24 hours may not be the correct term here but a buddy at the club is interested in trying to install a lighting system which would simulate dawn, daytime, evening, night, etc. He asked me to post an enquiry here to see if anyone has done this and if so what system was used. Also, he wants to tie any such system into the lights in our structures and vehicles so they come on and go off at the appropriate time.
Anyone have some thoughts on this?
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I myself have not done this (though I am planning to do so), but it could be very easy to do: just scrounge a timer switch from an old washing machine. Use its outputs to control relays, and that would let you control everything on the layout. For daytime, use regular warm white LEDs to illuminate the layout, for sunrise, use dimmer, reddish, orangish, and yellowish LEDs, and do the same for sunset–and maybe throw in a few purple tones. Night time, very dim blue and purple LEDs could cast a nice effect. That would be method Number 1. Number 2 is moreso digital in nature, and would let you more easily vary the time: use an Arduino to control it all. But I wouldn’t know quite how to do that bit.
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Lots of folks use JMRI to control layout room lighting, as well as lighting (and other) effects on the layout itself.
A quick look on the JMRI home page shows direct connections to Anyma DMX and various Powerline flavors. It also connects to Arduino, C/MRI, etc, which could also be adapted for lighting and layout effect control.
I’ve even heard of JMRI being used with multi-channel theatrical lighting controllers.
Note that while JMRI was originally developed for and is usually associated with DCC, for this use case you don’t need to have DCC or even a layout. It’ll work for your Christmas tree and Dept. 56 villages!
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The late Pop Loeffler did this in Houston. I first saw it in 1971 and it had probably been there years before I was there. I have a slide of it, but can’t find the slide reel. When you arrived at Pop’s place and you wanted to see it at a certain time of day, you had to wait. It was an electrical/mechanical system developed by Pop who was a MIT engineering graduate.
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I use Woodland Scenics Just Plug. I put Woodland Scenics LEDs in buildings. Then with my overhead lights on (basement layout), I adjust the LEDs for reasonable lighting level in daylight (that is, NOT full on). Then at night with the overhead lights off, the building lights look quite realistic for a night scene. It is a very simplistic approach for me but it means once adjusted, there is nothing further to do.
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My 2 cents. I think an Arduino is the way to go. As long as you can handle the coding. There may be existing code out there that you can use or modify.
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Another idea for you that was just mentioned in the NMRA eBulletin:
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I do not know much about night time, it is all the same in a subway tunnel.
But I do have some interesting “night time” photos of my layout:
It is a simple matter to turn off the room lights and let the LEDs speak for themselves.
Broadway Lion
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Wow!