Subject:
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Re: Announcing Advanced LEGO Lighting Systems
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.parts.custom
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Date:
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Thu, 28 Sep 2006 12:49:30 GMT
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Viewed:
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9646 times
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> Jordan,
>
> these look great. I've been making something similar for my own trains for
> awhile. Are yours constant output style? Or does the output vary with the
> voltage supply? It's funny, but this was something I pursued when I first got
> into LEGO trains back in 1990, but the lack of 3v regulators on ready supply and
> white LEDs was a bit of a problem. I recently switched to a constant current
> type circuit that regulates each LED at 17ma, good for single diode directional
> lights. But I've had also had good success with a constant voltage (3.3v), good
> for non directional lighting. I add a supercap to the later, which keeps a pair
> of LEDs lit for over a minute after the power is cut.
>
> I bought a couple of LED Christmas light strands last years, and harvest the
> LEDs as needed. But these are the blue-white type, are you using golden white?
>
> I'm very interested in your circuit board power pickup. Did you develope theses?
> I'd love to get a dozen of these, with or without the wires.
>
> I have no interest in selling light sets myself, but I'd be happy to discuse
> ideas. Do you plan to offer 3mm LEDs as well?
>
> Mat
Mat,
Thanks for the words of encouragement. Your suggestions are excellent. First,
I should mention that I know LEGO train fans are often quite
electronically-savvy and have developed their own lighting kits in some cases.
I am hoping to reach the remaining part of train builders who enjoy trains but
are not in a position to fabricate their own train lights. For example, those
who buy the battery train and would like a really bright light that uses less
power. I am happy to see builders like yourself creating custom lighting, since
I think it means that we, collectively, see room for improvement in the train
light offered by LEGO.
At this point, these lights are not constant output - they are very bright at
runlevel 2 and above, so I decided not to use voltage regulators in this initial
run. It is, however, an excellent idea and perhaps an area of future research.
Golden white or blue white... I am not sure, actually.
Ah, no, the power pickups are from Mindsensors. They sell them through their
website (mindsensors.com). I looked at what it would cost to buy a bunch of
LEGO power leads, and it seemed like it would drive the cost of the project way
up. I was working on developing my own power connector, when I found theirs.
Mini-LEDs - well, it depends on this initial run of lights goes. White mini
LEDs are harder to come by than 5mm ones, and the 5mm ones fit the LEGO
waveguides perfectly. So, that was where I started. I do plan to offer a track
signal kit, with red and green 3mm LEDs (easier to find), in the near future, if
buyers are receptive to the first generation of light kits.
Sincerely,
Jordan Schwarz
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