and most other digital cameras) is easily capable of compensating for any "mainstream" form of lighting.

 

I only turn it off on the very rare occasions that it doesn't deliver what I'm expecting to see.

 

John

Edited September 24, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[Tony Wright]

4 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

TBF, the Auto White Balance setting on Nikons (and most other digital cameras) is easily capable of compensating for any "mainstream" form of lighting.

 

I only turn it off on the very rare occasions that it doesn't deliver what I'm expecting to see.

 

John

Good morning John,

 

I've find that there are distinct differences in colour rendering between the two Nikons I use (a D3 and a Df). The Df gives me much more subtle colours than the more-saturated D3, which is why I prefer the Df for layout photography in the main.

 

Of course, both can have their colour renditions altered at source, but the photo programme is also capable of this. 

 

One thing I have noted of late are the often lurid colours printed in some model railway magazines' pictures.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.