Somebody show me the light! I want to run two or three houses off one set of feeders to a transformer and all other lights (traffic lights, billboards, street lights, etc.) off another set. Should I run em on separate wires or should I run em all of one set of bus wires. Another thing. I have an old Model Power transformer that I dont trust to reliably run my trains, but will cut it as a power source for accessories. Should I run the buildings on the transformer already in use, or should I pull out the reserves.
I’d wire it however works out to be cleanest and neatest. Probably with a bus. I think having the accessories on a different power supply is proably a good idea.
You go taking all those wires out of your bus and it’s not going to work very well. Of course, if was a school bus, there’d be a lot of happy kids.
Hi RR Redneck
Your best bet is two separate transformers one for the trains and only the trains and one for the accessories.
I like you am dubious about the MP transformer.
I would run CCT’s for houses and street lights as separate entities on separate switches having the first light in each CCT in series the rest in parallel.
Don’t forget to leave a discrete window or two in the houses say at the back of the house out of view for ventilation this will prolong the life of the globe and hopefully stop it getting too hot and melting a spot in the house.
hope this helps
regards John
Those cheap train set power packs are good choices for layout lighting, as they’re cheaper to replace, so long as you’re not going to light 50 or 60 lights with one. As for the wiring. I pulled two wires the length of my layout and use distribution blocks every 10 - 15 feet. Connect one of the wires to one side, the other wire to the other. Get the blocks that have common straps, so that the entire length of the block is the same plolarity. Then when you add a light, just run the wires to your blocks. That way, ALL of your lights are in parallel, and you don’t end up chasing lights (light those old Xmas tree strings of lights) when one burns out. If you use 12-16 volt bulbs, and only use 6-8 volts to light them, you will have more prototypical looking lights AND they generate less heat and will last much longer.
Thanks fellas.