Dean’s been back in touch with a helpful post on model railroad led layout lighting:
“Cheers, Al, from Dean in New Mexico.
I’ve begun to fit my buildings with internal LED lights on the N-scale Conejos Valley Railroad. I use small LEDs I buy in bulk (from Amazon or eBay).
When an LED fires, it acts as almost a dead short. So, you need to add a resistor in series to limit the current or it will burn out in a second.
For a 5-volt supply, you need at least a 250-ohm resistor, for 12-volt, 600-ohm.
I always wire mine up with a 1000-ohm resistor to give a longer life to the LED.
I also put a 100K trimmer potentiometer in series with the power leads to the buildings. These are used to adjust the lighting for each building.
Parts I use are shown below with their bulk cost. These days I mostly use the 3-mm version since it fits better in small N-scale buildings.
You can buy LEDs with an included resistor if you want to make life simpler but be sure they are rated for the voltage you will be using.
I use the variable voltage supply shown below so that I can adjust the voltage (and level of light) for all my buildings at once.
I’ve used the one shown below for years and you can still find it on eBay for around $5.
It’s mounted on a standard electrical cover plate that fits in a small electrical box fastened to the layout’s frame. The power supply is powered with a plug-in Wal Wart that supplies 12-volt DC at a couple of amps. Power for my switch machines also comes from the Wal Wart.
I print out support pieces using a 3D printer and PLA to hold the lights and provide a baffle.
These are printed out for each building in two pieces which are then glued together. I design them so they act as a base support for the building.
If you don’t have a 3D printer, you can also make these up from Styrene or balsa wood. But I find it is faster and cheaper for me to 3D print these. The 3D printer I now use cost $200 and is far better and user friendly than my 4-year old unit. A completed assembly is shown below.
This building was lit with two LEDs, each with their own limit resistor. The two are wired in parallel to the wires that go to the main power panel.
As I solder the leads together, I melt the joint into the PLA material to give a ridgid assembly—it looks bad, but won’t be seen.
Model railroad LED layout lighting:
Many of my buildings are from Woodland Scenic kits. A completed building is shown below. Note that the light appears bright white to the eye, but the camera sees this as a cold blue.
Here’s a station on my layout that uses two 5-mm LEDs. Everything is supported in the roof of the station
All the wire pairs that come from the various buildings go to a central distribution point on my layout I designed to fit inside the hotel.
Interconnections are made with a prototyping breadboard which I have described in more detail in the video I published, see below.
I can wire up to 12 buildings through this central distribution panel. The four LEDs and resistors can be seen at the top of the support.
Below is a photo of the support for the hotel.
And here it is with the hotel in place. The glazing I use for the buildings has a foggy look that helps to mask the inside.
And here’s a final photo in action. A night train passes through Conejos.
You can see an action video in my video:
I’ve almost finished the Conejos Valley Railroad and only have a few finishing touches to go, lighting more buildings and touching up the scenery.
That’s all for now, Al, thanks for continuing to improve your blog!
Dean”
A big thanks to Dean for sharing how he does his model railroad LED layout lighting.
Dean’s last post – also on lighting – is here:
And it also reminded me of these posts too:
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you decide to join in the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More N scale layouts here if that’s your thing.
