Lighting N Scale Buildings

[Benjamin Maggi]

I have a couple of n scale buildings that I want to light. I will add basic interiors and the interior walls were all painted as well to prevent light escape. I also predrilled the bases to accept wires and the roofs are not attached.

I was thumbing through a Walthers calalog and saw bulbs from Bachmann and lifelike that include a socket and thought I could just mount them on the ceiling of the building on support bars (independent of the roof.) If I do, does anyone know the voltage they take and how I can reduce that to increase bulb life? I figured I would build a light diffuser like a lampshade and mount it on the build to help spread the light out.

In the alternate, would bright LED lights work? I would prefer those as they seem to last forever.

I only have 4 or 5 buildings so I don't care about the price too much of the bachmann or life-like builbs. If I had a LOT of buildings, I would look elsewhere.

Thanks for any input.

Ben

[tstage]

Ben,

You did the right prep work getting your buildings ready for lighting. This is only a personal opinion, but I would not use the LEDs to light inside the building. The LED is great for a headlight on a locomotive because if gives off a very strong light. However, that same LED makes for a harsh substitute for incondescent lighting. An incondescent bulb sheads a much warm and softer light then an LED.

If the socket versions are small enough and can be obscured from direct view, use them. With the detachable roof, they'll be fairly easy to change out when they burn out. Even though I haven't put in lighting yet, all my structure roofs are detachable.

For a smaller light source, you could go with what's called a grain 'o rice or grain 'o wheat bulb. They come with long tails so that you can solder/unsolder them from underneath the layout. Not quite as convenient to change out as the socket versions but they do make a nice, small source of indoor or outdoor lighting.

Hope this helps...

Tom

[Benjamin Maggi]

Tom, it does help. I don't want grain-of-wheat bulbs because they are pricey and I would prefer something with sockets...assuming when the builb burns other lights are still available to screw in. Maybe for street lights or exterior lights though. Thanks for the input.
Ben

[Anonymous]

Hi Ben,

that's some good prepwork you did there.
As far as LEDs go: There are warm white LEDs available that have the right
color temperature, but the problem with LEDs is still the very focused light output. You would have to
enclose the LED in some kind of diffused translucent material, which might be
difficult to hide under the ceiling.
I use 14V grain of wheat bulbs that I run with an 8V powersupply. That's plenty of light for an N scale building and the lower voltage should prolong the life of the bulbs.

[HAZMAT9]

Ben:

I'm not sure how much you have to spend, but MicroMark makes about 100 of the Grain of Wheat size lamps for about $ 39.95. I use them all the time and they're great for lighting. Here's a link to the bulbs if you're interested:

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82590-C

Steve

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by scoobster28

Tom, it does help. I don't want grain-of-wheat bulbs because they are pricey and I would prefer something with sockets...

I understand that you prefer a bulb with a socket, but saying that grain-of-wheat bulbs are pricey?
I bought them for as low as 40 cents a piece. That's 2 bucks for your 5 buildings.
Didn't you say "I don't care about the price too much" ?? [?]

[Benjamin Maggi]

Kyle, I understand your point. But considering I might need a total of 10 (I only have 4 buildings), it woudl be pricey for me. Buying in bulk sure would cut down on costs though.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by scoobster28

Kyle, I understand your point. But considering I might need a total of 10 (I only have 4 buildings), it woudl be pricey for me. Buying in bulk sure would cut down on costs though.

Ok, I understand.
That leaves super bright or warm white LEDs out of the picture though, since those are more
expensive then regular incandescent bulbs, plus the resistors you need to run LEDs.

[Benjamin Maggi]

Kyle and all, (but mostly Kyle)
I feel a bit sheepish because as I was pricing bulbs online I found 10 micro bulbs for $5 on ebay and bought them. You were right, and I admit it. Now, I want to wire these independently to their own power switches (well, two might go together in one building) and each can run off of 12 volts. I want to run them at 8 or 10 to save their life.

How can I do this. A resister? The buildings that get two, do I just run them in series, or will them only getting 6 volts not be enough? I am pretty bad in electronics and could use some advice. By the way, I just planned to run them off of the DC supply from an old Bachmann power pack (the ones that twist left and right... really junky one) Could I adjust their brightness by just turning the control know to less than full?

[Seamonster]

Running them a couple of volts low will certainly prolong their life. I built a 10 volt power supply for mine, but there are other ways to do it. You can't use just one resistor for all the lights. The amount of voltage that the resistor drops will vary depending on how many bulbs there are, so you'd have to change the resistor every time you added more bulbs, and it would require a high wattage resistor. You could put a resistor in series with each bulb. To calculate the value of the resistor, find out how much current a bulb draws. It will be expressed in milliamps (mA--thousandths of an amp) so you have to convert that to amps by dividing by 1,000. Then take the difference between the supply voltage and the voltage you want the bulb to run at and divide that by the previously-calculated current in amps. That's the resistor value in ohms that you need. Since it likely won't work out to a standard resistor value, use the next highest value of half watt resistor.

Another way is to put two diodes in series with one of the wires from the power supply. This will work only if the power supply is D.C. Wire the two diodes head to tail, that is the banded end of one attaches to the unbanded end of the other. Then the unbanded end of the pair attaches to the + output of the power supply and the banded end of the pair attaches to the lights. Each diode will drop approx. 0.7 volts for a total of 1.4 volts. You could add a third diode to drop 2.1 volts. Since the drop across a diode is independent of the current, this will work in the main lead for all the lamps. Use 1N5400 diodes (should be available at Radio Shack).

You could use the variable output of an old throttle like you suggested. Measure the voltage to make sure it doesn't exceed the rating of the lamps and blow them out, then tape that knob down.

Putting the bulbs in series with each receiving 6 volts will make them pretty dim and yellow, but that could be a useable effect.

I installed the lights in most of my buildings by pre-drilling a hole through the layout as you did. I mounted the bulbs on the end of a short piece of wood dowell or styrene tubing just by taping the leads to the dowell. I pushed it up through the hole until the bulb was in the right place for the lighting effect I wanted then wedged the dowell in place in the hole. I attached the bulb wires to a two-lug solder terminal strip then attached the supply wires to that. If I have to replace a bulb, I just cut the bulb wires off the terminal strip, remove the wedge, pull the dowell down, replace the bulb, and put it back. I've done multiple rooms and two-storey buildings like this. (I model in N)

[Benjamin Maggi]

Thanks. They say they can run on 12-21 Volts AC or DC, but I will run them on around 9 volts or 10 volts. Is there a minimum I can go to before it might damage the bulb? Just thinking if I use a bachmann pack I can actually use it as a dimmer. Also, if I reverse the direction on the pack would it damage the bulbs by reversing the current?

[tstage]

Ben,

It's best to use an spare power pack to run your lights and accessories and keep it separate from your command station. That's what is recommended even when you are running DC. (Otherwise, you run the risk of robbing the needed power to run your locomotives properly.)

Tom

[Seamonster]

There is no way to damage a bulb by lowering the voltage. It will just get dimmer and dimmer until it goes out. You won't damage the bulb by reversing the polarity of the D.C. voltage either. An incandescent bulb doesn't care what kind of electricity it gets. What will damage it is applying more voltage than it is rated for. Try hooking one up to your power pack and adjusting the voltage until you get the light that looks right to you then mark the knob at that point. You should put a marker or stop or something on the knob to prevent someone from cranking it up to the point where the voltage is more than the bulb is rated for.

[earlfrye]

I am using an old cheap bachmann power supply wired to old christmas lights. I can dim or brighten the lights by turning up the voltage.

[Benjamin Maggi]

Thanks all. Great advice! Ben