Difficulty with lighting in buildings

[York1]

I scratch-build N Scale buildings.  I have been working at this for under two years, so I am still learning.

I normally put lights onto the buildings, some inside, some outside.

My difficulty is soldering, insulating, securing, etc., the wires and resistors without damaging everything or pulling things apart.

I've thought about getting two pieces of copper, gluing them to the floor somewhere, and then soldering all the wires to them.  Is this what anyone else does?  Does anyone have a better suggestion?

[RR_Mel]

I scratch build in HO and use #30 wire for my lighting.  You could go with copper foil tape but it can be a bit touchy to work with too.  My norm is to glue a bulb to the ceiling then run the wires after the glue sets up. 

 

 

 

Where I can I use #30 bare copper wire as common to all the bulbs.

 

 

 

 

 

I have the best results using Amazing Goop for pretty much everything.  I can put a dob on a wall or roof let it setup for about 10 minutes then push a wire into the dob.

 

 

 

I make a diagram of where the bulbs are located and use the standard resistor color code with the wires so that I know which wire goes to which bulb.  I use micro connectors so that the structure is easily removable.

 

 

 

 I run seperate wires to every bulb and use an Arduino Random Lighting Controller to control the on/off for each bulb making the structure look lived in.

 

 

Mel

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[BATMAN]

I used copper tape to run the power along the beams. Once everything was all soldered up I just painted over it and the tape look like the side of the beam.

This is a mockup I did to see how things would work. I used chip resisters and you can see them on the beam.

 

I built this holder out of a paint edger that cost $1.00. I use it to solder the lights and resisters. 

Here is the finished project.

[MisterBeasley]

Nice work everyone.

I work in HO.  I usually put interior ceilings and walls in my structures, so there is usually some wire route that is invisible from any of the doors or windows.  I use a few incandescent grain-of-wheat bulbs, usually suspended from the ceiling, for each building.  I am not entering contests, just making structures for my layout, so simpler is better for me.

[RR_Mel]

If you only use one circuit (one pair of wires) per structure for lighting you could use brass rods.  Before I got into the Arduino lighting I used two .03” brass rods for power.  # 30 wire between the bulbs and the brass rods.

 

https://melvineperry.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-24-lighting.html

 

Now I either put a male connector in the floor or a pigtail between the bulbs and a connector.  I drill a 1” hole below the connectors or pigtail to connect back to my control panel.  I found that ribbon cable is actually cheaper than single conductor wiring.  I watch for #28 AWG ribbon cable on eBay, usually around $20 to $25 per 100’ for 16 to 26 conductor cable.  The ribbon wire is zip style and can be easily reduced to how many conductors you need.

 

 

The harness above is 16 conductor for my signals, the Arduino is my MEGA signal controller.

 

 

Mel

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[UNCLEBUTCH]

I use incandescent bulbs,cause its simple. I use telephone wire, cause I have a mess of it, cheap/simple.

I solder the bulb leads to the phone wire thats long enought to reach below the layout. Before installation. All my ceilings and roofs are removeable, I use alum.tape [what the heating guys use for duckwork] and tape light to ceiling/roof. Route the wire where ever it fits and down . With a foam table ,simple to poke a hole. wires are then hooked up to a lighting buss

[York1]

Thanks for the info.  Since the things I've built up to now are simple N Scale structures, I haven't worried too much about interior rooms.  I just have light coming out the windows.  I have tried making some lighted signs, some with better luck than others.

I still use just two wires to each structure, and then branch off inside the building.  I may try some copper tape or brass rods.

I still have a week of building before I get to the lighting on my latest project, but I may try somethingl like that.

Thanks.  You guys do such professional looking projects, it gives something to aim for.  My buildings still look pretty amateurish.