Display Case Lighting

[iFett]

So I recently bought some Detlofs from Ikea and was wondering what the best kind of light to use in them would be?  The employees at the store had no clue what this thing was.  They were not on the showfloor and I had to search the warehouse myself to find it.  Anywhoo -  they recommended a 4pack of lights called dioders (again the employees had no clue what kind of case this was since it wasn't on the floor) so I was wondering what you guys use if you have these or similar display cases.

Its been 11 years of collecting for me and I'm finally getting around to this since I finally own my own home.  I know detlofs aren't exactly ideal for Star Wars figures, but I'm not concerned with them at the moment.

Hope this isn't too general of a question...

[Jesse James]

They make small strips of lights, like 4 or 5 LED's, run off batteries...

Assuming you don't want to have the lights on often at all, I'd go with these.  You can get them at home improvement places and stuff.  They're about 2 inches wide by maybe 7 or 8 inches long.  You can mount them in the top of shelves and things with simple screws.  They'd be my choice, ultimately.

LED's are efficient, burn relatively cool, are bright and focus light nicely.

Niub Niub used them when he did his last Celebration diorama set-up (Echo Base/Hoth) where he put them in the ceiling bits of the HOth corridors, and they lit them up eerily accurate to how the Hoth corridors looked.

If you get glass paint too, you can paint LED's other colors too, so if you wanted to have red lighting over a Sithy shelf or something, it's doable.

[Jeff]

All of my cases use Ikea's NON lights.  They work great, don't generate too much heat (though I never leave them on very long anyway), and you can out them in series so one switch can run a whole bank of cabinets.

[Jesse James]

That link isn't working Jeff, and I can't find them, but they sound interesting.  I'm considering some lighting options too, but I'm looking "cheap" and relatively easily replaced if broken.  Plus Ikea's all the way on the other side of Pitt.

[Jeff]

They must be sold out right now since they aren't showing up anywhere on the site.  Maybe try this link to the Canadian website version.

[iFett]

Thanks for the info Jesse & Jeff.  'Detlof' doesn't even show up on their site, but if you type in 'display' it shows up there so it's is kinda wonky so maybe the NONs are hiding somewhere.  They had quite a selection of lil lights at the store, but wanted to hear what other folk are using - and I don't really feel like opening the case each night to turn them on. 

Is halogen okay on plastic type toys?  I just don't want anything melting or discoloring.  Always kinda thought led would be a bit more forgiving, but only plan on keeping the lights on for maybe an hour or two each night so hopefully that'd be okay no matter which light I go with...

[Jeff]

I've had mine for years and years and haven't ever noticed any discoloration in the figures from the lights.  There is definitely heat generated if they are left on for a long period of time (over an hour), but as long as the lights are 4 inches or so away from the figures, there is no melting going to occur.  At least nothing I've noticed with my SW stuff.  Not sure how the plastic in your TFers would fare though since those can be slightly different. 

[Matt_Fury]

If you check Home Depot or Lowe's, they have small LED lights that you can stick nearly anywhere.

[Jesse James]

There's a, "I know where you can stick them!" remark in there. 

Yeah these are the ones I was talking about, more or less.  I like the strip because they just look more streamlined and give you a series of lights all at once, but there's little disc ones too.

Actually dollar stores sell the little LED disc lights you stick to a surface too, but beware of their quality as I've had some burst into flames (I **** you not) due to shoddy wiring/soldering.

[iFett]

I bought 2 LED Energizer hockey pucks over the weekend.  Not very bright at all, but they kind of do the trick for at least the top portion of the cabinets so I'll need to keep hunting for a better solution....or just buy more hockey pucks.

[solrac]

I was selling some lights on the Modern classified section here. He might have some more I can lower the price on these.Just a small hole on the case will do since there is a connection on the cord. No on/off switch I'm sure you can add one you might even be able to solder two lites on one cord.

http://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=21456.0