If the majority of the time the lighted cars are running on conventional 5-10 volts of DC current, will the regulator require as much heat sinking as it would under the 14 volts of AC that I apply when running Legacy? My Legacy locomotives are either steam (Challenger or Y-3) that will pull a caboose with 3 LEDs or modern SD70ACe/ES44AC that would rarely, if ever, pull a caboose or a passenger car. I mainly want the ability to handle the Legacy mode just in case I forget to switch engines.
Thank you for all the tips, John. You've given me the courage to experiment and the curiosity to learn more.