Has anyone used christmas tree lights (the small ones) to light buildings on their layout? How did it work, and what precautions need to be taken?
These lights are convenient in so many ways. They’re easy to find at any store during the holidays, they’re really cheap (bought a couple of packs of 24 for 99 cents each pack), and when you cut these light strings apart, each one has a convenient socket so you can change the bulb when it burns out.
The thing that might concern me is that you will have 115 volts present on your layout.
If any wiring gets frayed, etc. that could be a significant shock hazzard compared to some sort of 12 volt set up.
I haven’t done this myself, but it sounds like a good idea. The only problem I see is since each light is only around 3 volts (some less, some more), getting the right voltage to power them might be a little difficult.
I missed KG1960’s post before responding. What is this 3 volt business? I thought Christmas lights plugged into the wall. I must confess we haven’t bought any new ones for quite a while so I must be out of touch.
I’ve used the “rice” lights before. They are low voltage and will blow if powered straight from the accesorie terminals on you power pack. You can put resistors in line to prevent this.Or you can conect them to the track terminals of an old power pack and use the thottle control to controle the brightness.(this too will blow them if turned up too high so put some kind of a limiting block on the pak to keep from bumping it up too high.) Make sure you wire them in -paralell so if one goes out they don’t all go out.
I’ve sucessfully used them, and they might be the best way to light structure interiors on a layout. Just make sure to solder the wire splices together and to heatshrink the exposed wires. Not adding more than 50-100 bulbs per string probably wouldn’t hurt either.
In addition to the small Xmas bulbs for interior lighting, I use the larger C9 bulb strings to illuminate the lower decks of my multilevel layout. While they’re not as bright as full illumination, they do get rid of the shadows, and they’re cheap enough!
Ebriley - On the Xmas tree string, the lights are wired in series so each light bulb just takes a small portion of the total voltage. At 115 v. each light on a 35 bulb string “sees” only around 3.2 v. I understood from Klatu’s post that he plans to cut the string apart and use the bulbs individually.
Orsonroy, I like your idea of using C9 bulb strings as fill lighting. I am thinking of doing a small shelf layout with a backdrop and sky and that idea would work great.
I found little battery operated lights at wal-mart, they are meant for small trees on christmas displays but I bought the white ones and put the in my round house. I even drilled holes so the bulb would fit outside over the doors and they look perfect there.
I’ve used Xmas lights since back in the early 50’s. Infact those old-old lights that when one went out the whole string went out, used 12 volt bulbs, and they woud screw into most of the old Lionel signals. We used them for replacement bulbs when we couldn’t get Lionel replacements. I still use the small modern lights buy cutting the sockets from the string, but I use 12-14 volt bulbs wired to the track side of an old powerpack and have the power cut back to get the lighting effect I want. If you check the stores at Xmas time for replacement bulbs you can fine ones with the right voltage for your use or the box the string comes in has the bulb rating on it also. Ken
Another easy way to power Christmas lights (sockets cut apart) is to use discarded transformers from assorted electronic equipment (I somehow accumulated quite afew from old rechargable junk that no longer works). Look at the transformer to see the voltage output. If you’re using 3 volt Christmas bulbs and the transformer is 12 volts, put 4 in series (or better yet 5 – slighly dimmer, but less change opf bulb burn out).
-Jack
The only reservation I would have using Christmas tree lights is the voltage. If you cut the string I would avoid using the wall plug and instead use some sort of transformer that has the output equal to the voltage drop expected from the number of remaining lights. RMC had a couple of articles concerning the use of Christmas tree lights and the potential hazards. Perhaps the magazine search engine at the top of the site will help locate those articles.
One major problem, or potential problem with the el-cheapo Christmas lights is that they’re designed to SHORT OUT when they fail. Just be prepared for that to happen when they burn out. Ever see a string go kablooey when too many lights are burned out? It’s pretty spectacular to see 30 or so bulbs all blow at the same time from overload!
Putting 5 in series across a 12 volt supply is probably a good idea, as when one burns out you’ll still be around 3 volts per bulb. Just be aware that when one bulb goes out all the other bulbs will get brighter.