embodiments the casing 172 may be constructed of materials such as certain plastics that may not be capable of functioning as heat sinks because of inferior heat conductance properties in such embodiments the led module 30 can be connected to its own relatively large heat sink base plate which is mounted to the wall of the casing an example of such a heat sink plate in conjunction with an led lighting module has been disclosed above with reference to the self contained lighting apparatus 100 with continued reference to fig2 and 23 the led modules 30 are preferably electrically connected in parallel relative to other modules 30 in the illumination apparatus 170 a power supply cord 184 preferably enters through a wall 174 or bottom surface 176 of the casing 172 and preferably comprises two 18 awg main conductors 186 short wires 188 are attached to the first and last contacts 62 64 of each module 30 and preferably connect with respective main conductors 186 using insulation displacement connectors idcs 190 as shown in fig2 although the leds 32 in the modules 30 are operated at currents higher than typical leds the power efficiency characteristic of leds is retained for example a typical channel light employing a neon filled light could be expected to use about 60 watts of power during operation a corresponding channel illumination apparatus 170 using a plurality of led modules can be expected to use about 4 5 watts of power with reference again to fig2 the led modules 30 are preferably positioned so that the leds 32 face generally downwardly directing light away from the lens the light is preferably directed to the.