Lighting questions; LED versus lightsheet

davehal9000 · Post by **davehal9000** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 1:35 pm

I'm new to lighting anything but simple 9v powered Halloween props. I'm working on an aircraft carrier type model, and would like to light the main ship's propulsion as well as the cockpits of the fighters on the deck.

I've been seeing more and more about lightsheets, and was curious as to what was better between it and an LED. Will fiber optics work with the lightsheet? My tenative plan is to route a fiber optic through the aircraft landing gear to light the cockpits.

en'til Zog · Post by **en'til Zog** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 1:26 am

"Lightsheet" is a trademarked version of Electroluminescent sheet. Regular EL sheet is available from www.allelectronics.com and www.jameco.com among other suppliers. "Lightsheet" is only available from it's developer who seems to be temporarily off line.

EL sheet is handy for lighting up large areas evenly, if a bit dimly. Fibre optic cable needs bright light, directed into one end by a LED or (shudder) light bulb. EL sheet is not a good choice for this. LEDs are.

A sheet of EL material might be good for your drive section - a large area of relatively soft light (until Lightsheet gets back into production).

LEDs would be good for the Fibre optics. ALL and Jameco have lots of LEDs - look for 'superbright' ones. Also try www.theledlight.com and www.superbrightleds.com (I think, for the last one) for very bright LEDs. LEDs are rated in mCd for milliCandella or in Cd for Candella - one candle power. A 3000 mCd LED is the same as a 3 Cd LED. The higher the number, the brighter the LED.

Also check out "Luxeon Lumileds" from "the LED light" store for driving the fibres, or even for providing VERY bright lights for drive units.

Hope this helps.

MODEL ON!

TrekFX · Post by **TrekFX** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:14 pm

I still have a limited supply of white LightSheet and various LightDrive power modules. Small orders shouldn't be an issue for the time being.

Contact me if you have specific sizes in mind.

Best regards,

Mike Emery
LightSheet Systems

en'til Zog · Post by **en'til Zog** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 12:41 am

What he said.

Mike? Is that very bright EL sheet on Enterprise props your stuff? If so - WOW....

And you have some available... Hm....

TrekFX · Post by **TrekFX** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:22 pm

Sorry, no. Wish I could say it's ours...

They cheaped out and dressed up some off-the-shelf mini lightboxes (ie.... things for viewing slides and transparencies) to use as Starfleet PADDS. If you own a Cabin lightbox, well... there goes the illusion!

There's a prop site or two discussing conversions.

SGluedMyFingers · Post by **SGluedMyFingers** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 1:30 am

I can't say that I recommend the EL products from allelectronics... very very dim. It's more like a soft glow and hardly noticeable in decent light. A waste of $25.00. I contacted them to see if maybe I got a bad kit, but... nope.

I have yet to find any EL sheet at jameco. I've mis-spelled electroluminescent everyway that I can think of in their search engine, EL, EL sheet, all that. I just can't find any sheet, kits, drives, inverters, nothing. If someone can tell me that I'm doing something stupid, I'd appreciate it.

Talk to TrekFX. I would myself, but... long story. I was an a$$ - he may still be pissed at me. Mike's cool and I've heard his stuff is pretty bright.

Anyway, I have yet to find EL sheet that is bright enough for me to find useful or affordable. Anyone have another source?

TrekFX · Post by **TrekFX** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 5:48 pm

Oh, stop that! Bygones. Life's too short to grind axes, hold grudges, whatever... Let's not sweat the small stuff!

SGluedMyFingers · Post by **SGluedMyFingers** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:43 am