It's not a huge deal, you just need to run two wires from your auxiliary posts to a point where you can have the other wires join them. You can just wire things together at that point, or you can look into the wiring supplies that are available from a hobby shop, dollhouse supplier or an electronics house like Radio Shack. These would include things like terminal strips, jumpers for said strips, and good old wire.
Depending on what you are using for bulbs, you may want to wire at least some lights in series. This has the effect of reducing voltage to individual bulbs. It cuts down on the light, but also extends bulb life considerably.
The other wiring scheme is parallel, which is what is in your house. All bulbs (or your appliances, etc.) get the same voltage.
O--Bulb
----Wire
Series (with return wire below): ---O-----O-----O------O-----O------O------
-----------------------------------------------
Parallel: _________________________________________
__O___O____O____O____O____O____________
The two can be combined, depending on how many bulbs you may want in series at any point, or how much you want to reduce the voltage. The particular arrangement shown below would reduce the voltage to each bulb by 50%, assuming the bulbs are matched. In other words, if you have 16 volts coming out of your auxiliary terminals, then each bulb in this case would get only 8 volts. That would be well under the typical 12 volt ratings of the bulbs in the railroad hobby, and would result in a nice golden glow instead of an overly bright light--which would also signify voltage being higher than it should and shorter bulb life, sometimes measured in seconds or less!
______________________________________________
[ [
[-------O------O----] [------O------O-----]
___________________]____________________]__________
Do keep in mind that while these voltages are very low compared to your house current, you do need to make sure you have no bare wires, especially bare wires that can touch another of opposite polarity. That will be what's called a short circuit, and even at only a couple of volts from a battery would result in an amazing amount of heat buildup and a fire hazard!
It's not a big deal to prevent that, but it does require you take a few common sense precautions, such as what I mentioned above.
Depending on what you are using for bulbs, you may want to wire at least some lights in series. This has the effect of reducing voltage to individual bulbs. It cuts down on the light, but also extends bulb life considerably.
The other wiring scheme is parallel, which is what is in your house. All bulbs (or your appliances, etc.) get the same voltage.
O--Bulb
----Wire
Series (with return wire below): ---O-----O-----O------O-----O------O------
-----------------------------------------------
Parallel: _________________________________________
__O___O____O____O____O____O____________
The two can be combined, depending on how many bulbs you may want in series at any point, or how much you want to reduce the voltage. The particular arrangement shown below would reduce the voltage to each bulb by 50%, assuming the bulbs are matched. In other words, if you have 16 volts coming out of your auxiliary terminals, then each bulb in this case would get only 8 volts. That would be well under the typical 12 volt ratings of the bulbs in the railroad hobby, and would result in a nice golden glow instead of an overly bright light--which would also signify voltage being higher than it should and shorter bulb life, sometimes measured in seconds or less!
______________________________________________
[ [
[-------O------O----] [------O------O-----]
___________________]____________________]__________
Do keep in mind that while these voltages are very low compared to your house current, you do need to make sure you have no bare wires, especially bare wires that can touch another of opposite polarity. That will be what's called a short circuit, and even at only a couple of volts from a battery would result in an amazing amount of heat buildup and a fire hazard!
It's not a big deal to prevent that, but it does require you take a few common sense precautions, such as what I mentioned above.