I might have overlooked this topic...Woodland Scenics Just Plug in lighting

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Has anyone tried this and what are the opinions?

2

Wire and light bulbs or LEDs are a lot cheaper. The cables they offer are pretty short, too, so you’re likely going to have to splice cables anyway.

I see this as something for a Christmas tree village. It’s easy to assemble and take down, an annual event with a Christmas village, but something you would only do once with most model railroads.

3

The only pieces of the “Just Plug” system I have used are these metal-look streetlights:

IMG_8897_fix by Edmund, on Flickr

Normally I have a pretty good stock of Walthers street lamps of many styles but I didn’t have enough for this bridge scene. The Just Plug ones are nice and not too pricey. For some reason the cost and availability of the Walthers ones have become a problem. I didn’t use any of the connectors I simply soldered the connections.

IMG_8914_fix by Edmund, on Flickr

I’m with Mister beasley as far as structure interior lighting. LED’s and resistors are VERY economical, especially when purchased in quantity.

Some folks have noted the individual dimming characteristics of the Just Plug “Light Box” but, once you get the hang of selecting a proper resistor for the brightness you want, rolling-your-own is the only economical way to go.

Good Luck, Ed

4

I agree totally!

One DIY option that is becoming very popular is using Arduino micro computers to control structure lighting. You can have any number of LEDs go on and off randomly all over the layout. It will cost you way less than $1.00 per LED including the Arduinos, the resistors and the wiring. Each Arduino can control a bunch of LEDs.

Dave

5

I agree with all the above, DYI. As for the Arduino for driving lighting the random controller works great for structures and could also be configured to control street lighting. I went with a high current driver chip (TD62304P) that can handle a ½ amp per channel.

A 20 port ½ amp per port Arduino controller costs under $30. For a single LED per port Arduino the cost is under $10.

Mel

Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951

My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/