Wiring layout for lighting advice

[tstage]

Does anyone have a good reference or web site that talks about wiring a layout for lighting in laymen's terms?

I have an HO layout and I'd like to light some of my structures and buildings with either external and/or internal lights - e.g. grain 'o wheat bulbs. I know that you can wire either "in series" or "in parallel". I'd just like to find a resource that both explains and diagrams what to do more clearly. I am quite surprised by the lack of basic electrical wiring info on lighting. There's plenty on track and turnouts; very little on lighting.

Anyway, thanks in advance...

Tom

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Hello Tom;

No pics or diagrams for what I did. I got an AT computer power supply to run all the lights for my structures. All I had to do was splice into the existing wires that used to run the computers disk drives. This gives you 2 voltages. Red and Black gives 5 volts and Yellow and Black gives you 12 volts. I use the 12 volt part for prelit structures and external lights (lampposts mostly). The 5 volt part is used for structures I light myself. These use 2 miniature Xmas light bulbs (clear, of course) wired together in series so each bulb gets 2.5 volts. This works very well and the bulbs last a very long time. Most of mine have been burning for 7 years or more. Also, they don't produce much heat. I've had pre-lit kits become badly damaged (burned, melted) because the bulb supplied with them was too hot. I'll try to give you an idea how to wire these.


B1-------B2
| | B1 is bulb 1, B2 is bulb 2. one wire
| | on bulb 1 is connected to + 5 volt
| | wire. The other wire of bulb 1 is
+ - connected to first wire of bulb 2.
The second wire of bulb 2 is
connected to - 5 volt wire.

All my structures are wired together
in a parallel circuit complete with
fuses for short circuit protection.
That's about as simple as I can
Make it without a diagram.

[emdgp92]

I did a little poking around Wikipedia. Here's a page that explains the difference between series and parallel circuits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_circuit

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I wish I'd known about that one. I would have posted it. In fact, I think I will.

QUOTE: Series and parallel circuits
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Parallel circuit)
Jump to: navigation, search

Left: Series / Right: Parallel
Arrows indicate direction of current. The red bars represent the voltage as it drops in the series circuit. The red bars in the parallel circuit do not drop because the voltage across each element in a parallel circuit is the same.Series and parallel electrical circuits are two basic ways of wiring components. The naming describes the method of attaching components, i.e. one after the other, or next to each other. It is said that two circuit elements are connected in parallel if the ends of one circuit element are connected directly (i.e. a conductor) to the corresponding ends of the other. However, when the circuit elements are connected end to end, it is said that they are connected in series.

As a demonstration, consider a very simple circuit consisting of two lightbulbs and one 9 V battery. If a wire joins the battery to one bulb, to the next bulb, then back to the battery, in one continuous loop, the bulbs are said to be in series. If, on the other hand, each bulb is wired separately to the battery in two loops, the bulbs are said to be in parallel.

The measurable quantities used here are R, resistance, measured in ohms (#937;), I, current, measured in amperes (A) (coulombs per second), and V, voltage, measured in volts (V) (joules per coulomb)

[Don Gibson]

Wiring layout for lighting advice

No books needed. It's BASIC electricity:
1. Use bulbs. .....Bulbs run on AC or DC
2. wire in -parallel (think of an 'H') - everything uses the same voltage
3. Use separate power source.
4.Buy a ammeter (see above) 0 - 5 amps should do it)
This is wired in Series (--A--)

The meter tellsyou how much power you are consuming.
A fixed voltage is desirable .
Parallel wiring makes wiring and replacements easier
An AC transformer while cheaper doesnt have an on-off switch.

Since today's Power Paks have too little power (amps) .I use a commercial 5 V DC switching supply, 6 volt bulbs, and a 0 - 5a. meter, Where I need brighter, just up the ma. I added an on-off sw. and fuse since mine didn't have.
If I ever exceed the 5 amps I can just substitute a 0 - 10a.

The reason you haven't found any books is because it's basic electricity. Those books
are in the Library. Check here to see if Kalmbach has a simplified one.

[Medina1128]

Jeffery, that wiring explanation you described for wiring B1 and B2 is in series, not parallel. To be in parallel, one lead from B1 and one lead from B2 would both be connected to +5 volts. Then the remaining lead from each bulb would be connected to -5 volts. If you wired the bulbs like you described, if one bulb burned out, they would both go out, because BOTH bulbs are required to complete the circuit.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

The explanation WAS for a series circuit INSIDE the structure. The structures themselves are all connected in a parallel circuit.

[Anonymous]

Model Railroader published a book, Realistic Animation, Lighting & Sound : 21 Projects for Your Model Railroad.
Bill's Railroad Empier web site has a page on simple lighting.

If you go to the "The Model Train Magazine Index" and search "Lighting" and "lighting structures" you will find all sorts of references to past articles.
One reference is A Beginner's Guide to Creative Effects for Your Model Railroad" by Paul M. Newitt

[tstage]

Thanks, Gary! [:)] That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Tom

[Medina1128]

Oh ok, gotcha. But, why not wire the ones inside the structure in parallel as well. That way if one bulb burns out, it's easier to fix. The lights in your house are all wired in parallel. If you wire bulbs in series, they each use 1/2 the voltage, making them dimmer than if they were in parallel.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone own this book? Beginner's Guide to Creative Effects for Your Model Railroad

Looking for a review.

QUOTE: Originally posted by gsetter

Model Railroader published a book, Realistic Animation, Lighting & Sound : 21 Projects for Your Model Railroad.
Bill's Railroad Empier web site has a page on simple lighting.

If you go to the "The Model Train Magazine Index" and search "Lighting" and "lighting structures" you will find all sorts of references to past articles.
One reference is A Beginner's Guide to Creative Effects for Your Model Railroad" by Paul M. Newitt

[jeffrey-wimberly]

The lights in my houses are all 2.5 to 3 volts. The incoming power is 5.5 volts. I don't like messing around with resistors, so I connect the bulbs in series so each one gets 2.5 or 2.7 volts and don't burn out. If I connected them in parallel they would be very bright and burn out quickly. As it is, I have bulbs that have been burning for 7 years or more.

[jkroft]

Pretty simple actually. First, always wire in parallel.......NEVER in series.........remember the old christmas lights? To keep it very simple, buy bulbs of the same voltage......say 5 volts. Each bulb has a current rating, say 50 milliamps. If you buy a 5 volt, 1500 milliamp power supply, you can power 30 bulbs. Voltage drops when loads are in series....stays constant in parallel.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

These bulbs wre free. I can afford a little voltage loss.

[jkroft]

I agree...........light bulbs have little resistance. However, if a light bulb is rated for 5 volts, it must get 5 volts. (For all practical purposes that is..............it may have design tolerances that render some reactive loading which may drop voltage a tiny-bit..........negligible) Besides, in parallel, if one bulb burns out, the rest stay lit. In series, they all go out. Adding in a SPST switch to turn each light on and off is very easy too. Don't make wiring light bulbs too complicated, it's mostly common sense.

[Walter Clot]

Tom, Do it the easy way. Get a string of miniature Christmas tree lights (that say they are in parallel) and use them. If you have any you can't use just unplug them and keep them for spares or leave one or two under your layout for lighting to help you find anything you need under there. If you wait until after Christmas, you can get a string of 50 for about $1.00. Regardless of what light you use, make sure your buildings don't have light shinng through the walls or from cracks between sections of walls. Painting the inside of the walls black and having interior walls to block off light from some areas will help the overall appearance.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jflessne

Does anyone own this book? Beginner's Guide to Creative Effects for Your Model Railroad.
Looking for a review.

Jeremy
I think this a fairly new release. I don't have it (I have a million other books though) and I didn't know it even existed until I found a reference to it in the Train Magazine Index.
I did a search for a review of the book, and If no one else chimes in with a review, there were reviews written in the December 2005 • Volume 11, Issue 12 of Model Railroad News and in the December 2005 issue of Garden Railways.
Even though Garden Railways Magazine did a review, I haven't found anything indicating it's for large scale models, so I think it may be relevant to all scales.
Maybe someone at the Garden Railways Forum could enlighten us.