Led lights

In the FWIW department, I don't have the WS lighting system, but I think it's a pretty neat system and doesn't seem to me to be too expensive for all that it does and the thought and design they put into it. My LHS has had a display for a while now, you can fiddle with it, I did (and still do) and was impressed. I like to tinker and do things with components (like Stan, GRJ and others post about doing), but the WS system may yet get to me...it's pretty close right now. 

Aha!  First time I've seen the guts of the building with individual "zone" brightness control.  Thanks for posting them! 

Yes, that board performs the same function as the 4-control Light Hub.  But obviously your board is located inside the structure so you don't have the external easy accessibility and with larger finger-controllable brightness vs. a tiny screwdriver.

If it's still accessible, in the interest of research, could you read off the value of the capacitor which should be printed on the component of the right arrow; the lettering would say some number "uF" and some number "V".  And, could you read off the value of the adjustment control pots which are likely printed on the side of the pot.  The 3362 stamped on the top of the blue pot is the family number but the exact resistor value should be printed somewhere on the component.  I show another 3362 component in the inset with what the lettering might look like.

I found this earlier OGR thread which shows the front/back of the Light Hub circuit board though I can't seem to find the original OGR thread I refer to where I got another forum member to post these photos in the first place.

https://ogrforum.com/topic/led-light-hub

So I think we can make progress without your having to send me hardware during the holiday shipping rush!  Additionally, I found the following thread where some guy did some research for us including drawing out a schematic of the Light Hub.  I can't attest to the accuracy of his analysis but it does have some additional tidbits for anyone trying a DIY enhancement to the WS system.

http://www.sumidacrossing.org/...ngLighting/WSLights/

Actually, I'm a bit confused as to what we (the collective "we") are trying to accomplish here!  Obviously WS recognized a need for a plug and play system for folks that don't want to deal with all the hassles of wiring, resistors, voltage, current, blah, blah, blah.  One recurring topic seems to be how to use LEDs other than those provided by WS.  That is, they seem relatively expensive for what you get.  To that end, see this OGR thread:

https://ogrforum.com/...enics-led-nano-light

Basically, if you can work with small components and wiring you can roll your own LED assemblies that are compatible with the Just Plug system for a fraction of what WS charges.

As far as I know (someone please correct me) WS still doesn't have what I'll call a "high power" output for their Light Hub that you can hook up a common 12V LED light strip and use a Light Hub brightness knob.  IMO, that would be a worthwhile discussion on how to modify a Light Hub or roll-your-own.  For example, I can imagine some kind of "booster" circuit that you place between a Light Hub output and a 12V LED strip.  Maybe $1 or so in components but tedious component assembly possibly requiring one of the guys to design a small bare circuit board from OSH Park or wherever.

Due to positioning, the only number I can see/read on the pot is this one.  On the two-fer one, I also got the cap info, but that was on another photo a post or two back, anyway. Of course in the earlier photos the resistors on the back side of the board are ID’d.  Guess they are positioned under the pots.  I found one of the power supply WS sells and thought it interesting that it was AC/AC, 16v at 1A.  The OP is actually asking about daisy chaining buildings with dissimilar lighting.  WS in one then led strips in the next, etc.

Could you look again at the cap on the other side near the tip of the yellow arrow I drew in.  I'm looking for a pair of values, one will be a number followed by the letter "uF" and other a different number followed by the letter "V".   For example, in this photo the bigger cap is 470uF 50V, the smaller cap is 100uF 50V.  The values repeat in a row so a particular number may be cut off in the middle but should repeat in a way that you can figure it out.

Sorry, here it is.

Stan I would think that cap is just a 330 or 470 uF @ 25 volt or something similar, since it's just a filter cap, right? If we are trying to replicate the circuit though it would be good to nail the SM resistor values and the pots. Maybe TEDW you could measure the resistance of one of the pots end to end, since one end is open, not connected? Just a couple of thoughts.

Rod

Got it.  So for posterity:

In round numbers, this board allows individual adjustment of LED current between 0-30 mA or so with max AC input voltage.  OTOH if you only have 12V DC available, cranking the control to max will only go up to about ~15mA.

Again, I'm not quite clear on where we're going with this WS stuff.  But no harm in dropping bread crumbs as we stumble our way through the unknown! 

I wonder why the doubled up resistors?  Did they get a good deal in 1/8W resistors?

Well, I'd think those resistors go for a fraction of a penny in production...so by doubling up it adds maybe 1 cent to the cost of each board.  But this increases the power handling capability by more than double since it spreads out the resistance over a greater surface area and they have the real-estate to do so.  Plus, the component cost of two x-Watt resistors might actually be cheaper than one 2x-Watt resistor.  Then, apply Ohms law!  

Could be, it's certainly not a normal construction technique.

to be clear...can i use the hub to power a WS building that already has lights?  Meaning the 3 or 4 lights in the building (specifically Emillo's italian restaurant and Morrison Door factory) won't use more than one port on  the hub can supply because they only give you one light for the Hub.  Which begs the next question can I put two or three lights using one port on the hub?

Okay I have the Menards Police station and providing power with the recommended Menards 4.5 V 2000mA three pronged power source.  Being that it is three pronged I imagine it will provide power to two additional buildings.  I want to use the other two, to power strip lights in two additional buildings, approximately 12-15 light per building.  Any issue with this?

Are the additional buildings Menards with built-in strip lights?  Or are you talking about custom adding LED strips to your own structures?

If this is a DIY modification with your own strip lights, it's likely you have 12V strip lights.  The Menards adapter only provides 4.5V.  There are LED strip lights that operate on about 5V - much less common but they're out there.  In fact, there are some Menards buildings with built-in LED strip lights and these are of the 5V variety and work at 4.5V.

There are low-cost ($1 on eBay, free shipping from Asia) voltage converters to convert from one DC voltage to another.  For example, 4.5V to 12V or 12V to 4.5V.

Yes custom lights and building  so yea I guess that won’t work.    I have the 12 volt power supply I can use - was trying to be efficient with the 3 pronged 

Ok picked these up with my Menards purchase .....how do I power them ?   use same 12v power  pack that I am using for strip lighting?  cant take more power than strip lighting so as long as I don’t exceed proper number of lights ?  

Should I be able to tell?  Looked at web site didn’t help 

It appears you have 14V bulbs that draw 30 mA.  These can be driven with "only" 12V DC though obviously not as bright as if driven by the full 14V.  If you decide brightness is not acceptable, then need to find a higher voltage power source such as the 14V AC from Accessory output of a train-transformer.

But if brightness acceptable, then in round numbers (math skipped over), each lamppost bulb when driven by 12V DC uses about the same power as one 3-LED strip segment.  Previously I suggested your existing 12V DC adapter could power 20 3-LED segments.  So now it would be mix-and-match up to 20.  For example, 15 LED segments (45 LEDs) plus 5 bulb lamp-posts, or 5 LED segments (15 LEDs) plus 15 bulb lamp-posts, etc.  

Thanks Stan - big help.....do you mind showing the math?  I thought the 12V power might be close enough ...but how did you translate to number of bulbs?

Let me take a stab...14V x .03 = .42 watts per bulb.....we know from above 20 3 light sections required 8 volts therefore each 3 light section .4 volts?   .4~.42    

Ah yes. The math.  Earlier in the thread I copied from your LED strip manufacturer's specs that it uses 8 Watts/meter.

Each meter contains 20 3-LED segments.  So each 3-LED section uses 8W / 20 = 0.4 Watts per 3-LED section.

At 14V, your lamp-post bulbs nominally use 0.42 Watts...it will be lower when only driven at 12V so for back-of-envelope purposes let's just call it 0.4 Watts per incandescent bulb.

Whether it be harmonic convergence, divine intervention, or just dumb luck the power is about the same!

Your power source is capable of 9 Watts so it can drive 1 meter of strip LEDs.  Hence I say mix-and-match (up to) 20 3-LED sections or incandescent lamp-post bulbs.

👍🏻