Getting electric to light the buildings

[Llongfordrailway]

Hello all,

Ive picked up some Xmas lights today which I intend to use to light up the railway buildings as the lights can be used outdoors. The difficulty is that the closest plug socket is 15m away. Has anyone run an extension lead into their garden to run lights etc. off? I would obviously make sure the plugs are watertight when in the garden but wondered how others have got on when getting electric to their railways?

Regards

Daniel

 

[ntpntpntp]

Is the actual power to the lights at low voltage, with a "wall wart" power plug or power brick? Keep the mains power unit indoors and extend the low voltage cabling to the lights. You really don't want mains cabling and extension plugs snaking around the garden. Permanent outdoor installations require waterproof IP rated equipment and armoured cable etc.

 

[PhilP]

What does your track run at? AND analogue or digital??
IF LED's, and static, then you can normally (if DCC) use track voltage and a small bridge/regulator board to get the correct voltage.

As an alternative:
Aldi still have some external mains connection boxes..
A length of cable with a RCD and 4-way socket, a timer, and a big IP66 (I think) rated box for outside..
Box is large enough to have the 4-way with 'wall-wart' transformers plugged in.

If in doubt, do NOT do outside mains yourself. - It just isn't worth it.

 

[Madman]

I know you guys use 220 volts for your "Mains" power. We use 110, as you may know. Any time I have stung Christmas lights, I have never protected the connection where the lights plug into the extension cord. It's just not necessary. Of course common sense prevails. Don't have the connection sitting in a puddle of water. As a kid I asked my father how the lights, strung up around the Christmas tree lots, didn't short out. They just don't. Now, 220 volts shouldn't behave any differently than 110 volts in the rain. But I'm not going to tell you to take my word for it.

 

[trammayo]

I laid in a 2-core flex cable from my shed to the railway`s freight depot (which contains the controls). I just fed it through some 1/2" black alkathene water pipe. I did have some of the yellow tape (warning: electric) to lay over the pipe before covering it over.

Inside, I have a normal plug-in timer and that feeds a 12 volt supply to my station and lighthouse. The shed supply is protected (in the shed) with an overload/earth trip. All cheap to do if you have these things to hand I suppose.

 

[trammayo]

We use AC don't you use DC??
Personally I would use a car battery to supply lighting to buildings.
Safer all round and no regs to follow as you have with using mains.
Just my 2p worth (or 2 Cents)

Yes I'd agree about the battery. The only other thing I'd say is keep the battery inside the shed - Siberian style winters can play havoc with wet cell batteries (don't ask how I know ).

 

[stockers]

up to a point Ross, but many dead car batteries have collapsed inside due to corrosion/erosion of the plates.These plates can detach and short out a cell, effectively killing that cell. No amount of cleaning will cure a collapsed cell.

 

[GNB]

Have you read this lot????

https://www.gscalecentral.net/controls-signals-and-electronics/lighting-of-buidings/

Thanks for that useful link. If you look on UK Amazon at the moment and you will find:

JnDee(TM) Cool White 5M (16.4ft) 300 LED Strip Light Flexible TAPE RIBBON/ 5 Metres with 300 SMD LEDs DC 12V.

Current price £9.99! Light strip can be cut at every 3 LED's and it has self adhesive backing.

Hope this is useful.

Frank

 

[Madman]

We use AC don't you use DC??
Personally I would use a car battery to supply lighting to buildings.
Safer all round and no regs to follow as you have with using mains.
Just my 2p worth (or 2 Cents)

No, we use AC. It comes into the house at 220 volts and gets separated into two 110 volt bus bars in the panel box. If you need 220 for an application, like an air conditioner, well pump, electric range, etc, then you use a circuit breaker that ties both bus bars together. So you get 110 volts for each slot in the receptacle and the neutral wire carries 220 back to the panel's grounding bar.


I was going to mention to Daniel, that instead of buying Christmas lights he could have purchased LED strips that operate on 12 volts DC. These are available on Ebay in a weatherproof design. They are inexpensive. They have a sticky backing that makes it simple to install them in structures. They can be cut to almost any length required. For power, LED drivers are also available on Ebay. They are also weatherproof and simple to wire up to the LEDs. The driver can be located anywhere, as long as mains power is available to them.

 

[PhilP]

Getting a really dead 12v car battery alive again.

Drain battery.
Neutralize interior with baking soda/water mix.
Drain
Wash out thoroughly
Refill with alum sulphate/water mix.
recharge......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Supe1a3LW2U

Taa Daa.......

Though would that work with modern 'Calcium' car batteries, I wonder??

 

[Nodrog1826]

Just a note of a potential caution, based on past experience.

In the early days of what we now call DCC, I managed to kill a controller, by with all things a signal.

The scenario was this:-

Zero 1 controlled 20v ac loco derails, hits and collapses a conventional 12v dc 4 colour light signal, which used the metal post as a common return, for the lights.
The signal falls onto the track accompanied by a bang, flash and then that smell of a burning PCB.

Technology has no doubt moved on since the 1980's, but it is something that we may need to mindful of.

 

[PhilP]

The moving-on of technology, or not, mixing differing type of electrical systems always has the potential (sorry!) to cause a failure..
Those using DC, in the larger scales, may well have 10A plus available, and many of the larger DCC systems (Massoth included) can be set to supply similar currents..
DCC Central Stations do tend to shutdown quite quickly these days, but not something you can totally rely on!

Human error is the biggest cause of failure though. Especially if equipment from differing manufacturers is involved. - Don't ask how I know!

 

[Madman]

An error on your part, does not mean that I must run around like a chicken without it's head, to solve it :

 

[cbeckett]

I light my buildings with cheapo $1 solar lights from the Reject Shop...

OK, they might "run out" at 0300 hrs - but who cares? I'm in the land of Nod by then....

 

[Riograndad]

As for me,I use a 6v box rechargeable batteries,as used in my boats(they double for both)the battery hides in a shed/building,10 or so 6v peanut bulbs run for about 4 hrs per charge,just about right for an evening running session.

 

[Railway42]

I light my buildings with solar lights. If you want to wire to the track you can use a bridge rectifier and a 1k resistor and an LED the current will be about 20 mA so 100 LED will be 2 Amps. You can put a diode across the LED and run it on AC but for the easy way use a bridge rectifier.

 

[mike]

i use a argos cheapo car battiey charger, inside, my "Fleet storage facilarty " also know as a shed.. its safer.. 12 volts ring main runs around the railway.. under the buildings ect , so i can just tap into it, all the street lamps, and buildings are fitted with 3mm leds. not every window in every building lights up,just as in life..

 

[stevedenver]

you know, im with mike on this one, ie 12 volts seems simply a lot safer, given all the 'stuff' that can accidentally occur.
low voltage means, if it does get wet or crossed or grounded, little happens. certainly a lot less than 110 no less 220. and, lets face it, eventually all of us end up crossing a wire from time to time, regardless of how careful we might try to be. this alone should be given weight. I understand a strand of xmas lights is too cheap to pass on, well.....maybe. (FWIW I DID try this indoors just last month, using a warm white xmas led strand on my n scale mainstreet buildings, all in a line.....didn't like the uniform look so I reconsidered.

outside I run 12 volts, and, I have a very wonky system, as I put my layout up and then change things every 2-3 years. as such, all of my lighting is 'modular', ie everything can be plugged and unplugged, and I run extension cords (heavy gauge speaker wire) to each building or distribution box powering a few buildings, (or street lights, yard lights, water crane, telephone booths ad nauseum).

I use those 9 v battery connectors on 1: building interiors; 2: lengths of wires -one end with 9v other end into 12 v distributions box powered by a dedicated train transformer-you could/should use one indoors and run a length outside to your own distribution box. Using a tran transformer allows me to dial in the brightness as well, which is really helpful-gives longer life and eliminates 'nuclear melt down' brightness.

In essence, this is simply creating your own power outlet in a multi connector terminal distribution box, like LGB sold, and then using several extension cords to each building, or sometimes multiple buildings connected to another distribution box.

if you substitute LEDs for incandescent bulbs, you can 'gang' a lot of bulbs with little draw on the wiring.

recently, I purchased on ebay, courtesy someone here, a large bunch of connector/plugs-akin to those which LGB used on its most modern coach lighting connections-

 

[PhilP]

"not every window in every building lights up,just as in life.. "

Yep, sometimes the lights are on, but nobody is home..

I would NEVER advocate running mains voltage to the likes of a model railway, or (model) buildings outside..
Things get left for far too long to have mains hanging about. - The thought of a stray cable touching the track does not bear thinking about for humans or stock!!
A nice sensible low-voltage source makes a lot of sense, and a 'ring' you can connect to at various points is a good idea. Personally, would not use 9V battery connectors, as there is the slight potential (pun, sorry!) for someone to try and connect 'something else' they should not. But a good, cheap, polarised connector-type I suppose.

 

[beavercreek]

When I first put lighting into and onto my buildings and street lamps, I was using 19V tungsten bulbs (some screw-in and some just wired).
There were a lot of them and so I was using LGB 1amp power supply/controllers in parallel to supply the necessary power (two sets, one of three units and one set of two units). These LGB units have been working for over six years stored in the open under a cover.

A few years ago I found a fairly cheap resource on ebay for replacing the tungsten bulbs with a non-polarity sensitive screw-in LED variety (5,5 screw size) and also self adhesive led stip.
I have now got a mixed tungsten/led array and will gradually replace all the tungsten screw in ones and then the wired ones (with 5,5 screw in bulb connectors and led bulbs or led strip).

I can now cut down the number of LGB power supplies as there is less power needed and also know that they will cut out if anything untoward happens.