Lights in different rooms of buildings

The answer to number 1 without a doubt is to use LED's they don't produce any heat


2. you'd probably want to use foil tape and paint it black so it wouldn't act as a reflector

3. I don't know of anyone who makes a light controller with a time delay but someone here may.


David

I agree with David, LEDs would be the way to go.

As for 2) and 3), you might be able to find some random-blinking Christmas lights (LED-based) which may work, although they may blink too "fast". Experimentation will shed light (pun intended... )

John

I thought about those Christmas lights, too. I had a set that you could set up random patterns from fast blinking to real slow, to practically nothing.

Problem was they only lasted for one season.

quote:

Originally posted by Vulcan:
I thought about those Christmas lights, too. I had a set that you could set up random patterns from fast blinking to real slow, to practically nothing.

Problem was they only lasted for one season.

We had a set of those even had a knob like a dimmer for speed control but they were twinkle lights not LED's.

I would think you'd need a multi-circuit timer so rowe x would be on for say 10 minutes and then rowe z would come on.you could break the rowes up so you'd have different lights coming on an going off in different buildings

David

three-rail.com has what you may be looking for. they have a product that you can set up your lights to go/off in a variety of different ways.

You could use a timer circuit to do this, here is one I built, simply change the RC values to change the time. You could use a few linked to different lights for different sequences. timer board I use several of these to cyle the rides in my amusement park on and off.

On some of the small layouts I have built, I used individual toggle switches for each building. I found I didn't use them that much because it took too much time and effort to manually control the switches. If you hitched them up to a computer that you could program you would probably find it more fun. That way you could have several different programs for variety.

I used small incadesent bulbs because that was what was available at the time, but I agree with the folks who say LEDs are a better, low temerature, low power solution.

Paul Goodness

Sandy, there was a artical where old e units were used to turn lights on and off, and they could be energized by grounding and insulated rail on your track. just make the insulated rail long enough so that every truck or car doesn't energize the e unit.

LED come in several colors, a yellow for incandescent and a blue/white for florescent.

Hi Sandy,

LEDs are the way to go. For blocking/interior decorating, I have used paper paint samples, that card stock is somewhat thick and will allow you to 'paint' the room whatever color you choose from the sample rack. You could also use duct tape or similar thick tape.

With regards to lighting, at the club we have a home built device, it's a motor with two disks attached. They have cuts in the edge and are off set by 180 degrees (think 'D' shape). Metal fingers that ride along the edge. Each disk has power to it and the fingers pick up the power as it turns and then lose power when the cut comes around. This creates the on off cycle for some of our cross bucks and for our Cell-Tree. If you like to tinker you could do the same but have a slower motor and more disks.

OR:

Check out Light Lynx

Thank you all for the great ideas. I am particular attracted to the idea of strips of LEDs. Three LEDs per room should give a nice diffuse glow.

I also like the idea of a chip to control it. I am not familar with the LaunchPad by TI - I will definitely look into it. It definitely looks more affordable than the Arduino chip that I was considering. With the Arduino I thought I could program a whole series of buildings from one chip.

Great feedback!

FYI:

Evans Designs sells Universal LEDs that can be powered with AC or DC.

I’ve seen a lot of emphasis placed on this topic.
People like to light up buildings but what about everything else?
It looks cool for about 5 minutes, but how many of you will actually spend most of the time operating trains in the dark?

Unless everything else is lighted including the back drop, traffic signals, signs, streets and vehicles, it really doesn’t look too convincing for all the effort that’s put into it.

I suppose to do it correctly; it’s really all or nothing.
But that’s just me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A2h3jZhxiA

quote:

Originally posted by SIRT:
I’ve seen a lot of emphasis placed on this topic.
People like to light up buildings but what about everything else?
It looks cool for about 5 minutes, but how many of you will actually spend most of the time operating trains in the dark?

Unless everything else is lighted including the back drop, traffic signals, signs, streets and vehicles, it really doesn’t look too convincing for all the effort that’s put into it.

I suppose to do it correctly; it’s really all or nothing.
But that’s just me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A2h3jZhxiA

The guy was asking about buildings.Everyones gotta start somewhere .If I were new to all this my first concern would be lights in the buildings ,which is what goes on a layout first then I'd be worried about street lights and traffic signals.

I for one like to see my layout at night with it all lit up trains didn't just run in the day time

David

Gas+existing fire=fun! lol...

All kidding aside, technically you can have a town without street lights and traffic signals, but headlights are somewhat necessary!

I think one can perceive cars, ancillary lights and signals being there but when you see buildings completely dark, they stick out.

On our club layout, we run with the room lights dimmed. We have street lights but they don't throw enough light to really hit the road. The buildings are very easy to see though.

The guy was asking about buildings.Everyones gotta start somewhere .If I were new to all this my first concern would be lights in the buildings ,which is what goes on a layout first then I'd be worried about street lights and traffic signals.
David[/QUOTE]

........................................................................

I was generalizing about the topic, not the question.
In that case just pre-tape a ready made string of LED’s inside a box and plug them in.
Make some dividers for inside the buildings out of some cardboard and secure everything including the fronts using liquid nails.

My son (who does computer science) recommended using the Arduino chip rather than the TI. The chip is $25, but is MUCH easier to program and there are publicly available programming routines and freeway for helping you through. It will allow the control of innumerable lights on the layout.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I am starting to paint the Ameri-towne fronts.

sandysimon - I would be very interested in learning about your solution, so I hope you will post about it when you have something to share.

Cheers,

John

Oh, and stan, thanks for the tip, that kit is an amazing deal. Curious to see how it compares with the Arduino, which I also had not heard of before.

Neat stuff all around...

John

Stan2004, I just ordered a roll of 300 of the 3528 warm white LED strips. If I cut them into 3 LED strips, do I have to do anything else to them besides connect them to 12 volts DC to make them work? I have not used LEDs before but know that it is the way to go for lighting my buildings from now on...bulbs are too hot and too bulky. I always used screw in sockets and bulbs in the past because that was what I grew up using. Got to change with the times.

Thanks for your advice, Paul Goodness

I have not seen one of these rolls before. Can you buy a roll of 300 hundred, and then just cut them into shorter strips of 3 or 4? Or must you buy them in strips of 3 or 4 LEDs?
Thanks.

Stan2004, Thank you for the information...very clear and easy to follow. I had done a search on LEDs and read the one on "constant lighting" for passenger cars which dealt with AC power from the tracks which is more complex than connecting directly to a 12 volt DC power supply. I appreciate your help.

Paul Goodness

I went to some local store, but could not find rolls of LED strips. I found some, such as the following of 300 LEDs, from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Flexible...QQ1YOM/ref=pd_cp_e_1

Since I have not seen these in "real life" (an advantage of buying locally) I can't tell if this can be cut into separate segments. Is anyone familiar with any of these strips, or others, or can recommend rolls of strips that they know can be separated and used independently?
Thanks

and don't forget to light the lantern too ....

I spent last weekend finally programming the Arduino chip. It turned out to be MUCH easier than I thought (they have some test programs - many of which already do what we want). Initially there are a limited number of digital output and analog output lines. HOWEVER, by using a $3 chip called a SHIFT register (also available at Radio Shack), you can address almost an unlimited number of lights INDEPENDENTLY!

After I finish beta testing my new code, I will write in a form that is (hopefully) VERY EASY to follow - even for non-programmers. I will try to do it in a way that you can just upload it without modifying it (if you are computer-phobic).

The bottom line: I have 64 different lights turning on and off at different times. It can be used to also trigger things other than LEDs (for example, sound chips). Has anyone ever bought some of those inexpensive sound chips (that are used in some greeting cards), and programmed them for sounds to be made when various events occur on the layout?

This sounds like an excellent future OGR article! A complete step-by-step instructions with pictures would be very nice to have as a reference.

Thanks.

-bruce

Yea I'm starting to drool over the LED's. I been robbing them out of Christmas lights but at that price WOW

I was also interested in that dimmer I saw at amazon.

David

quote:

Originally posted by sandysimon:
Has anyone ever bought some of those inexpensive sound chips (that are used in some greeting cards), and programmed them for sounds to be made when various events occur on the layout?

With chips, particularly those used in recordable greeting cards, the signal level is too low for background in an O-gauge layout. So you'll need to amplify it. Also, I think you'll find the audio quality somewhat lacking.

Instead, I suggest trying a low-end MP3 player. There are small MP3 players with built-in speakers ($20). Or amplify the earbud signal from the pack-of-gum sized players ($10 or less) which you'd have to do anyway with a chip. MP3 sound quality is very good. Also, you can download free MP3 sound effect and digitally edit and store them in a player whereas you'd likely have to play and record them analog into a DIY sound chip. Even the lowest-end player gives hours or days of sound rather than seconds or a few minutes max with a chip. Here's one I bought surplus for $5 but they are long obsolete.



I think you can go wild synchronizing lights and sounds with an Arduino. The players I've tinkered with are quite simple. If you store multiple MP3 sound clips, the player will play them in order with the first file directory name played first. So if your sound clips are a.mp3, b.mp3, c.mp3, etc., then a.mp3 is played first when you power it on. But if you want to access the next clip, then press the Fast-Fwd button and it skips to the next file. So an Arduino can effectively access a random sound clip by pulsing the FF button the correct number of times. So you end up with a accessory sound jukebox. And then since MP3 sounds can be stereo, you can create interesting directional effects when synchronized with lighting.

If you go this route and want to discuss the nuts-and-bolts of how to power MP3 players or emulate switch closures using Shift register outputs, I'd pose this as an Electrical Forum problem - the details can get a bit 'nerdy'.

For anyone interested, there is a neat article in the Feb 2012 Popular Mechanics on page 70 on using this chip and what is needed to program it.

It appears to be the hit of the do it yourself market...reasonable and easy to use.

Greg