I am building a HO train room and have 2 questions about electrical wiring.
1.) I am not planning on putting any electric outlets on two of the four walls (the two are outside cement walls), will that be a problem?
2.) On the two remaining walls, I am thinking that it would be beneficial to have some or most of the electric outlets on a “master” switch that can easily be truned off when room is not in use. Is this a good idea?
Thanks
[#welcome]
Welcome aboard.
Check your local building codes. Many codes require an outlet on every wall and/or ever so many feet.
A master shut off is not a bad idea, but multiple circuits is a better idea.
Thanks
Assume your electrical interests will grow and change over the years. You will probably want more outlets in more places than you can even imagine. You may also want the ability for dimmer switches down the line.
Being able to control the lighting independantly is usually a big plus compaired to one switch kills the entire room. Another thing to think about is night lighting. I once operated on a layout that had blue lights for night and regular for day. The lights were simply 2 sets of track lights that could be dimmed with wall mounted dimmers. This would allow night operations on the road. Also a switch that controls maybe one outlet would be a good idea and have your DCC system hooked up to that outlet. If you ever expand into computer control you will prolly not want your computer to be on the switched outlet since computers do not like their power being cut like that.
Massey
I have three circuits.
One for the layout power & accessories, controlled by a switch; one for my room lighting, controlled by the light switch; and one that is on all the time for a dehumidifier.
You could also have one more, and that would be for a workbench, also controlled by a main switch, if you had one in the room.
Thanks for the reply.
That is what I was planning, but just wanted to get some feedback.
A number of things to consider.
Run separate branch circuits for the room lights and the wall outlets. You don’t want a mishap that pops a circuit breaker to also put the lights out.
You can never have too many wall outlets. You will want to have a trouble light, a Dremel, a skill saw, a soldering iron, a drill, a sabersaw, the track power, the switch machine power, structure lighting supply, the laptop charger, the photography lamps, the radio, and much other stuff all plugged in at once. When working under the benchwork it is really nice to have a wall socket for the trouble lamp within easy reach.
A master on-off switch for the wall outlets is nice to have. That way you can flip the power off as you pack it in for the evening and not have to worry about a forgotten soldering iron still plugged in, and hot, and setting something on fire.
You want lots of light, really bright light, when working on the layout. You will want a lower level of light when operating, perhaps just lamps behind the valances. Under layout lighting is really nice when looking for that small dropped part, or when working underneath the layout. You probably want to turn that off when operating. Anyhow you will want several light switches to control all this.
underlayout lighting is a must if you ask me. and I have a great idea for it that can be built right into the benchwork with very little effort.
Use rope lights and cut a small groove in the cross boards to fit the light and when you place the top on the layout the rope lights are sammiched in there and secure. just dont drive any screws through that exact spot. Here is a pic of a rope light under my yard lighting my staging area.
Massey
I have to agree with the others.
You can never have too many electrical outlets, put at least one on each wall. And you did not ask but do not leave the wall cement. Put up furring strips and dry wall it. Our club tried to go with “raw” walls and it was a constant mess. We put up dry wall w insulation behind and it alleviated many problems. They make special shallow electrical for just this situation.
I would go more than one master switch. I would put in a swiched circuit for the control system (DCC or other), I would put in at least one if not two swiched circuits for accessories, I would put in a switched circuit for layout lighting (maybe two if you are going to do “night time”), I would put in a switch for room “work” lighting with maybe a couple outlets for it, and finally I would put in a constant non-switched circuit for things you don’t want to power down and/or use for temporary fans/tools/etc. Nothing more agrivating to plug in the drill and realize you have to go across the room and flip a switch to make it power up. You should then color code the outlets to know what to plug in where and not have to figure it out each time. I know they make black, white, ivory, brown, and orange outlets. Our club used some white ones and painted them yellow for track power, blue for night lights, green for turnout
As mentioned, put outlets on all walls per code, usually every 8 feet. I also added outlets to my benchwork as the ones along the wall became inaccessable or at least difficult to get to. I just ran a romex cable around my layout and put outlets on the benchwork legs for easy acces when soldering or for lights or vacuums. I also have one switched outlet for the DCC system.
-Bob
LION built his layout in a 24 x 27 former classroom. It was built in the 1940s and has two outlets, one in the front (Under the workbench) and one in the back (under part of the layout). The LION added a row of outlets on the wall (mounted on what used to be the wooden chalk rack from the blackboard). That takes care of the work bench. There is a heavy connection that passes under a small operator’s platform to the layout. There is a power strip there for my several layout power supply systems. From there the LION gets a little off the reservation as far as codes go, but he uses extension cords under the table and puts power strips about every ten feet along the fascia of the layout. THOSE are very useful and YOU SHOULD HAVE THEM, but it is far better to have an electrician install them for you once you have built the framework of your table, unless you are competent at wiring according to code.
ROAR
Maybe overkill, but when I built the train room. Ceiling lites are on there own circuit, regular outlets on a circuit and there own switch. Put in a quad outlet, with its own switch for the DCC system. When walking out the room just flip the 3 switches and all are off.