Large Scale Central

Lighting on the layout

After seeing Jons thread on adding lights to the layout, it got me motivated to do the same on mine. I always enjoyed the seeing the buildings all lite up when the sun goes down, especially as the days get shorter. It brings life to the layout when trains are parked for the night.

I used a power supply from a low voltage outdoor light system. I like using these because they have the sensors and timers. I can adjust how long and when to put the lights on. I strung low voltage wire throughout the layout. Then I used ceramic wedge based sockets that I tapped into the main low voltage wire. I didn’t do anything fancy inside the buildings. I just wanted some sort of light to shine inside. The lights were just stuck underneath each building or hung from the ceilings. My goal was to get a nice lantern glow since power did not exist in the backwoods. I tried LED bulbs but they gave off a clean white look to the buildings. I tried the 4W regular bulbs and they got me the look I wanted.

The the camera exaggerated the lights in the photos. I would say they are about half the brightness from what the camera shows.

At some point I would love to just get a lantern that lights up in the shelter. For now the bulb works and cant be seen unless you get down real low. In that case you will get a spruce tree where the sun don’t shine. Don’t ask how I know. Image may contain: plant and outdoor

Image may contain: plant, house and outdoor

Image may contain: outdoor

Image may contain: tree, sky, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: plant, tree, house, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: plant, tree, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: plant, tree, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: tree, plant, house, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: plant, tree, outdoor and nature

Just fringing cool man !

Those lights add a lot of life to the layout, implying people are here and things are happening.

Looks just awesome Shawn, really adds a lot of warmth and personality to an already wonderful layout!

Awesome railroad Shawn , the lighting makes it all seem surreal when you watch trains at night. We have been using a Malibu low voltage lighting system since 2004 . The only problems I had were from the 12 gauge connectors. After a few years they lost contact and I had to find them ( I buried them and didn’t mark them) … After I soldered the connections I have experienced no “blackouts” .

Looks great Shawn.

Shawn Viggiano said:

Image may contain: plant and outdoor

Oh my oh my! I recognize this!

Coolness!! I need to get back at mine. I just added a timer (was running 24/7) and am still tweaking ON time which probably will be an every 2 week thing as the days get shorter. I run them all night so I see them in the early AM when I get up.

I want to add lights to the big engine house before winter. Then maybe finish some of the post lamps I’m working on.

when you said ceramic wedges, is this something Malibu ( or whatever the brand) offers to make the contact? I am familiar with the old wedges that they used a long time ago that Mike mentioned. and will soon be looking at installing the wire for my layout. Great pictures Shawn, love the buildings.

Looks real nice, Shawn, gives a warmth to the buildings.

Did you use opaque or clear bulbs?, or were they colored, like Christmas lights? Just wondering which give off a better aura.

How come you didn’t light the outhouse by the ranger station? It looks like you lit everything else! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

Looks great. Really nice looking pictures.

And I tend to agree that the 4w - 11w bulbs give a much better color then LEDs do. We use Malibu style bulbs in the 4 to 11 watt range depending on how much light a building needs.

And yes, cameras definitely exaggerate the light from these bulbs. In person they do not look as bright as they do in pictures. I like that you took the pics when there was still a lot of natural light outside to minimize the “exaggerated” building light. I’ll have to do that next time I take pics.

Some pics of our lights:

Link 1

Link 2 (go down a bit for night shots)

I noticed that B and M, a discount store brand over here in the UK, while in town today have a set of white miniature leds around fifty I think that run off two AA batteries for under £4.00. I bought a similar set last Christmas for the tree from another store, at greater cost, and they are really good. The leds are strung on thin bare wire and it seems to me that they would make a good cheap way to light buildings etc.

Regards

David

On bulbs Vs LEDs. There is no argument that the color from an incandescent bulb is much more desirable if you are modeling anything other than present day. The problem with bulbs is current draw and life expectancy. I want my buildings lit an average of 12 hours/day - Dusk until dawn so I chose LED. To deal with the color I devised methods to modify the color to the more yellow/orange of incandescent by bouncing the light off colored glossy surfaces or through tinted plexiglass. In two structures I kept the bright white LED as I model an operating museum in the present. I figure that the railroad would have used fluorescent lighting for efficiency. The bright white LEDs are pretty close enough in color temperature for me to represent cool white florescent.

I am also using some incandescent bulbs, especially where the bulb will be visible. The one I put on the Wall Station has burned out already. I have yet to put my Amazon 12V grain-of-wheat bulbs in service to see what their life may be. I will need to limit how many of these I put out as I max out my 12V supply at 60 watts total.

david bunn said:

I noticed that B and M, a discount store brand over here in the UK, while in town today have a set of white miniature leds around fifty I think that run off two AA batteries for under £4.00. I bought a similar set last Christmas for the tree from another store, at greater cost, and they are really good. The leds are strung on thin bare wire and it seems to me that they would make a good cheap way to light buildings etc.

Regards

David

I’m familiar with the ones you speak of. I saw some in a shop last weekend. They would work great with a couple of things to consider. As stated above, the color will be bright white, but these are tiny LED chips so they are not overpoweringly bright. Second, plan on changing batteries regularly. You can expect to get about 24 hours at full brightness from the LEDS then perhaps a week or more of gradually dimming light as the batteries go flat. My wife uses a similar set in the bathroom as a night light. They are always on. We use really cheap Heavy Duty carbon-zinc batteries. Alkalines may last a bit longer, but I get these free or really cheap from Harbor Freight. Of course, if you switch them off when not needed the batteries will last a lot longer.

I originally planned to use some similar sets in my buildings, but decided I wanted them on all night at full brightness, so chose to plug them in.

Pete Lassen said:

when you said ceramic wedges, is this something Malibu ( or whatever the brand) offers to make the contact? I am familiar with the old wedges that they used a long time ago that Mike mentioned. and will soon be looking at installing the wire for my layout. Great pictures Shawn, love the buildings.

I got these from Amazon. I just splice the main wire and tap the ceramic wedges into the main with wire nuts and electric tape. Here’s what I use https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/mlt/B000XVM88S/ref=psd_mlt_dp_click_B000XVM88S?showV2=0

Jon Radder said:

david bunn said:

I noticed that B and M, a discount store brand over here in the UK, while in town today have a set of white miniature leds around fifty I think that run off two AA batteries for under £4.00. I bought a similar set last Christmas for the tree from another store, at greater cost, and they are really good. The leds are strung on thin bare wire and it seems to me that they would make a good cheap way to light buildings etc.

Regards

David

I’m familiar with the ones you speak of. I saw some in a shop last weekend. They would work great with a couple of things to consider. As stated above, the color will be bright white, but these are tiny LED chips so they are not overpoweringly bright. Second, plan on changing batteries regularly. You can expect to get about 24 hours at full brightness from the LEDS then perhaps a week or more of gradually dimming light as the batteries go flat. My wife uses a similar set in the bathroom as a night light. They are always on. We use really cheap Heavy Duty carbon-zinc batteries. Alkalines may last a bit longer, but I get these free or really cheap from Harbor Freight. Of course, if you switch them off when not needed the batteries will last a lot longer.

I originally planned to use some similar sets in my buildings, but decided I wanted them on all night at full brightness, so chose to plug them in.

I had thought about solar and battery but I didn’t want the lights to die after so many hours. Using the electric gives me run time from dhsk till Dawn without having to worry about replacing batteries and not seeing the lights in the morning. I’m like you, I want to see my light when I come.e home for work and when I’m leaving. I had good luck with the 4watt bulbs. Imost lasted a few years on .y old layout. I might experiment with painting the LED bulbs for a warmer glow. I went with the 120watt power supply. I’m up to about 60 as of now.

Matt Doti said:

Looks great. Really nice looking pictures.

And I tend to agree that the 4w - 11w bulbs give a much better color then LEDs do. We use Malibu style bulbs in the 4 to 11 watt range depending on how much light a building needs.

And yes, cameras definitely exaggerate the light from these bulbs. In person they do not look as bright as they do in pictures. I like that you took the pics when there was still a lot of natural light outside to minimize the “exaggerated” building light. I’ll have to do that next time I take pics.

Some pics of our lights:

x

Link 1

Link 2 (go down a bit for night shots)

Matt the lights look great. It really makes a difference. Its fun looking at the layout at night. Really brings it to life.