Backlighting my new overhead

[Steve A]

I was thinking about ways in which to backlight my new overhead as cheaply as possible and as easy as possible as my soldering skills are still pretty rubbish.
Budget as ever with me is a real stumbling block and once the 100 odd leds for the annunciators are ordered and the joystick and led64 cards are ordered, it wont leave much in the kitty.
So my plan is to use some 4" long flourescent bulbs i can get my hands on, everything is there in one tidy unit all they need is power. If i was to seal the overhead, once its wired, so no light can escape except through the engraved legends etc... Would this be a good way to do it and are there any safety issues. The units come with a 12v power supply.

I started wiring up some switches and made the frame base, i have to address some light bleed issues but its looking pretty good, The last couple of shots are with the panel placed in front of my window just to demonstrate how the wonderful backlighting will be.

[Kennair]

Hi Steve,

Certainly fluro's can do the job as could incandescent globes.  Many here have done just that for simplicity and low cost.  The only small disadvantage in using this sort of backlighting for me is that you can get a lot of light leakage through gaps etc. that you might not like.  I'm a big advocate of LED's as you can pick them up very cheaply from ebay and they come complete with resistors to drive from 5 or 12 volt (depending on variety you buy) and you can use your PC power supply to drive them.  Yes there is a lot of soldering and gluing in place but $25 will get you 100 high intensity LED's and they'll backlight only the bits you want, i.e. behind the lettering, for a very professional result.

Just my 2c worth.

Ken.

[MLeavy737]

Ken,
Is there a certain type LED that has the resisters already built in? Or a certain brand maybe? I have never seen any that had build in resistors. I have some panels that i wanted to backlight that arent IBL type and and was dreading all the soldering of resistors and type etc.  Do you have a link maybe?

Thanks,
Mike Leavy

[saabpilot]

For a minimum soldering you can use LED-tape or LED-strips/discs.

LED-tape comes pre assembled on an adhesive tape and the newer ones are superbright.
Can be cut to suitable lengths.   
Link: http://www.molectric.se/

LED-strips are same idea but on a hard "stick" - sold among others by IKEA of Sweden
LED-discs are Hi-Brite LED:s mounted on a disc - also an IKEA item.

All three are driven by 5V DC and can be dimmed 0-100% by very cheap LED-dimmers.
I recommend the "kit" dimmer sold by Molectric - very easy "kit" to solder for beginners, excellent operation, small size and cost only 15 $.

"Light-Leakage" is easy fixed so that I do not consider as a problem.

Best,
Bjorn

www.boeing737sim.se

[Kennair]

Ken,
Is there a certain type LED that has the resisters already built in? Or a certain brand maybe? I have never seen any that had build in resistors. I have some panels that i wanted to backlight that arent IBL type and and was dreading all the soldering of resistors and type etc.  Do you have a link maybe?

Thanks,
Mike Leavy

Hi Mike,

Yes you can get pre-wired LED's off ebay to save you lots of work.  Have a look here - http://stores.shop.ebay.com.au/TopBright-Led-Store_12VDC-Wired-5mm-LED-for-AUTO_W0QQ_fsubZ14594726QQ_sidZ190959565QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em322

They also do the strip LED's Bjorn mentioned.  I'm looking at using these for under glareshield lighting.

Ken.

[DaveK]

I bought 2 bundles of the white LEDs that are wired with resistor and run direct from 12 volt.
Saves a lot of soldering and worry if you dont know about wiring resistors etc,
They work brilliantly and easy to install.

[Steve A]

Thanks for the many great ideas, i think ebay is the answer.

Steve

[Trevor Hale]

I use white Christmas light strings..  100 BULBS and dim them with a dimmer.

Trev

[MLeavy737]

Cool, thanks for the links / tips! Not quite up to that part again but may as well start thinking about it.

Mike Leavy

[Joe Lavery]

My Guys,

I bought strips of LEDS already mounted and wired from Sure Electronics (on Ebay). They are super bright and easy to install in the overhead, I'll post a pic when it's completed.

[ebay]350344844964[/ebay]

The link is for 20 strips of 4 LEDs at a cost of $99 with free postage.

Just another idea...

Cheers
Joe.

[Steve A]

I'm in trouble next christmas, When the missus asks me to go get the decorations down and i say " ooh i cant seem to find the tree lights love " ha ha. Great idea Trevor.
I modified them to work from the panel lights switch on the overhead and they look cool. Only problem is, above the sim i have all the light escaping, so back to my original question: will i be ok boxing in the top/back off the ovh without causing heat issues.

Regards
Steve

[alphatango]

Hi guys
My first post here!
I have use concentionnal home 120V mini lamps for my OH. The advantage is the possibility of using a home dimmer... Cheap, easy to build and very efficient...
You may have many details on my site...

http://www.sim-737ng.com/index2.htm

This in on the Overhead section on the right... 
Have a great visit!
Alain

[jackpilot]

I've seen it and it works fine, yellow-ish orange, matches the real backlighting in color and intensity, no overheating problem . You can find them at any harware store(these little dim lamps you plug direct in the socket in kids bedroom)

[alphatango]

Here are the results with and without annunciators... 

[Bob Reed]

WOW!! Very nicley done!

[Steve A]

Yeah, i went on your site alain, when Jack pointed us toward it from another thread, very very nice indeed.

[MLeavy737]

nice job! Good thinking.. 

Mike Leavy