The SaTR management decided to try this new fangled fluorescent lighting in the buffet car.
I bought 100, 3mm, white LEDs off ebay for about $8 which included 100x 100 ohm and 100x 470 ohm resistors for 5V or 12V operation!
I cut from perspex, 6mm x 6mm x 50mm strips and drill each end 3mm for the LEDs to fit in. I wrapped Al foil around the top to stop light coming out the tops!
This how one “4’ fluorescent tube” looks .
Then I connected 4 of them in a line for the whole ceiling.
This is how 2 of them look, mounted on the ceiling. A pretty good effect I think.
I used ‘warm white’ LEDs in the vestibules to simulate old fashioned incandescents, running at just 6mA. The kitchen area with its frosted windows, has just has two white LEDs running at 12mA
So in all there are 14 LEDs taking a total of only 70 mA at 12V. (I don’t have the LiPo yet – I’ll use LiPo as they retain their charge for ages.)
The circuit I used looks like this:
I did the no-no of connecting LEDs directly in parallel, but it works! Each LED in the fluoro is taking 18mA.
While I was testing, I had an intermittent connection which caused flickering like a fluoro starting. Hmmm, I thinks - I need a picaxe to do a low voltage alarm for the LiPo, so maybe I’ll add a flickering start feature later. (must get back on that medication!)