LED wiring help

[kasskaboose]

Hello,

Sorry for asking another LED wiring question. 

Someone gave me a pack of Yelogolo bright 3mm white LEDs (Model 12-310-10) with resisterors.  Use them or get a set of these lights: https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/gordon-cable-stay-brwled-blue-red-white-leds-15-pack/?  If I get those lights, what type of resistor would I need?

On youtube, someone soldered a resister to the positive side of the LED and connected them to a wago connecter. https://www.amazon.com/XHF2018-Lever-nuts2-Conductor-Splicing-Connectors/dp/B07H78X17Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

How to then run the connectors to an electrical source?  I saw that you put them in a junction box but what next? Do I run a another pair of wires from each connector to the buss wires on my DCC layout or do something else? 

Thanks greatly!

[RR_Mel]

A 3mm LED is a 3mm LED.  The size of the resistor is dependant on the power source and the brightness you want.

I would not use your DCC buss, a seperate DC power source.

EDIT:

I use several voltages to drive my LEDs, 5 volts from my Arduinos, 8½ volts for structure and street lighting.  I use a resistor decade box to set the brightness of my LEDs.  I go for realistic looking lights so the current to each LED is very low, rarely over 5ma, normal 1ma.

Mel

 
My Model Railroad   
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
 
Bakersfield, California
 
I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

[gregc]

kasskaboose

Someone gave me a pack of Yelogolo bright 3mm white LEDs (Model 12-310-10) with resisterors.  ... If I get those lights, what type of  resistor would I need?

why do you ask what resistros you need when you said "with resistors"?    (if you really don't have resistors, start with 1K 1/4W)

kasskaboose

someone soldered a resister to the positive side of the LED

it doesn't matter which side of the LED the resistor is connected to as long as it is in "series" with the LED.

kasskaboose

How to then run the connectors to an electrical source?  I saw that you put them in a junction box but what next?

usually the LEDs are driven by some circuit (e.g. detector, tortoise) to indicate something.  that output may either provide some positive voltage or ground.   

if the "on" state of the output is a positive voltage, connect either the anode of the LED or the resistor connected to the anode of the LED to the output and the opposite end to ground.

if the "on" state of the output is ground, connect either the cathode of the LED or the resistor connected to the cathode of the LED to the output and connect the opposite end of the LED/resistor to some voltage source (e.g. 12V)

[BigDaddy]

If they gave you resisitors, you can look up the color code for the bands to see what resisitance they are or measure them with a voltmeter.

I'm a transition guy and have no use for bright white led's, I prefer warm white.  I don't have a use for blue led's in your MTS link.

I have a DC bus for lighting effects and use buck voltage regulators to reduce the voltage to LED range.  They literally cost just $1 but you can get fancier ones with digital voltmeters.

 

 

[gmpullman]

kasskaboose

How to then run the connectors to an electrical source?  I saw that you put them in a junction box but what next? Do I run a another pair of wires from each connector to the buss wires on my DCC layout or do something else?

I have several 12V DC runs for the lighting circuits on my layout. Some are powered by a CCTV camera power supply. It is ideal as each circuit is individually protected.

Many of the areas of the layout have fairly large groupings of LED needs, such as street lamps and several small structures. I like to use distribution strips so I can wire multiple lights to a central area.

Wire_connections-1 by Edmund, on Flickr

My favorites are the gray ones in the foreground here. The spring tabs can be depressed with a small screw driver to insert or release the wirem Most of my LED wiring is 22 gauge but some of it is even smaller. The small spring clamps will hold very small wire.

The Wago connectors tend to get heavy and altoough you can get five-gang ones, they can be awkward. I've broken fine wire trying to snap the levers down.

Wire_connections by Edmund, on Flickr

Note those "Euro-style" terminal strips have a large opening and the screw jams down on the wire. Not good for fine, stranded wire. The strip above it has small compression tabs that grip the wire better without splaying it and damaging the ends.

The small white spring clip connectors shown are handy, too. I like these for wiring Tortoise machines and routing power to frogs since I can easily reverse wire pairs if necessary.

IMG_8738_fix by Edmund, on Flickr

Good Luck, Ed

[hon30critter]

Hi kasskaboose,

If I were you, I would use the yellow-glow LEDs that were given to you. The alternate set of LEDs that you are asking about are pretty much useless IMHO.

First, the white LEDs in the set are 'cool white'. They will have a very noticable bluish tint to the colour which is totally inappropriate for most lighting purposes. The only place they might look good is in a building or a passenger car with florescent lighting. They absolutely do not mimic incandescent bulbs at all.

Second, the red and blue LEDs are too big to be used for things like tower warning lights. They are even too big to be used on the top of a 1950s police car. They will sit in your parts drawer for eternity!

As far as resistors go, if you are going to be doing a bunch of LED installations (which you will once you see how nice the first few are), I suggest buying a selection of 1/4 watt resistors from Mouser or DigiKey Electronics, or eBay. Most installations work fine with a 1K (1000 ohm) resistor. You can go down to around 300 ohms if you want things to be really bright, but at that level the LEDs tend to be blinding. You can dim the LEDs by using increasingly larger resistor values. If you want to mimic a kerosene lamp, something around 27,000 ohms does a good job.

This package will give you more than enough options:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/373635700835?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110018%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.COMPLISTINGS%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20200818141841%26meid%3De10bb1de4b0a442bb4680c958e00605c%26pid%3D101111%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D154421334043%26itm%3D373635700835%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2563228%26algv%3DThematicAlgo%26brand%3DUnbranded&_trksid=p2563228.c101111.m2109&amdata=cksum%3A373635700835e10bb1de4b0a442bb4680c958e00605c%7Cenc%3AAQAGAAAB8E2nFyn80Qqj44kgJ4C3BJkJnnpK5%252FRQCQFijZpE5LSneMkxDL85QCWzlQuQpVHo9MO2tNjW9z%252FxFlMceJNBorZI017Dg1g5x4M4T60QI9wCjSg3WJQzffsyKu0qnM2E%252BAjUY3JubzXXX8kL14opHfJTPjyATi%252F9RbqslcvfP%252BuFb18TV6AxkkeGtQaSWQvf5SCntfZsqWFFWP2eMJoHGynFqIkO2ZQP3A%252FnkLWR8Eczya4fvsSYYkt%252BwfcG2E1IB6jyV%252FqmnSHHKvjNgPwtlQbfbuft%252FrvaYHN6WASbbbDYG%252BKI0NgCUsm%252F9qq6k%252BByfQHWvFkaovGjh0d99dTSi61wwyHkp0SRYooOTzPkYbx%252BvjpTtjiQTjJDPMecyhG4zqZHvxb6anfg1nbRSNBhWkjLBTHg%252BMViKA4%252Bg%252F5C7xcmA1Vd%252FQT3B5ZnUyCskdllswU0SKEH%252FtA11bml8JyfDPazAXhxnbJb0ECEVIg1SkS2jgq3wYKKHdROAeTt%252FKV3gAO4b3fSw7ADcDJjwRRvIsYO8muSLakQUzvQUsAbok%252BB1riMLdfGCPEyKU%252BQPNXzlrvfZhpDuB7dODEgfOvm9vEL4h55UeNiUBAjQT%252FRR6Y3VhKEZ%252BJREi8R9dZ4eWxZVGRagFqFrWZTNIZ%252BTPCNr8o%253D%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2563228

The above resistor values assume a 12 volt DC power supply.

Hope that helps,

Dave

[kasskaboose]

Thanks everyone for the outstanding help.  I need to explore your ideas a bir further.  Perhaps reaching out with PMs will work.