Choosing Lights For You Scenes
As part of the planning process involved in adding lights to your diorama or train layout, take the time to look at what the lights look like around you.
Lights in buildings will generally look orange or orange yellow. The image to the left shows a night view of an apartment complex in Warsaw, Poland.
Stadium and athletic field lights will look white. Note in the white lights at the top left. They are lights at an athletic stadium.
Street lamps will look orange orange yellow. Some may look white, but when I travel in the mountains at night and look down on the villages, they are generally orange yellow.
Halogen lights on cars, or in street lights, will look white.
Stores that use neon lights will show white. As an aside, when you turn them on, you should program them to flicker as they start up. The code to do that is here. xxx
Now as far as the Lights themselves:
Christmas light LEDs are generally spotlights.
Incandescent, 12v wheat and rice bulbs show all around.
Commercial LEDs will show all around.
Pixel LEDs are flat and somewhat uni directional.
As for colors:
Incandescent 12v wheat and rice bulbs generally show orange yellow or yellow white.
Christmas lights will be bright. So if you choose, for example, a white light, it will be a bright white spotlight with minimal side illumination.
When it comes to a commercial LED, you can choose a bright white or warm white. You can do the same for other colors.
Pixel LEDs are convenient. You can adjust the color and brightness. And because they can be wired in series, you only need one 3 wire string from your controller to the building or series of buildings for that matter.
As for brightness:
The current flow through an LED determines the brightness of the LED. The higher the resistance value of the inline resistor, the less bright the LED will be.
For a given resistor, red LEDs will shine brighter. So if you are making, for example, a fire, the red will dominate the fire unless you use low value resistors on the yellows and a high value resistor on the red.
Recommendations
For flouescent lights, use a bright white commercial LED.
For building lights, pixel LEDs. They require less wiring and colors and brightness can be unique for each LED.
To light buildings with commercial LEDs, use a variety of colors and shades. Warm orange, warm yellow, warm white. If your windows are somewhat opaque, you will want the bright versions.
Incandescent wheat and rice bulbs make excellent street lamps.
Regardless of bulb/LED type, fade street and track lamps on and off. Video and code here. VVVVV