LED Lighting Tubes

[starrymarkb]

Had a short trip on a 150/1 with LED lighting today in place of the standard flouresent tubes and I can't say I'm keen, while the strip of LEDs was bright the light was rather focused leaving a lot of dark spots. Is this common with LED lighting in trains?

 

[D365]

It's rather common with LEDs in general? [I will attempt to avoid nattering on about how far they have come recently, or something in that manner!]

 

[edwin_m]

Do you mean tubes with lots of LEDs close together in a row or spotlights containing a few larger LEDs? I've seen both on trains recently. There are also spotlights with a few dozen small LEDs in them, which seem to give a more diffuse light than the ones with only one or three.

 

[starrymarkb]

It was a single row of LEDs in a tube style fitting.

 

[Old Hill Bank]

I understand that there is one LM 323 fitted with LED lighting and that is good

 

[edwin_m]

I've seen one of the LED tubes on an EMT 153. The individual LEDs were very close together (about every 2mm) so the light didn't seem particularly patchy (it was daylight at the time though) but when looking at the tube you could clearly see the gaps between them. Probably it would have been better mounted behind a diffuser or with the surrounding tube made in in white rather than clear material.

 

[swt_passenger]

I saw one of the FGW 150/0s the other day had LED tubes, and they were all pointing upwards. Above the tube there was some sort of an opaque flat reflector/diffuser. It looked like the idea was that the light was reflected off that back down into the carriage.

Either that or the tubes were all wrongly positioned...

 

[jon0844]

The Heathrow Express now has all LED lighting (including the former fluorescent tubes). As they're directional, there's no need for a reflector to try and bounce otherwise wasted light as they can have all the LEDs put on just one side.

Of course, I'm sure they also make them with LEDs on two sides or more if that's what is needed. For train lighting, I'd say one side is all you need but have the lights facing down, not up towards the mirror!!

 

[fgwrich]

I saw one of the FGW 150/0s the other day had LED tubes, and they were all pointing upwards. Above the tube there was some sort of an opaque flat reflector/diffuser. It looked like the idea was that the light was reflected off that back down into the carriage.

Either that or the tubes were all wrongly positioned...

FGW's fleet can be rather subjective. The LED Lighting in the 150/0s seem to work rather well because the units have been refurbished - which includes the lighter painted panels, whereas it looks awful in the rather grim un refurbished ex Silverlink 150s - which seem to create a lot of dark patches and just seems to show how bad some of those interiors are starting to get. Not so sure on how it is in the ex LM /1s because they've had some sort of part refurb, but if the ceiling panels haven't been painted then you'll be back to same problem as the ex LO units. All of FGWs 150/0s, /1s and I think /2s are fitted with the LED lighting now. The 153s may be too.

 

[High Dyke]

Either that or the tubes were all wrongly positioned...

Sounds like they're incorrectly positioned, though i could be wrong. I agree the that the ones i've seen (on EMT units) are brighter and look better; then anything brighter than a tungsten bulb in a Mk1 has to be an improvement.

Personally i've fitted some of the spotlight type bulbs around the bar in the Railway Club - less heat output than traditional spotbulbs and less expensive to run, but cost more to buy and a few issues with some not lasting like they should.

 

[TEW]

FGW's fleet can be rather subjective. The LED Lighting in the 150/0s seem to work rather well because the units have been refurbished - which includes the lighter painted panels, whereas it looks awful in the rather grim un refurbished ex Silverlink 150s - which seem to create a lot of dark patches and just seems to show how bad some of those interiors are starting to get. Not so sure on how it is in the ex LM /1s because they've had some sort of part refurb, but if the ceiling panels haven't been painted then you'll be back to same problem as the ex LO units. All of FGWs 150/0s, /1s and I think /2s are fitted with the LED lighting now. The 153s may be too.

The lighting looks OK in the ex-LM 150/1s but I think all the units suffer from dark patches. The LED lighting is only fitted in 150202 and 150216, the ex-LM pair, as well as 150921 and 150927. The rest of the /2s and 153s don't have it fitted.

 

[BuhSnarf]

Are there any photos of this lighting?

Sent from my Novo10Hero using Tapatalk 4

 

[jon0844]

I took this but it's not really showing much detail.

(Heathrow Express)

 

[sheff'd victoria]

It's rather common with LEDs in general? [I will attempt to avoid nattering on about how far they have come recently, or something in that manner!]

Sheffield's 67000 Streetlights are as we speak been changed to LED lights.

We have been told by South Yorkshire PTE that they can not fit LED lighting to station platforms as there is a problem that the train drivers have with it ?

 

[jon0844]

The new generation of LEDs are pretty much indistinguishable from ordinary bulbs, so I am not sure what that's about. You can get them in multiple colour temperatures too, so no more clinical/blue lights that you got early on.

And here's my very nerdy video of new LED lights on a dual carriageway outside London. They are definitely the future, and a good alternative to our council that now turn the lights off at night making it only possible to walk around town with a torch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHt0_gsutn0&feature=youtube_gdata_player