LED question: Warm white vs. Cool white

Hi guys,

I already finished making my cabinets for my collection.
My only dilemma is what LED light to use on these. should i use warm white or cool white?
I'm collecting premium formats by the way.
Hoping to hear from my fellow collectors on choosing the right LED color for my collection.
Pictures will surely help.

Thank you very much!

My thought is cool white LEDs. Warm tend to be duller and for what ur doing that's probably not the look ur going for. The cool LEDs are more like broadway lights. You can pick up one of ea at a hobby/led shop for about $1 ea and judge for yourself. That's what I would do before spending more money only to find out you prefer one over the other.

I bought some ikea lights not knowing they would be changed from cool to warm. I do not mind them much, it depends upon the figure displayed! I use the warm lights on my Indiana Jones and pirates stuff. It creates a different look but its definitely not bad!

Go for what YOU like. Warm will match your common room lighting. Cool will be like noon-day sun, somewhat stark. Both can also be used to create a different mood/effect for different types of scenes, but it doesn't sound like that applies for general statue lighting.

So while I think the temp is simply a preference for the most part, I do recommend carefully choosing how much light to shine on your displays. If you look at JRA's photos you can see some good examples of shadow detail that are created by not blasting the display with too much light. Shadows = interest. A flat light-washed display is going to be somewhat boring by comparison.

Here are a couple of examples from my own collection:



The top Superman shelf has both cool and warm LEDs. Cool inside the ice crystals, warm from above shining on Superman.

Indiana Jones has warm LEDs up top in the center above the alter and in the front top corners. Down below Indy there's a warm LED with an additional orange filter to create a VERY warm glow.

Vader and Luke Bespin shelf uses warm strip LEDs inside the floor.

And the Henry Jones shelf uses warm LEDs in the ceiling for a traditional incandescent bulb look. There are also a couple of warm spots on the back shining onto the wall where some artwork will hang eventually.



In the above diorama I have two long strips of LEDs, one cool at the back and one warm at the front. Each has had some of its LEDs disabled to create different amounts of light throughout the scene.

Colour changing

Collectorcol said:

Colour changing

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Unfortunately RGB LEDs, at least the 5050 common size, don't produce either a very good cool nor warm white. It can work, but it can't match the temps of the plain white LEDs. I reserve those for special purposes, like the Batman logo in my Batman display - though I always leave it set to a deep orange.

Good argument on diff lights on when you have a diorama. That Indy pic is the best example. But when there's no diorma, just figures on a shelf, I find warm lights dull. But too much light will wash away pigments over time. Maybe cool white LEDs with a dimmer?

LEDs won't wash away pigments, as that's a function of UV rays which are minimal in LED, whether they be warm or cool.

I personally prefer warm for general displays because I find cool too harsh and unflattering for my collectibles. YMMV.

Pixelpiper said:

LEDs won't wash away pigments, as that's a function of UV rays which are minimal in LED, whether they be warm or cool.

I personally prefer warm for general displays because I find cool too harsh and unflattering for my collectibles. YMMV.

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Also when you have multiple cases and shelves it is literally bathing your room in light. Cool lights can be a little abrasive that way. My collection is currently half warm and half cool. I think if it was all cool it would drive me nuts.

I do not know what color it is but it is DIODER Ikea you can arrange different colors with it.

Brian87 said:

I do not know what color it is but it is DIODER Ikea you can arrange different colors with it.

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Someday i hope to get those dioder Ikea lights with the possibility of various colours would like that though!! You can adjust the lights in whatever mood your in and that's far better than having a standard one.

Im using the warm yellow colour in the detolfs i have now and it will stay like that but I'll use the diversed lights when i get new cabinets [emoji57]

Id say yellow give a more warm museum feel to displays but white looks cold, sharper and slightly more modern. Currently I have yellow and will eventually get the multicolour strip so you can change between both, problem sorted

This picture demonstrates warm and cool white together

Thanks guys! i really appreciate your help on this matter.
The pictures you posted helped me in deciding which LED to use.
By the way, I used warm white because i love the feel of the color.
Installed them last night and it looks great.

Anyway i noticed something.
I used a LED strip 5630 warm white.
When i touched the strip after 5 minutes, it was heating up. is this normal?

Some phone pics.. Hehe


Instagram: SoySith

Warm looks like its more natural. Cool looks like its in storage.

dw316 said:

Warm looks like its more natural. Cool looks like its in storage.

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As you can see I had both in the same cabinet and to me, the warm looks better in pictures but the cool looks better in person.