discussion Grain of Rice/Wheat Bulbs

[Mr Bowcat]

Hi guys,

Need some help please. I've got a build coming up which I want to install a single bulb in to light the interior. What I would like to do is power this from a battery rather than mains with a transformer, but I'm struggling to find much info on the subject.

As far as I can see, I can get a 1.5v grain of rice bulb which I can run off AA batteries, however I'm not sure if this will put out enought light (it's to light the inside of a turret). Alternatively, I was thinking of a 12v grain of wheat bulb, and run it off a 9v battery.

As I know nothing about this kind of thing I thought I should ask for some advice first, so over to you guys.

Cheers,

B

 

[PaulTRose]

i once lit a klingon battle cruiser using a set of 12 led xmas lights powered by 2 AA batteries that i got for a quid in the post crimbo sales lol.........was easy to use and came with the battery box, and they gave out a lot of light

look forward to seeing your project when you do it

 

[SimonT]

Beowulf just beat me to it

LED is the way to go these days - high light output, no heat problems, low power and last for ages

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers guys. The problem I foresee with LED is just the size of the bulb, do they come in the sub 2mm range?

 

[Guest]

Certainly — just search for “2 mm LED” (or 1.5 mm, or whatever) and you should find plenty. Remember that you may need to add a resistor to the circuit to make sure the LED doesn’t get damaged. This site seems to explain the basics fairly well.

 

[SimonT]

Just looked on ebay and there are 1.5mm ones
Another thing that you can do is use fibre optics if you are limited with space - embed fibre(s) in the model and light from remote location

 

[Jim R]

Interesting discussion. Look at *THIS*
Jim

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Excellent, cheers guys, that gives me plenty to go on.