Just Plug Lighting System

It isn't out yet, is it? They said January 2015 at the show.

THANX, LIMA!

I just read an ad for this product and see they are available on the auction site.

So I did a search and found this open post from November.

Has anyone tried this system out yet? 

Azgary

I've been waiting for this to come out into the local hobby shops and I'm sure it's not out yet. All the local hobby shops in this area say they have no idea when they'll see it.

I can't recall the dealer, but I saw order listings pending for this system and the listed prices were quite reasonable. But then again, it isn't all that complex. I'm glad the word came out when it did, I was soon going to be rigging up my own lighting system on the few structures that'll have lighting* through an old HO scale power pack's accessory plugs. Now I'll just hold off for this as I like the way it's set up for on-off switches and the like.

*As I model the WW2 era, that means blackouts at night, so no night ops on my layout. The only lighting that didn't come with strucutres I already have will be the ticket area of the primary depot and maybe a porch light on one farm house on my layout and that'll be it.

The question was being asked here, with some downright insulting responses: http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/p/244106/2719051.aspx

I found a vendor here who is taking advanced orders, but you can generally see how much it'll cost: http://www.strikeforcehobbies.com/page564.html

It'd be pricey if you have a lot of structures, but if you model a small or rural themed layout, it doesn't look too expensive for all the time it'd save wiring it all yourself...

yeah, you could wire stuff yourself, but this sure would be easy for just a few structures.

They are showing April now as a shipping time.

While I don't agree with the condescending way the answers were presented, I do in large part agree with their conclusions.  Basic lighting can be done for peanuts, far cheaper than what they're showing.

The only component I've seen priced is the little powerpack wallwart, that goes for $20!  I can light half a dozen buildings in total, including the power for that money!

As for time, I think most things you do around the layout are more time consuming that wiring a few lights, but it's not my money...

Thanks Lee, I'm 67 years old with bad eyes and shaky hands and a small layout. This looks perfect to me and I can fit the prices into the budget by adding on sections at a time.

Azgary

Yeah, if you know what you're doing.

It's easy to think everyone in a hobby is of the same skillset you are, when that's not the case at all. For example, I had someone assist on all my wiring and in many cases, did it while I watched because I'm bloody useless with wiring as I just don't 'get' it.

But the very same guy recently said he doesn't understand why I'm looking forward to getting scenery done as that's not his thing, and he said he marvelled at the work I did one stock Peco On30 turntables, stuff that for me was so very simple but he'd never dream of taking on such a project. When i told him of my plans to scratch build flats in wood and castings along a wall, he looked at me like I said I was going to build my own space ship to go to the Moon.

It's all about the comfort zone and your experience. Never assume that what's easy for you is easy for everyone else.

I don't assume everyone has the same skill level as I do Lee. I did electronic design for many years, and yes, doing wiring is pretty natural for me.  I realize it's not truly natural for everyone.  However, it's also not like building your own space ship.

If you can wire power to your track, you can wire power to your lights.  Most of the work with lighting is preparation and locating the lights, not the actual wiring.  It's hard to imagine building a layout without basic wiring skills. Everything you do around your layout is a skill you have learned, basic wiring is a pretty low-level skill that certainly can be learned.  You talk of building complicated scratch built items, yet hesitate to invest in the basic skills of wiring, I'm not sure I understand why.

I'll step off my soapbox now.

There are other similar projects/parts available with this plug and light type system.

Fort Pitt Highrailers animation module.  Note the orange cones and the saw horse safety barriers.  Each is a prewired flashing LED that plugs to a power module. All done in 15 minutes or less. There is a power module for the cones and one for the barriers.

The power modules are the two small black boxes center right of picture below the red, white, blue, black track circuit connections. Each orange cone and safety barrier came with enough wire to make the  black box.   Apply 18 volts AC and it operates.

 My comment for what it's worth is:  I made a very good living as an electrical contractor.  As I look at the back side of this 38" X 72" animation module it is a bit intense.  Two plug strips, several wall wort power supplies, each a different voltage and different purpose, why wouldn't you want to simplify some of the wiring???  It is a hobby for all, not just those mechanically inclined. IMO   Michael C. Thompson

Link Just Plug lighting from Woodlands Scenic, a video.

A picture is worth a thousand words to illustrate your point which is well taken. Another advantage to this system is the time saved. I know that when building my layout I had one hundred and one tasks...and you cannot always anticipate wring additional stuff in later on which means a re-do. 

This was exactly my point. There are plenty of people who would look at a photo like this and say, "Oh yeah, that's simple, I could do that in half an hour from scratch. Where's my wire? I'll show you how simple this is..."

It's human nature to try to project your own experiences, likes and knowledge base into the skull of another person but life don't work like that.

There are plenty of things I know how to do that are easy for me that are seemingly impossible for others. I'm sure anyone could say that. For example, I think drawing a portrait is easy. Why? Well, I was born with an apparent natural talent for that and I went to art school. But it'd be silly of me to tell someone else that drawing another person is easy. Yet people do just that, for other things, every day.

There's a reason why we pay doctors to help us when we're sick, body shops when our cars get dinged in an accident, and electricians when we need home wiring because we can't know how to do everythin to a professional level.

Seriously, the next time I have someone say something being easy for them is easy for everyone, I'm going to show them a scan of a drawing I did for a book project (I have it saved on my cell phone) and say, "Okay, it's easy for me to do stuff like this, so it should easy for you, too, right?"

p51 Lee:

I turn my art work over to my sweetheart (43 years).  She recently did a wonderful back drop for my coal tipple scene. 

Hard to imagine how you can equate creating art to wiring a couple of lights, but I'm going to consider myself a lighting artist from now on!

You can't compare it because one is probably beyond you. Just like I wouldn't compare serious wiring along the lines of something I know well because wiring is alien to me.

But you can put any individual skills you want into that idea. I was just using a personal example which, to me, is blindingly easy but that I know it hardly that for others. For me to assume anyone else can draw and that it comes easy for others as it does for me is as wrong as someone who is good at wiring (or any other skill), to assume it is equally easy to everyone else.

Lee, this is my last attempt at beating this dead horse, I promise.

The difference between true art and simple wiring is the latter is a lot easier to learn. While you may not know anything about wiring, it's not a skill on the par with creating real art.  I can accept you don't have the skills now, my whole point is it's not that difficult to acquire the skills.  That's not because I say so, it's based on experience with many folks that started out total electrical neophytes.  It's not like you want to become a master electrician, we're talking about running low voltage wire to a few lights.

For whatever reason, you don't want to accept the fact that you could probably learn to wire the lights within a few hours, and that's fine.  It seems that you would like to classify electrical wiring with space flight, but one is really easier than the other.

I submit, I endorse the Just Plug Lighting System for your layout.

Several vendors online have this system and not under 'pre-order' status.

I'll be hitting a hobby shop tomorrow for some WS scenery products and I'll be checking to see if they have any of this yet.

Wow, this topic went places...

Just throwing in a hand with GRJ on this one.  

I specifically went looking for the Woodland Scenics display at the Big E show in January to see this. The girl at the booth was kind enough to demonstrate the system. However, I was unimpressed. The system is based on the same bd. inside the lighted WS buildings just put into a package with knobs for dimming control versus using a small screwdriver. At best it's a power distribution system for already lighted WS buildings. For unlighted buildings they offer overly priced chip LED's in a few different colors with leads and mating connectors which plug into the dimming module. Maybe there's some value there for some folks, but all in all not worth the money IMHO.

We have added the Just Plug system to our product line. http://www.harrisontrains.com/justplug.htm