zstripe richhotrain zstripe Whether You have a DC or DCC layout has no bearing on what you want to do It does if it is DCC since he asked about connecting the street lamp wiring to his bus. Rich I guess it depends on how one would interpret running a bus on His facia for powering His lights, as He stated in His question. Take Care! Frank
richhotrain zstripe Whether You have a DC or DCC layout has no bearing on what you want to do It does if it is DCC since he asked about connecting the street lamp wiring to his bus. Rich
zstripe Whether You have a DC or DCC layout has no bearing on what you want to do
Whether You have a DC or DCC layout has no bearing on what you want to do
It does if it is DCC since he asked about connecting the street lamp wiring to his bus.
Rich
I guess it depends on how one would interpret running a bus on His facia for powering His lights, as He stated in His question.
Take Care!
Frank
That is why I previously asked him if he is running his layout in DC or DCC.
Alton Junction
Woodman,
Check your street lights for the MA requirement for running them...also that the other street lights you have will work at 16volts, if they are 12v you'll burn them out, also check what those MA draw is. You don't want to try to light more lights than a trainset power pack can supply.
Whether You have a DC or DCC layout has no bearing on what you want to do, if you only want to power Your lights. 1Amp to 2Amp would be fine, 2Amp being the better choice, for extra.
You said you wanted power wires on your facia, you can use 18 to 22 gauge for that without a problem and use the same size wire to Your lights with the wire from the lights soldered to them. If you stagger your street light wire connections you won't have to tape or insulate them, just so they can't touch one another.
Just so You know...1Amp = 1000MA
Need more help? PM Me.
Rich, my layout will be DCC, I am just getting to hooking it up, I am using the Digitrax Zephyr extra system. I have one engine programed and it is running good. Like I said in my orginal post, I have been out of the hobby for over 25 years and only know DC, when it comes to lighting I am very concerned about screwing things up, I also want to put lighting in my buildings eventually, I am from the old school where you drilled a hole in the layout and then shoved a christmas light up through the hole then put the building over the light, ( LOL ). I just don't want to blow out the street lights by hooking them up to a wrong power source. I am using 15 Atlas LED lights and 3 Walthers double arm street lights in a park setting, Walthers are not LED so I also wanted to know if I can use the same power source. Thanks for your reply and any help you can give me.
And he also said he has a few Walthers lights.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasleyI use the Walthers street lights
He said his were Atlas LED lights.
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
I use the Walthers street lights. If yours are the same as mine, they are incandescent bulbs and are rated at 16 volts. But....I run mine at 12 volts. They give a warmer, more "fifties" glow that way, and they will last a lot longer. The bulbs aren't really replaceable, so this technique will keep them alive longer.
I have two bus lines for lighting on my layout - one for street lights and one for structures. Each runs through a panel toggle, so that I can shut off the buses when it's daytime and I'm just running trains to test trackwork or haul a CMX machine to clean the track.
Best way would be kind of what you're proposing --> secondary bus (say WHITE / BLUE if you're running RED/BLACK as your track bus) for DC power, and then just connect the lights to this bus where it's convenient (personally, I would wire a "city block" to terminals, and then a pair of feeders from there to the power bus).
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
woodman, those Atlas HO street lights come with resistors included, and if I recall correctly, they are already attached in-line to the wiring, so you should be good to go. You need the resistors, of course, to protect the LEDs from excess voltage.
The DC power pack that comes with Bachmann train sets is 16 volts, so that will work for you.
The wiring from the street lights should be directly connected to the DC terminals on the power pack.
If you need to make the wiring longer to reach the power pack, that should not present a problem. I use butt splices but you can also use the twist on wire nut connectors.
Is your layout DC or DCC?
I just purchased 15 Atlas HO scale street lights, these are LED lights, can I wire these to bus wires and then run those bus wires to a DC power pack ( from a Bachmann train set ) to supply the power. The directions state that the lights are 3 volt LED with resistor and diode for connection to a 16 volt AC/DC power. I Also have 3 Walthers street lamps that I want to install in another part of my layout. I also want to attach extention wires to the wires coming from the street lamps so I can connect to the bus wires that will be run along the edge of my layout since I am physically unable to get under my layout. This is how I have my track wired, the feeders come to the edge of the layout and attach to bus wires. I have very little electrical knowledge so please keep any advice plain and simple for me to under stand as I have been out of the hobby for over 25 years. Thank you for any help you can give me in this matter as it will be greatly appreciated.