Battery Powered LED for model House

Hi
I make models, houses, railway buildings etc and want to add some lighting inside.

I've looked on YouTube and Googled "small battery powered LED with switch" and other similar words. I've read lots of the info I've found and whilst I understand a bit more technically I'm still unsure the best route to take.

The buildings are quite small so I think I only need 1 or 2 LED's, but I'd like the option to use more, up to say, 5 or so.

I've seen a kit that includes an LED, a coin battery holder and a switch and I guess this will be fine for the very minimum I'm looking for. When I look at the kit though, I don't see a resistor, which is something I keep hearing about on YouTube, so thats one issue.

Does anyone know of a good kit I could use ?

I don't mind buying the individual pieces, battery holders, batteries, wire, resistors and switches and making them as I need them. If that is a better option, does anyone know of a good place to buy the parts I will need?

Thanks in advance
Paul

www.maplins.co.uk
Should be able to help you.....or failing that, a local model shop?
John

PaulP102, good evening.

I note that this is your first post on this site, Welcome, hope that any information tendered is of use?

Some good advice from John as last post.

Can I also suggest that you look for a "Model Show" near to where you live, why because, at these shows for example i live near Glasgow [OK someone has to I suppose] there are three or four "Shows" or "Exhibitions" or model events where you can pop along and get some really invaluable first hand information.

For example, my Son is an aircraft model builder, at such events he has obtained massive volumes of information as regards paint tinting shading Etc. and that is just on the finishing.

These events generally have all sorts of contributors to the event, including [as I have seen] loads of lighting fittings for small spaces, what you will find is that the stall holders, or exhibitors are more than happy to dispense their accumulated knowledge to assist.

Ken

Paul,
To make LEDs light you need: Battery Box, Wire, Resistor and LED(s),
Also tape or heatshrink to cover the bare wire joints, Soldering Iron and Solder to make permanent connections.

The hardest part is Selecting the battery size and resistor.

I use the following website http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz as it shows the circuit layout and teh required resistor, all based on
"Supply voltage": This is how much voltage you are putting into the circuit from say batteries.
"LED Voltage" or "Forward Voltage" is the voltage needed to light one of the LEDs you have chosen.
"LED Current" or "Forward Current" is the current (in milliamps or mA) needed to light one of the LEDs you have chosen.
"Number of LEDs" you wish to use in your Circuit.

These last two can be found on the packaging for your LEDs or on the supplier's web site. If they list a range, say 20-30mA pick a value in the middle (25mA in this case). If no numbers listed then you can use these typical values:
LED Type / Forward Voltage / Forward Current
Red LED: 2.0V 15mA
Green LED: 2.1V 20mA
Blue LED: 3.2V 25mA
White LED: 3.2V 25mA

Hope this helps, SFK

Maybe this type would be a good style to use. The shape would make it esy to mount and at 100 lumens it would be capable of producing much more light than you need.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-50PCS-...-Power-Led-Lamp-Beads-DIY-Bulbs-/172017766483

They need approx 3V hence why some kits just use a disposable button cell. The easiest battery power source is just to use a USB power bank. You therefore need to drop about 2V across a resistor and as that LED has a maximum current of 350mA the resistance would need to be 2/0.35 or 5.7 ohms. The next standard value is 6.2 ohms. Now the power being dissipated is 2*0.35 so you would need a 0.7W resistor.

I would get a small selection of 0.25W resistors. You can combine two resistors in parallel to half the rating and double the power requirement. Once you get to 16 ohms or higher the current is low enough for the resistor to dissipate less than 0.25W. I would suspect you will end up running them way below the maximum 1W.

as Christmas approaches, you will see kits of battery-operated LEDs in places like Wilkinson.

I've used these to illuminate things, get the White lights and you could put a lamp in each of many model buildings. for neatness you might run the wire under your board. The lamps are in parallel so you can cut some off and they will still work.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20-50-100-LED-String-Battery-Operated-Copper-Silver-Wire-Fairy-Lights-Xmas-Party-/322489742957
These are very small. You could get one of these kits including a battery box and run the cable in the roof area of the model and have the light coming down into the room area wherever you want it. As JohnD mentioned these are very popular at christmas time so you can pick them up locally and see how bright they are if you don't want to order off ebay.

Thank you all for your replies. Really appreciate it.
I'll try a few things and come back to you.
Cheers
Paul

You can also purchase thing such as lights from poundland and modify them - us the battery holder and switch in them and wire the leds to where you want them.
i.e.
Or the flickering tealight type (also poundland) for this.

you could put a flickerer in the model fireplace.