Lights go out

[Ron Zee]

So my little layout is getting near done and I decided to add lights to the buildings on it. There are 7 of them and I put one little light in each. Wired in parallel, and hooked up the the power supply that came with my Yard Boss set, it looks pretty nice. Then after about 10-15 seconds they go out. Disconnect them wait a few seconds and then reconnect and they light up. And then go out again. Are 7 little wheat grain bulbs too much for this tranformer? No, I wasn't running a train at the time.

[Doneldon]

RZ-

It'spossible. Try another wall wart if you have one (other electronics, hair care, phones, etc.) and see if they go out. Note the amperage of warts which do or do not operate the lights. If you don't learn anything that way, try disconnecting three or four bulbs. If they stay on more than 30 seconds, add another and keep doing so until the lights go out. That will tell you how many bulbs you can connect.

Incandescent bulbs can pull quite a bit of current; seven could easily exceed an amp which might be about all your pack puts out on its fixed AC. Just as with flashlights, LEDs give a lot more light for the current. You might want to consider replacing some or all of the GOW bulbs with them. Use a 1K ohm or thereabouts resistor to cut the voltage to 4.5 and you'll be able to run a ton of lights from your source. Or, use one or more of the surplus wall warts and run more than one lighting circuit.

Good luck.
                             -- D

[Ron Zee]

Sounds like a plan. I can try it at least. Any other ideas? How do most layouts power their electric accessories?

[Doneldon]

RZ-

Sometimes I think there are as many ways to power layouts and accessories as there are layouts. Some power packs can put out enough unregulated AC to run all of the accessories if there aren't many. I think that is less true these days as more layouts run DCC and there are so many more electrical accessories available. So surplus train set power packs, wall warts from stuff no one remembers and occasionally custom jobs provide the juice.
                                                                                                                    -- D

[NarrowMinded]

I save all my old cell phone charger power supplies and ask my friends for their old ones as well, at garage sells these are usually a $.50 item or a box of them for a dollar.

Just look for ones with the voltage you want or slightly lower.
Many are 5volt which work perfect with 6 volt LED's you can buy at radio shack. you don't even need a resistor or you can use 4 cell flashlight bulbs with them as a light source.


NM-Jeff

[Doneldon]

Narrow-

I think that LEDs are 4.5v and higher voltage can shorten their lives.

                                                                                             -- D

[NarrowMinded]

Doneldon you can buy led's in different voltages.

NM-Jeff

[Doneldon]

Jeff-

Oh. I didn't realize that. I thought all are 4.5v.

                                                             -- D

[NarrowMinded]

Technically I think they are rated in watts/currant draw but to make it simple they put a voltage on them I have bought Bare LED's marked from 1.8v to 12v  with no resistor needed.

NM-Jeff

[Jim Banner]

A resistor or a current regulator IC can be built right into an LED.  Some of the fancier ones automatically blink or flicker.

Jim

[NarrowMinded]

Nice to see you Jim, been a while.

I wondered how those little tea lights flicker hard as I look they just look like standard LED's

NM-Jeff

[Jim Banner]

Hey Jeff - nice to hear somebody noticed.  I haven't been on as much as I like lately as I have been working on a trade show model for a fellow.  A bit of a shock to the system, working 6-1/2 days a week after being retired from regular work, but it's work I love and it helps pay for my railroad modeling addiction.

Jim

[NarrowMinded]

Jim,
I know the feeling of loving work, even if it seems like too much it's better then the flipside, looking for something to do...


NM-Jeff