miniature lights and accesories

[gandy dancer#1]

HI: have been looking at the miniature street lamps andother accesories i have an airport beacon with light also, no where does it state on any of these as to whether the voltage rating is in ac or dc?? some say 6 volt some at 12 volt?? Any body got a clue?? I sure dont, whatis the norm??

[Jerrys HO]

#1

Searching this forum will yield tons of answers. I run my lights and other accessories with old power packs. Here is a link I found that will be useful to you. Pay attention to Jim's reply.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,13593.0.html

Jerry

[NarrowMinded]

Lights will work with AC or DC  though LED's work with ac with dc you must have correct polarity or they wont light up, hooking them up backwards wont hurt them they just wont light.

NM-Jeff

[gandy dancer#1]

Thanks Jerry and narrow minded for your responses,its nice to have mentors like you guys here   My main concern was how do you know if some accesory is 6 volt,12 volt, or ac, dc ?? Examplei  have 3 toys all made by lionel, 2 are ho, one is 0 scale. all have miniature motors. all came in original box, with full instructions. no where was it stated ac or dc, after many e-mails to lionel it was finally determind by them the ho was 6 volts dc, and the 0 was 12 volts ac!! go figure!! basically im finding with model railroad stuff its a turkey shoot!! No consistency!! I just dont want to burn stuff up. I am curently operating under the assumption if before the mid 70's its dc, after its ac??

[NarrowMinded]

Your right about the "Turkey Shoot" the lack of standards in the accessory part of Model railroading is has always been a thorn in mine and many others sides.

You should read everything Jim Banner posts on this forum, He is an electrical engineer from what I have read and has been playing with trains a little longer then I have been alive.

I copy many of his post and keep them in a folder for reference.

NM-Jeff