stan2004 posted:If going with 12V DC as an accessory lighting voltage bus you could use a 12V DC wall-wart, 12V DC power supply adapter, 12V DC from a PC power supply, etc. Hundreds if not thousands of choices. Less than $10 and any of them would power hundreds of LEDs.
Something like this Here ? If so, how exactly do you hook it up and to what? I guess I don't understand this aspect...yet.But if you're lacking time or aren't comfortable working at the component or module level, there are many suppliers of LED lights and lighting products which can directly connect to the 14V AC Accessory voltage from many train transformers...or to the AC voltage from your KW set to 14V AC (or whatever you choose). These products have the diodes, resistors, etc. built-in to work so you don't have to mess with AC vs. DC, regulated vs. unregulated, Amps vs. mA, and similar jargon tossed about with LEDs and lighting.
I've used Evan Designs so far, bought about 20 LEDs off of them for my control panel, this can get a little expensive though. I'd like to learn how to do this stuff anyway. Actually, GRJ has given some insight in the past.I'm sure hooking up the switches and uncouplers to the AIU could be confusing, I never did search the forum to find out the info though, I think I may just do that now.
I definitely do not want to regret not doing something. While I can easily buy the lighting from places such as Evan Designs and stay with the AC voltage, I feel like it may be more cost efficient to go the DC route?
On another note, I'm making some progress in the room that I will be using for the trains. I removed the previously installed raceway electric (locations in blue rectangles) and installed in-wall mounted electric. Also, this electric was on two different circuits before and is now on one controlled by a switch. I felt like that would be beneficial to make sure when leaving, all train equipment is turned off.
I've also painted the ceiling black and installed 6 - 6 inch recessed lights using 65 watt bright white LED bulbs and removed the florescent fixture (still shown in the picture).
In the corner of the room, someone had built a box (shown in the red circle) to hide what looks like old A/C lines. I removed that box and patched up the wall. Also, I opened the doorway the the train room up about 16 inches or so and removed the out of place pegboard. Tonight I should be able to get two coats of primer on the walls to hide that awful yellow and my black over-spray. With any luck at all, I should be able to start building my bench work later this week.
Any ideas on what color I should paint the walls? In the future I am planning on using a backdrop the whole way around the room, but not all the way to the ceiling.
**Note: Please ignore the messy laundry room. In the process of working on the train room, I also removed all of the orange pegboard and installed all new drywall there too. (It must also be noted, we did not paint that pegboard orange... it was like that when we bought the house.)
