Need a cheap source for warm white 5 mm led's

Do a search on Ebay using the term "5mm white led". I came up with 62 listings. Examples; 100 for $100, 100 for $4, etc. Of course shipping is extra. Not sure of the wave length of "warm white" so you would have to look at the specs.

in article snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com, Jon Miller at snipped-for-privacy@inow.com wrote on 11/3/06 8:43 AM:

Make sure you are getting "warm white" leds; many of the cheap leds are the old style "blue" one: they are noticeably blue, especially if not driven to full brightness and especially from the sides.

Richmond Controls (

sells sunny and golden white leds for $1.50, no minimum; they are very good. Loystoys (loystoys.com) sells them ones for $1.20 each.

Ledtronics.com also sells "warm white" leds for $.72 each in various sizes: look here:

I've gotten leds are various times from all of these folks; the Ledtornics

5mm "cylindrical" ones are really close to the large headlights on HO F series and similar locos: they have flat fronts and and kind of just drop in with an appropriate resistor.

As a side note, depending on the existing headlighs on your 60 locos, you may be able to just use them as is: 14v ones are OK, may be a small, 47 ohm resistor to damp out inrush current can be used. The 1.5 volt bulbs need a

680 ohm resistor for HO.

Ed is correct. Most cheap White LEDs use standard "stark" white phosphor. That combined with some of the blue light from the chip shining through the phosphor results in bluish white light.

Changing the phosphor formulation to a warmer color is not that difficult (or expensive). Some LEDs in recent appliances have such LEDs in them. One recent example is a portable magnifying makeup mirror. It has 2 white LEDs with a very nice incadescent-like white light. I'm not sure why the LED companies haven't started doing this sooner (on a large scale).

To add to Ed's sources, Miniatrinocs also sells warm white LEDs (Yelloglo):

Peteski

Edward A. Oates spake thus:

So based on this, why would you *not* buy your white LEDs from Ledtronics?

If you already have engines with the blueish white LED's, you can buy Tamiya Clear Orange and paint the LED's with that. Makes them look more yellowish. It won't be perfect, but it'd be alot easier than replacing all the LED's in your fleet (assuming you have a bunch :)

in article 454bff24$0$13817$ snipped-for-privacy@news.adtechcomputers.com, David Nebenzahl at snipped-for-privacy@but.us.chickens wrote on 11/3/06 6:50 PM:

From time to time, Ledtronics is "out of stock" or reverts to sale "to the trade only." They are generally a wholesale supplier.

The Richmond Controls LEDs have more even dispersion when viewed head on: the light is more spread out over the entire face of the LED. Some of the Ledtronics ones (and it varies...), especially the cylindrical ones, sometimes seem to be a tiny "dot" of light, rather than a more realistic round reflector full of light.

I just tried to include the various sources which I had used over time for warm and/or incandescent white LEDs.

The request was for "cheap source" LEDs. I have used the SMD (0805) LEDs from the Ebay source and they were white, not blue or bluish. They do need a filter or clear paint as suggested to get to a warm (yellow) white. As the request was for _cheap_ I consider a nickel to a dime each much less expensive than any of the suggested prices.

in article C172132E.24D58% snipped-for-privacy@unearthlylink.net, Edward A. Oates at snipped-for-privacy@unearthlylink.net wrote on 11/4/06 9:51 AM:

Whoops: forgot one not-so-tiny detail: LEDTRONICS has a minimum order quantity of 100. A couple of years ago, I was able to get a sample pack of 1 each of their various "warm white" leds by calling the sales rep. I was actually looking for commercial quantities at the time since I was in the custom home theater business, and these LEDS looked like interesting lighting for cabinets, etc. and much nicer than the blue-ish LEDs. So getting hundreds of the right type was not a problem. For someone outfitting a few locos, that is a problem; also, unless you can get samples, you won't know if they fit your needs.

The Richmond Controls ones are designed for HO and N locos: see their web site, and you can get just one if that's what you want (plus shipping: gets expensive that way).

in article snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com, Jon Miller at snipped-for-privacy@inow.com wrote on 11/4/06 9:57 AM:

Yup, they are cheap all right. I've used the old "bright white" leds (which is what the ones I saw on eBay were), and they are noticeably blue-tinted. But as you say, an amber clear glass paint, or Wratten 85 (or Sun 3408) filter can make them more incandescent like (those filters are available in

1x2 foot sheets for about $10 at any good photography shop).

All that said, I was not extremely pleased with the filters or the amber glass paints. The Richmond Control Sunny White are clear when off, and sunny white (less yellow than the Golden white, which are dark amber when off) are my favorites. And the most expensive at $1.20 from LoysToys.

But look at it this way: if the original poster is going to convert 60 locos to DCC, at a minimum, he'll be spending 60x$16 for the least expensive decoders, plus his time to install them. Adding another buck twenty isn't so bad.

Speaking about samples I once got a handful of the LEDs used in car reading/door lights. While not much good for trains (because of shape and design) these LEDs are white and bright. I'm thinking of a lamp over my computer use for them but not sure what to use for the holder.

in article D063h.3578$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe04.lga, E. T. Atkins at snipped-for-privacy@charter.net wrote on 11/4/06 11:40 AM:

Each of your loco's may have different lights! Older Athearn (not Genesis) had 14 volt bulbs which could be used "as is", but installing DCC decoders was a special project. There is a DCC wiring harnass which Digitrax uses which has instructions for isolating the motor and wiring up the light (see the Digitrax web site; I think their manuals are on line).

I've slowly but surely (as time permits) been replacing some OEM blue-white and yellow (not yellow white, but actual yellow) LEDs with sunny whites since that is the color I like best.

The main reason I wind up replacing grain of wheat (rice) incandescent bulbs is to minimize heat or when they burn out. They have really long life times, so that isn't a problem, but on DCC they may be running at pretty full brightness all the time (12 volts or more) and that definitely shortens their lives compared to their analog use, especially the old Athearn ones.

I like to replace bulbs with LEDs also. But you need to be careful and possibly do a little research. I have a Soundtraxx decoder mounted in the tender of an engine. As it was there I figured use an LED for the rear light. Well it turns out Soundtraxx design dumps a _little_ current through the rear light function. Bulbs don't see this but LEDs sure do and as the pump and other items are working the rear light emits flashs.

Here's the tale of some white LEDs, with pictures:

Thanks for all your help guys :) I'm going to order some led's online. I bought some of the yellow ones from Radidio shack along with the resistors that ya'll helped me with. The Yellow works great but I'm not satisfied with the color they are. They look fake. So far I've done

6 locomotives, 5 with the MRC 1650 decoders and one with the digitrax DH123AT. they are working great so far. I'm in the learning stages of setting up the CV's and doing the consisting. The MRC prodigy advance is a who new ball game for me. ok back to school for me :)

Look for a led flashlight! In Holland for sale for about 5 dollar > with 23 white LED's in them! Just break in in pieces the cheapest LED for sale!

Rob Oostrum

I've also had quite good results using Delta's "Air-Dry PermEnamel Transparent Glass Paint" in Yellow.

It's way too dark straight out of the bottle, so I thin it at a ratio of about one part yellow with three parts "Air-Dry PermEnamel Clear Gloss Glaze". You can adjust the mix to suit your tastes and your LEDs.

Those of you in the US can find it at your local HobbyLobby. Print a couple of their 40% coupons and bring a friend to get both the yellow and the clear at a nice discount:

HTH, Stevert

Tony's Train Exchange has a suggested "fix" for this problem, although I haven't tried it yet. It uses a 0.1 uF capacitor and a 1K resistor across the rear LED (all three components in parallel). Note that you still need the series current limiter resistor.

Jon N.

Thanks, I have to take this engine apart again anyway. Left the front light alone (decoder is a Zimo located right in the front) and it seemed to be ok but it burned out. I used a 1K resistor with it. Anyway need to replace with a LED so will fix the tender at the same time. Should have mentioned this to Don as I'm sure he would have steered me to the fix.