What’s the opinions of wiring the lighting for my buildings and street lights in parallel or series. I’m using Model Power’s street lights and structure bulbs.
Willy,
I personally like wiring bulbs in parallel so that I can control each light (or sets of lights) individually. I also use the DC terminal of a power pack so that I can “dial down” the voltage.
Generally, I operate my 12V incandescent bulbs @ 55-60% power. This makes their output look more realistic and the bulbs last longer, too. Here’s a pick of a freight station that I installed interior and exterior lighting to:
Tom
Willy6:
The problem with wiring in series is that if one bulb fails then everything in the circuit goes out. Finding the burned out bulb means isolating each bulb and testing it individually, which is a PITA. Do you remember the old two wire Christmas Tree lights? When a bulb burned out, dad had to spend quite a bit of time unscrewing each bulb and replacing it with a fresh bulb until the culprit was located.
Dave
I run one bus under my layout for structures, and another for streetlights. I use the Walthers Cornerstone streetlights. They aren’t designed for replaceable bulbs, so I keep them off most of the time. I use Miniatronics bulbs for structures, so they’re cheap and not hard to replace.
Mine are 16 volt bulbs, and I run them at 12 volts. Not only does it extend bulb life, as Tom pointed out, it also gives a softer, warmer glow that better fits my era.