Another Lighting Project - Shepherd's Hook

[electrical whiz kid]

Jonathan;
Nice job.   The lampposts that caught my eye were at Canaan Union station; they are pretty simple to make using brass tubing and brass sheet about .005 thick, and flare it so that it looks like a lampshade.  Run one conductor up the tube, and use the body of the lamp unit as the second conductor.  If it works in an automobile, it will work for you.
Rich

[jonathan]

Thanks, guys. I think I'm starting to learn more than I wanted to know about LEDs and electricity.

I think to be on the safe side, I should run a 9V or 10V DC buss for my new lampposts.  Lord knows I have enough used wall warts laying around. That would be easier than anything else.  I got these SMDs from one of those "direct from China" sights on ebay.  No telling what the specs may be.

Fortunately, I wired everything just like running on DC, so polarity is already factored in.  I thought this would be a cool experiment, but it's not worth it if I burn out these lights after all this work.  Would probably take less than 30 minutes to run some new wire around the layout.  The power strip has room for one more plug in.   

BTW, if I blink fast enough, can I see the lamps winking on and off real fast? Thanks again for the kind words and education.

Regards,

Jonathan

[jonathan]

Well, I was wrong.

It took me a whole hour to run the bus wires, connect to the lampposts, and connect to a 9v/1amp wall wart.  All is well.  The lights are still bright, and probably safer from burn out.

Figure I can connect at least 30 more LEDs to this bus wire before things start getting dim.

Thanks!

Regards,

Jonathan

[Joe Satnik]

Jon,

Is your wall-wart output 9vAC or 9vDC? 

If AC, you will need a diode or diode bridge between the wall wart and your LEDs. 

Radio Shack 276-0268 diode bridge would work.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik   

[Doneldon]

Is your wall-wart output 9vAC or 9vDC? If AC, you will need a diode or diode bridge between the wall wart and your LEDs. 

Joe-

The LEDs will work on AC, just not as brightly. That's not generally a problem, in my
experience, because they are too bright and too white for many applications.

Doneldon

[utdave]

Well  i was working on lights also  buildings ,signal lights,pole lights  .   i came up with button light poles    1/16 alum tube, christmas leds buttons and wire . first pic was my supplies and i have another pic showing my xmas lights i bought on this thread, 2 hole  buttons of a work shirt , and bought 1/16 tube.
mine are not as hard is Jonathans lights i really like his (must have lots more time than me ) well heres the pics if you like to do something different

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[utdave]

[jonathan]

Buttons!  Why didn't I think of that?  That's great!

Dave, if you can, turn off the camera flash.  Makes it easier to see the lights working. 

Thanks for sharing another great idea! 

Regards,

Jonathan

[Joe Satnik]

Dear All,

Another way to avoid excess PRV (Peak Reverse Voltage) is to have the LEDs wired back to back:

                                                        Lamp 1
~AC Terminal 1------WWWW--------------->l----------------- ~AC Terminal 2
                              Res.              l                   l
                                                 l-------l<-----l
                                                          lamp 2

You can tell if you have the LEDs in the correct polarity (opposite from each other) if you temporarily hook up a DC source (9V battery or DC power pack). 

When powered with DC, one lamp should light but not the other. 

Changing the polarity of the DC power source should light the other lamp, and shut off the first. 

Hope this helps. 

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik   

[utdave]

Joe you are correct   Half bridge rectifier     have a red one one way a green one the other way  great track signals, the clear leds you can paint also .  HO is just to hard to do with big thumbs like mine.  I tryied.    heres another shot of my led button pole lamp and a sign with leds.
im going to upload more pics in my layout thread.

   

[jonathan]

The recent winter storm has us trapped indoors, and I can't get to work until later in the day.  So....

I built nine more street lights, this time using more scrap parts for the lampshades:  washers, brake wheels, scrap tubing, etc.  Building up to the point where I can install something nice around my depot area.

This time, after the enamel primer, I brushed on some acrylic hunter green on the lampposts.  It got real dark with the primer.  I like the color.

I took a bunch of pictures, the best of which are below.  Just trying to kill time at the moment.  Enjoy.

Regards,

Jonathan

[ebtnut]

Jonathon:  Great work as always.  I really like to coloring of your street pavement.  Do you have a mix formula for that color?  I'm getting ready to lay girder rail and pavement material for the city trolley line on the club RR in McKeesport, and I need a good color for the streets and sidewalks. 

[ebtnut]

Oh, if interested here's a link to some pics of the work in progress: http://freerails.com/view_topic.php?id=2906&forum_id=53&page=12

[jonathan]

ebtnut,

Your scenes look great.  Are you really going to power the birney with the overhead wire?  That's some serious modeling.

The main road is Apple Barrel Pewter Gray.  I tried several colors and this one seemed to work better than others.  For the downtown shopping district, I mixed in a little black, to make it look freshly paved.  Next I will weather the center of the lanes on the main road, some  extra dark gray dry brushing should do the trick.

Thanks!

Regards,

Jonathan

[ebtnut]

Jonathon:  Yes, the intent is to run from the overhead.  I do intend to replace the Bachmann trolley pole with a better one with a proper slider to improve contact.  Sometime soon I'm going to disconnect the autoreverse circuit and power up the overhead just to see what happens.  It's all DC right now, but DCC is planned.  I also have a Bachmann Peter Witt for this operation too.  I plan to begin laying the girder rail for the street running the next time I'm up there. 

Is Apple Barrel a paint brand name?  Something you get at a craft store like Michael's?