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Finally after months we’re ready to debut our latest product line and it's a real doozy. We set out to create a simpler, gentler LED kit. A kit that someone with no skill in electronics could easily use, and I do believe we have succeeded. Composed of four prewired LEDs (that's right, no resistors for you to worry about), a compact 6 volt power source with its own On/Off switch (uses two CR2032 coin sized batteries), and two genius twist together connectors I give you...

THE ILLUMINARE LED KITS!

In Blue



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Kit-3mm-Blue-/251343273866?pt=Games_US&hash=item3a8539ff8a

And Amber



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Kit-3mm-Blue-/251343273866?pt=Games_US&hash=item3a8539ff8a
But that’s not all. There is a second set of kits with headlight mounts design to be used with a variety of model kits.

In Blue:



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Headlight-Kit-3mm-Blue-/251343279494?pt=Games_US&hash=item3a853a1586

And Amber:



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Headlight-Kit-3mm-Amber-/261291183780?pt=Games_US&hash=item3cd62b0ea4

BEHOLD! ILLUMINATION IS HERE!

Useful, but the size of the battery holder is a bit prohibitive. You couldn't possibly light anything smaller than a Rhino, for instance, though I daresay that's the intended use for the product.

The pre-mounted headlight bits are a nice tough, I'll say that much. however, anyone going to the trouble of using LEDs would hardly find themselves pressed to mount the bit themselves.

I think that maybe you could've do a headlight kit with 2 amber and 2 blue, so you can have an amber and blue in each headlight?

The more lights the better!

At the moment, it's this or the Poweredplay one (only thing you both have in common is a soldering-less system.).

PP have modularity on their side - but still the smallest kit you are going to use either for is a "rhino" sized model.

A ruler or something in the pictures would give a better idea on size, though I would agree with the posters above that we are looking at a vehicle sized kit here rather thab one for infantry.

Yeah the size of the battery pack is still an issue. But to keep costs down we looked for what was the smallest, off the shelf pack with an On/Off switch and that was the best we could find. What's nice about this one though is that it's flat so you could glue it under a vehicle or a base very easily.

Making LEDs for infantry size bases is certainly possible but would be very expensive to design and manufacture on a large scale. But we'll see what time brings.

Mixing LED colors, adding more LED to the kits and to the product line is certainly a possibility in the future. What else would you like to see with these kits?

I started assembling a Baneblade chassis for a project I’m working on (more on that later) and decided to see how easy it would be install one of my Illuninare LEDs Kits. As it turns out, it is pretty easy!

Step 1: Carefully drill out the headlights using a 1/8 inch or 3mm drill bit.



Step 2: Trim off the bottom edge on the backside. This is to allow the ledge of the LED to fit flush.



Step 3: Using the headlight has a guide, mark where in the headlight mount you need to drill the holes for the wires. Once marked make a hole about 0.20 inches or 5mm in diameter.



Step 4: Glue the LEDs through the backside of the headlight assembly and run the wires through the holes in the mount. You’ll have to bend the wires a bit to make them fit.



Step 5: Drill a hole about 0.25 inches or 6mm wide on the inner side of the Baneblade track and run the wires through.



Step 6: Once the chassis is assembled connect the red and black wires together to the power supply.



You’re done!

New colors available!

Green!



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Kit-3mm-Green-/261310796986?pt=Games_US&hash=item3cd75654ba



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Headlight-Kit-3mm-Green-/261310797920?pt=Games_US&hash=item3cd7565860

Red!



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Kit-3mm-Red-/261310797222?pt=Games_US&hash=item3cd75655a6



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Headlight-Kit-3mm-Red-/261310798237?pt=Games_US&hash=item3cd756599d

Soft white!



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Kit-3mm-Soft-White-/251361648169?pt=Games_US&hash=item3a86525e29



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Headlight-Kit-3mm-Soft-White-/251361649008?pt=Games_US&hash=item3a86526170

Those look pretty cool, I have a hunter to build, so I ordered an amber set. Will let you know how it works out.

How is the battery life on these?

 PhantomPhixer wrote:
Those look pretty cool, I have a hunter to build, so I ordered an amber set. Will let you know how it works out.

How is the battery life on these?

Very cool, I'd love to see pics when you're done.

With the testing I've done with Energizer CR2032 batteries they all have a battery life of 35+ hours except the blue which is a bit less due to its intensity.

I like the idea of a "plug and play" LED set, but I don't like the switch. I don't mind the size so much, though that's a potential concern, but even if I were to put this in a Rhino it would be nice to be able to surface-mount the switch. Can't really do that with this system.

I like what I see here. I bought a Powered Play "alpha kit" and a UV ('black light') LED pack, and love them. Haven't got anything to mount them in yet, but am currently thinking of using them to light some terrain I have coming from Dwarven Forge, and might look into some effects with the larger Robotech miniatures I have coming ... err, sometime in the next decade, whenever Palladium gets its gak together.

A MAC II lit up, assuming the body would fit the pack and I could mod it to be accessible without affecting play (possibly with basing work) would be pretty sweet.

I've got your ebay store marked and will definitely keep these in mind if I should decide to snag some more lighting kits. I like the modularity of the PP kits, but $12 including S&H for 4 lights and a power source isn't bad at all.

If you're looking for suggestions, UV LED kits would definitely get my attention.

 Dullspork wrote:
I like the idea of a "plug and play" LED set, but I don't like the switch. I don't mind the size so much, though that's a potential concern, but even if I were to put this in a Rhino it would be nice to be able to surface-mount the switch. Can't really do that with this system.

What's nice about this battery pack is that it's thin enough to fasten to the bottom of a Rhino. That way the switch and batteries are easily accessible, you can finish the interior, and it is unnoticeable once on the battlefield.

 chromedog wrote:
At the moment, it's this or the Poweredplay one (only thing you both have in common is a soldering-less system.).

PP have modularity on their side - but still the smallest kit you are going to use either for is a "rhino" sized model.

While soldering is still desired (not needed as you can get away with twisting wires and using heat shrink) most of these options still fall short of what I have been using for nearly 8 years now...

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/mi.html

Simple coin batteries, micro switch, LED. They have a ton of colors, flashers and other options as well.

It is sort of hard to reinvent the wheel that has been refined for decades by scale modelers (see any of the books by Shephard Payne, he has been lighting models since before LEDs).

I think a more useful path to take would be kits which are more specialized and accomplish things that a casual modelers cant easily accomplish. For example, casting LEDs as part of a conversion kit. This would allow LEDs to be placed on smaller miniatures and models with the wires already passing through the model as it is being cast in resin. Shoulder mounted flood lights on a terminator or crisis suit for example or weapons with LEDs embedded in them and the wires running up through the arm to be attached to a body that is easier to hollow out (plasma weapons, muzzle flash blinkers for example).

I always look at these threads with high hopes of seeing something new and neat...but more often than not, it just seems to be a let down over existing products. Good on you guys for not having the prices run away like some other companies do though.

Oh, I know.
Most gamers in my experience will not even think of using the long established model railway stuff for gaming.

Terrain and lighting is terrain and lighting. I've been using a basic electronics wiring setup on my table for a few years (had to leave the old one behind when I moved out - had nowhere to put it) - but I've been doing electronics as a hobby longer than I've been gaming (and I've been gaming for 27 years).

Yeah... 30+ years of experience might be a bit of an advantage.

Hell, that's longer than many of our fellow forumers have likely been alive.

I gave a shot at it a while back; bought a soldering kit, some wire, LEDs and resistors on ebay, managed to make a 50 mm base light up nicely, but it wasn't a clean effort and the connections failed a few days later. Sure, I could spend time refining my technique, pick up a proper holding system to alleviate the "man I wish I had a third and possibly fourth hand"... or I could toss a little cash at a company that offers up a plug and play solution and takes mere seconds to set up properly, instead of spending an evening working on something that was more of a proof of concept than anything else.

Kudos to those who can do it.

But even for a hobby that's very "do it yourself" heavy, it's not exactly a small thing to pick up cold.

That said, it's a shame more people don't know about them, but what I'm really hearing is that there's an existing market and suppliers have somehow managed to miss or ignore its existence.

Spikey Bits (www.spikeybits.com) was kind enough to do a review of my Illuminare LED Headlight Kit in the color blue. Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/ULAXlI1-5fE

And an article:

http://blog.spikeybits.com/2013/11/light-it-up-upgrade-your-rhino-with-leds.html

 Machinator wrote:

 PhantomPhixer wrote:
Those look pretty cool, I have a hunter to build, so I ordered an amber set. Will let you know how it works out.

How is the battery life on these?

Very cool, I'd love to see pics when you're done.

With the testing I've done with Energizer CR2032 batteries they all have a battery life of 35+ hours except the blue which is a bit less due to its intensity.

Our math calculated that based on the current draw on each of the LEDs (using super bright LEDs and wavelengths in the green and blue spectrums), it should only last 15 hours maximum fully kitted out. That's based on the manufacturer's specs on the CR2032 lithium battery info sheets, and what we received from the LED manufacturers. Granted, that's probably 3-4 matches if on the entire time.

 chrisamichaels wrote:

 Machinator wrote:

 PhantomPhixer wrote:
Those look pretty cool, I have a hunter to build, so I ordered an amber set. Will let you know how it works out.

How is the battery life on these?

Very cool, I'd love to see pics when you're done.

With the testing I've done with Energizer CR2032 batteries they all have a battery life of 35+ hours except the blue which is a bit less due to its intensity.

Our math calculated that based on the current draw on each of the LEDs (using super bright LEDs and wavelengths in the green and blue spectrums), it should only last 15 hours maximum fully kitted out. That's based on the manufacturer's specs on the CR2032 lithium battery info sheets, and what we received from the LED manufacturers. Granted, that's probably 3-4 matches if on the entire time.

You have calculations, I have actual data

Each set was tested continously using a fresh set of batteries. I stand by my numbers.

If you have the data, awesome.

So I've been working on a proof of concept using tinted clear resin pieces backlit with LEDs. I have to say these turned out better then I thought they would. What do you think?





Now to get working on the masters....

Well it's been a long time but they're up!

Now available in five colors in both a single and dual headlight configuration I give you the next generation of Illuminare LED Headlight Kits!

The resin pieces are also paintable so the grill can be blacked out to add extra realism.

Single:





http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Kit-Single-Headlights-3mm-/261648258025?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Dual:





http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Kit-Dual-Headlights-3mm-/251702291767?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

And there is a searchlight too!



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Illuminare-LED-Searchlight-Kit-/251720166566?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

You should consider other LEDs.

There are a ton of much better options for what you're trying to do, smaller sizes or including color filter already, with more dispersion, etc.

Making LEDs for infantry sized bases would be easy and cheap with all that's available on ebay already.

My problem with these are the battery packs on were to put them. I mean you can hide them inside of vehicles but, you would have to have a open compartment to change the battery turn it on and off.

Battery packs you can put inside the vehicle, accessible with or without a hatch below. If you're lazy just make a hole in the bottom plate and stick it there.

For single miniatures, it's best to simply use the battery socket (like a standard CR2032 socket as base / build around it if you need a bigger base like a Terminator.

I have been waiting for these! Thanks a bunch, gonna order these straight-away when I get home! Thanks!!!!

As it's been about 25 years since I did any kind of wiring work, can the Searchlight be run off the same power supply as the headlights (or, more clearly, run a searchlight and two pairs of headlights from one power supply)?

@Carlson yes, the only thing you risk is drawing too much current and making the lithium cell overheat, but as the reported running time of the illuminare is about three times that of the other lighting kit based on the exact same cell, the power draw must be about one third, meaning it will work no problem.

Machinator, you are a madman. Don't stop.

So... after I get back from Sweden, I will place and order.

What do you think of green lights with a red tank for contrast? Also how hard would it be to ask for a scale picture of the spotlight next to a Space Marine?

Any recommendations for making the on/off switch accessible in a Rhino/Predator?