Lighting buildings

[Joe]

Hi
When I first became interested in model railroading I was young so my father wired it all up. He used atlas code 100 track and used terminals on the track to give power to the tracks. I have alot of buildings / accesories that have lights and i wish to light them. But the problem is we wired the track with red,green, and white wires and these lights are all brown and yellow.
can someone help?

Thanks.

 

[Red Oak & Western]

Joe - Welcome to the forum.

To really help, we'll need answers to some questions.

1) You state your dad used Atlas code 100 track. Does that mean your layout is HO scale? If so, normally there would be only two wires powering the track. It doesn't really matter what color they are, so long as the colors are used consistently. So, how are the red, green, and white wires connected?

2) What are you using to supply power to the layout? Most power packs have "accessory" terminals, in addition to the "track power" terminals.

3) What type of lights and how many? All lights have two specifications: an operating voltage and a current draw.

4) Do you have a multimeter and know how to use it? You'll need to figure out the operating voltage and current of each building / accessory.

 

[Joe]

1) You state your dad used Atlas code 100 track. Does that mean your layout is HO scale? If so, normally there would be only two wires powering the track. It doesn't really matter what color they are, so long as the colors are used consistently. So, how are the red, green, and white wires connected?

2) What are you using to supply power to the layout? Most power packs have "accessory" terminals, in addition to the "track power" terminals.

3) What type of lights and how many? All lights have two specifications: an operating voltage and a current draw.

4) Do you have a multimeter and know how to use it? You'll need to figure out the operating voltage and current of each building / accessory.

Oh boy

1) Yes its HO. Um the terminals have red and white wires.

2) Sorry I really dont know. I have 3 of these: http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/11RQC8H346L._AA160_.jpg

3) They are these lights
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/mdp/mdp491.htm
I have 3 of them I plan on using

4) I'm a noob at the electric part of modeling who doesnt know what that is.

 

[UP2CSX]

Just forget the track because it will have nothing to do with building lights. On the back of your transformer you should see a terminal labeled something like 12 volts DC or 16 volts AC. It's not the one used to go to the track. The color of the wires doesn't really matter but get a spool each of 16 to 18 gauge brown and yellow stranded wire just to keep things the same. You then hook up a brown and yellow wire from the transformer DC or AC terminals and run them under your layout. Use tie wraps or adhesive clips to hold them up. Remove the house and drill a hole though the layout big enough for both house light wires. A 1/8" drill bit should be about right. Thread the wires down through the hole so they come out near your main wire run. For each house light, you'll need to tap into these main two wires. You can use several methods to do this but I recommend the use of Posi-Tap connectors like the ones at http://www.posi-lock.com/posiplug.html. They are very easy to use for a beginner and don't require any soldering or stripping of the main feed wires. You can order them on line or find them at many auto supply stores.

This is actually easier than it sounds once you get used to wiring a few lights.

 

[Joe]

Thanks man, It helped.
But I do have more questions. I have 2 transformers for my layout and 2 extra ones ill be using for lights and such. Should I be worried about an overload? These 2 tranformers are simple cheap ones that only do direction and speed and have 4 ports at the back.

 

[jbaakko]

I'm gonna pick me up a pack of these next payday:
http://seasonalreflections.com/holiday_decorations/product.php?productid=13075&cat=2298&page=1

 

[UP2CSX]

Thanks man, It helped.
But I do have more questions. I have 2 transformers for my layout and 2 extra ones ill be using for lights and such. Should I be worried about an overload? These 2 tranformers are simple cheap ones that only do direction and speed and have 4 ports at the back.

That's good if you have two extra transformers. In that case, wire the house light main buss wires right to the terminals that say to track or 12v variable DC. Do everything else as I suggested. The nice thing about using an extra transformer is that you can wire all the lights to one main buss of wire and then use the rheostat that you'd normally use to make the train go faster or slower to make the lights dimmer or brighter. Most house lighting is too bright at 12 volts and dimming it down to about 9 volts will make it look better and the lights will last forever.

In terms of overload, even cheap toy set transformers will easily run 10 or more bulbs. As an example, I have a 5 amp MRC transformer that's running all my lighting, which is 59 streetlights, 14 building lights, and several vehicle lights. The whole thing is drawing about 3.4 amps according to my voltmeter. You can run lots of lights, especially by using the rheostat part of the transformer to dim the lights and reduce the voltage and current draw.