hello fellow model railroaders,
…my main question is: how do you install outside lighting to your buildings? I am about to light the columns on my refinery towers using 1.5 volt grain of rice bulbs from loy’s toy’s (don’t need the conversion from 12 volt to 1.5 volt…got the circuit built already) my question is concerning the mounting of the lights…i was thinking of running the wiring thru a styrene or brass tube with the bulb exiting the tube at each level of the refinery column …the trouble is i need 5 bulbs per tower and i don’t think all the wiring will fit inside a tube 1/8" in diameter…another problem is that i can’t wire directly thru the column because there are solid sections in the column that I won’t be able to get wires thru so mounting them directly to the tower is out of the question…any ideas, solutions, ect…thanks, …chuck
If the column is metal, you could solder one wire from each bulb to the column. Solder a wire to the bottom of the column. Run that wire back to your power source. Take the free bulb wires, and solder them all together. Run a wire from there back to the power source.
maybe I’m going to answer my own question…what do you think if i run two small brass rods up the side of the columns, cut the wires real short on the bulbs, and solder them at the exact levels i need them at onto the brass rods connected to the power supply?..could this work?..by the way…the structures are not metal, so using them for a common is also out of the question …chuck
One thing you really have to think about is how you will replace burned out bulbs when (not if) they burn out. If you can’t easily do that, you’ll kick yourself later. That’s why I prefer LEDs in most lighting installations.
One solution you might look at for your wiring is using magnet wire. That’s the wire used to wind motors and, ummm, magnets. [:)] It’s extremely small and can be hidden easily. Because it’s so small, it can be a bit difficult to work with (think of something the size of hair, but more flexible) but it’s virtually invisible when installed.
Mike Tennent
I quit using magnet wire because it’s too easy to nick off the enamel shell that is the only thing that insulates the wire…after a few shorts caused from it rubbing against something made me quit using it…I do like the size of it ,but it is too easily damaged to depend on it …LEd’s would be nice to use but they will have to be white light LED’s and they only make those in 3mm…WAy too big…I need an incandescent glow …LED lighting can’t make that kind of glow…i’m really stuck with the grain of rice bulbs even though it’s going to be tough to mount them…chuck
A trick to prevent nicking the magnet wire insulation from the RMC article on caboose marker lights - at the point where the wire exits the tube or casting, fill it wil CA. That way the magnet wire can’t rub back and forth against the edge.
Maybe DCC decoder wire is fine enough? And definitely use the brass tube as the common, that saves a lot of wires running down inside it.
–Randy
#30 wire sold for wire wrap installations can be used in place of magnet wire. It is easy to strip and if you are using LEDS you can wire wrap it to the leads. No soldering.
Chuck,
Take a look at Surface Mount LEDs. They’re small, no leads (square pad on back) and can go anywhere a GOR can go.
Whites can be bought at LC-LED.com. They’re not the bright, intense white of the 3mm, more of a flourescent white. And don’t forget that many industrial lights are more orange or yellow than white.
A variety of orange and yellow SMD LEDs can be gotten online at mouser.com or digikey.com. One orange I like is Mouser’s 606-7010X3. 48 cents each in small quantities.
Mike Tennent
I’d paint the wire leads a dull silver color to look like conduit and run them up the column or some other part of the structure. If that won’t do, maybe try Electrical Conductive Paint to paint two leads up the colmn. http://www.semsupplies.com/Silver%20paint.html
Then paint over that to camouflage the electrical paint.