For lighting passenger cars, is the DC-DC buck boost mentioned above better than this AC-DC unit. Or are they equivalent for operating on conventional track power?
Also, the $2.89 reels "special" you found earlier in this thread arrived today--I bought two. Not bad: ordered on 2/12 and arrival 2/27. Incidentally, the package left China on the 15th; arrived Chicago on the 22nd; and, delivered metro Atlanta 2/27.
Last purchase I made of AC to DC was for $14.35 for a lot of 5, via AliExpress, with free shipping. About 3 weeks ago.
Carl, the difference is that for conventional operators, the buck only power module doesn't get the lights on until track voltage is around 12 volts, the buck/boost will have them working for almost any reasonable track voltage. As mentioned previously, you have to add a 22uh choke (DCS compatibility), bridge rectifier, and perhaps even some bulk capacitance, though the extra capacitance isn't necessary for light loads.
Pretty good price on those reels, no? 
Pingman, the AC-DC unit to which you linked is what I bought for 5/$14.35. The asking price on the link is outrageous. Google for it on AlExpress
Down below on the linked page 2/$5.89 is more realistic
Read my reply again, those are buck only modules, for conventional, you want a buck/boost power supply.
Pingman, the AC-DC unit to which you linked is what I bought for 5/$14.35. The asking price on the link is outrageous. Google for it on AlExpress
Down below on the linked page 2/$5.89 is more realistic
RJR, if you check the linked listing again, you'll see the $13.20 price is for 5 pieces/modules, not one.
Carl, the difference is that for conventional operators, the buck only power module doesn't get the lights on until track voltage is around 12 volts, the buck/boost will have them working for almost any reasonable track voltage. As mentioned previously, you have to add a 22uh choke (DCS compatibility), bridge rectifier, and perhaps even some bulk capacitance, though the extra capacitance isn't necessary for light loads.
Pretty good price on those reels, no?
I loved that $2.89 price. When I went to the Ebay link you suppled, they had only two left so I bought them.
As for using the DC-DC buck booster module, if I add the rectifier, 22uh choke, and capacitor from your "roll your own" parts where each component is basically daisy chained (i.e. not on a board) would that work?
Pingman, you're right. I missed the " 5 pcs" in the title of the listing.
Carl, the difference is that for conventional operators, the buck only power module doesn't get the lights on until track voltage is around 12 volts, the buck/boost will have them working for almost any reasonable track voltage. As mentioned previously, you have to add a 22uh choke (DCS compatibility), bridge rectifier, and perhaps even some bulk capacitance, though the extra capacitance isn't necessary for light loads.
Pretty good price on those reels, no?
I loved that $2.89 price. When I went to the Ebay link you suppled, they had only two left so I bought them.
As for using the DC-DC buck booster module, if I add the rectifier, 22uh choke, and capacitor from your "roll your own" parts where each component is basically daisy chained (i.e. not on a board) would that work?
Hmm... This says more than 10 available: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-DC-...;hash=item43d66c5da5
The the choke is first, then the bridge rectifier (don't use a plain diode), and the capacitor is across the output of the bridge if you add one.
Pretty good price on those reels, no?
I loved that $2.89 price. When I went to the Ebay link you supplied, they had only two left so I bought them.
As for using the DC-DC buck booster module, if I add the rectifier, 22uh choke, and capacitor from your "roll your own" parts where each component is basically daisy chained (i.e. not on a board) would that work?
Hmm... This says more than 10 available: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-DC-...;hash=item43d66c5da5
The the choke is first, then the bridge rectifier (don't use a plain diode), and the capacitor is across the output of the bridge if you add one.
gunrunnerjohn, when I went to the link on p.1 of this thread on 2/12 where your $2.89 per LED reel "special" is shown, they only had two reels left on that Ebay listing. That's what I bought and was referring to in my post above.
I'll give DigiKey an order for the choke, rectifier, and capacitor; and, buy the DC-DC buck booster on Ebay--have to get moving, I've got 900 LED's to install.
Carl, I have around 15 reels of those in the closet, of course I'm not installing all of them, I'm making a bunch of lighting kits soon, we're running low. 
Well, almost ideal. On an O-gauge layout, I would rather get AC-DC for close to that price and save the price of a rectifier and capacitor.
RJR, if you are operating in TMCC/Legacy or DCS w/ 18 VAC, those AC-DC modules are great. But as gunrunnerjohn explained above, for conventional operation with variable track voltage, those modules may be problematic when track voltage is below 12 VAC.
True. I've been running DCS for so long I forget the problems of varying voltage. No AC-DC boost buck converters???
GRJ, is your closet the equivalent of Fibber McGee's when you open the door?
I think mine are multicolored! Today I looked at the reels I received and they are different than the one shown on the auction. Mine has a fancy plug with RWGB color wires and a male and female end to connect multisets. Whereas the picture has just a R&B wire. I wonder what these were originally made for?
Here is a AC-to-DC buck ....
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C3..._30332190_TE_3p_dp_1
that I have bought, played with, but have yet to install. I was going to make the guinea pig a K-Line caboose, but after I took it apart, I decided against.
GRJ, is your closet the equivalent of Fibber McGee's when you open the door?
I have it better organized.
Here is a AC-to-DC buck ....
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C3..._30332190_TE_3p_dp_1
that I have bought, played with, but have yet to install. I was going to make the guinea pig a K-Line caboose, but after I took it apart, I decided against.
That's a step-down only, and it's the same module listed above for about $3.
I think mine are multicolored! Today I looked at the reels I received and they are different than the one shown on the auction. Mine has a fancy plug with RWGB color wires and a male and female end to connect multisets. Whereas the picture has just a R&B wire. I wonder what these were originally made for?
Sounds like they sent a RGB LED strip. Each LED on your strip has a Red, Blue, and Green LED within it. So you need 4 wires to control the strip...a common, and one wire for each color. In round numbers the RGB LED strips run, say, 5 times the price of single color strips. Of course that's still only about $1 in LEDs to populate a typical passenger car.
The electronics are obviously more complicated since you are drive 3 circuits rather than one. But simple controllers are $1 or so on eBay. You feed 12V DC to the controller and it generates the 3 control signals allowing you to generate any color of the rainbow including warm white, cool white, etc. For a few dollars you can even get a remote control fob to adjust color, adjust brightness, turn on/off, sequence a pattern (used for commercial displays).
It kind of opens a can of worms though. Whereas before the issue was simply how bright to set the LED strips, now you can also adjust the color of your passenger car lighting to get just the right "shade" of warm-white!
I went to look at the auction to see if it stated multicolored and noticed they are now charging $1.99 shipping for the first reel and $1 per additional reel.
I think mine are multicolored! Today I looked at the reels I received and they are different than the one shown on the auction. Mine has a fancy plug with RWGB color wires and a male and female end to connect multisets. Whereas the picture has just a R&B wire. I wonder what these were originally made for?
Sounds like they sent a RGB LED strip. Each LED on your strip has a Red, Blue, and Green LED within it. So you need 4 wires to control the strip...a common, and one wire for each color. In round numbers the RGB LED strips run, say, 5 times the price of single color strips. Of course that's still only about $1 in LEDs to populate a typical passenger car.
The electronics are obviously more complicated since you are drive 3 circuits rather than one. But simple controllers are $1 or so on eBay. You feed 12V DC to the controller and it generates the 3 control signals allowing you to generate any color of the rainbow including warm white, cool white, etc. For a few dollars you can even get a remote control fob to adjust color, adjust brightness, turn on/off, sequence a pattern (used for commercial displays).
It kind of opens a can of worms though. Whereas before the issue was simply how bright to set the LED strips, now you can also adjust the color of your passenger car lighting to get just the right "shade" of warm-white!
Stan, I checked the two reels I bought, and they are the multi-color variety with a four pin connector which is not what I ordered.
I've gone through Ebay today to secure the simple, warm-white they listed for sale and which I ordered.
In the meantime, can you provide some more information (and Ebay links) for what would be needed to make what I have work for the passenger car lighting application?
I don't know exactly which RGB LED strip you have but the two commonly available controller types are as follows. Search eBay for "RGB LED strip controller" and you'll get thousands of listings.
Here's a basic controller that's about $1 free shipping. You apply 12V DC on the red/black wire on the lower-left and attach the 4-wires of your RGB LED strip to the connector on the upper-right. There are tiny button under the markings as shown that allow you to adjust color, brightness and so on. The controller is supposed to remember the setting so the next time you apply 12V DC it should remember your last setting. Obviously for a passenger car application, you need to generate 12V DC from AC track voltage but this chore has been discussed to death on this forum.
A more "sophisticated" controller runs a bit more but should be less than $5 or so. Here you have a remote fob controller with a bunch of buttons to directly set the color rather than (presumably) stepping thru color options in the simple controller above. So the tiny box on the left would go in the passenger car. You feed the box 12V DC and it drives the 4-pin connector on your RGB strip. I don't have one in front of me to confirm, but in theory if you put a white-box receiver in each passenger car you should be able to have one remote fob simultaneously adjust the color/brightness of each passenger car in a consist. And as with the simple controller, the receivers in the passenger car should remember the setting on the next power cycle.
I do not want to recommend a specific listing or product since there are variants of the RGB LED strips and if your seller can't even send you what you ordered it does make one wonder what you actually have!
Stan, thanks for the fast and comprehensive reply.
Multi-colored LED's might be a neat effect.
Are the four-pin male/female connectors readily available; are there specific types? I'm certain I will not use a 300 LED string in one application so adding connectors to LED segments is necessary.
Absolutely! Just search eBay for "RGB LED strip connector" and you should get thousands of choices. There are 4-pin extension cables, 4-pin male, 4-pin female, with wires, without wires, etc. etc.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3528-5...;hash=item27f825802d
I bought this from the same seller. Not 100% sure what I bought but for $2.88 it has the adapter, remote and wallwart. I will report back in a few weeks as to what actually arrives. Looks like the set is cheaper than the parts. Am I reading this right?
Stan2004, thanks for the product description. Checked Ebay and found plenty of choices. I'm working my way through my first LED reel, so I'm not in a rush.
moed321, yes, you're reading it right. For $2.88 could be some fun lighting effects to try out.
I just picked up a couple of these. If all else fails, they'll be great next Christmas.
Carl, the difference is that for conventional operators, the buck only power module doesn't get the lights on until track voltage is around 12 volts, the buck/boost will have them working for almost any reasonable track voltage. As mentioned previously, you have to add a 22uh choke (DCS compatibility), bridge rectifier, and perhaps even some bulk capacitance, though the extra capacitance isn't necessary for light loads.
Pretty good price on those reels, no?
John, I ordered some of the DC-DC buck boost modules you referenced earlier, and already have the 22uh chokes from DigiKey. The price for 5 modules, including shipping, was $11.53. I mention the price because the Ebay seller lists the price per unit in Canadian dollars.
Could you supply the pn's for the rectifier and capacitors (if necessary) you'd recommend for passenger car lighting?
Carl, I recommend my lighting modules, I thought you knew that! 
Oh, OK...
Any generic 1A bridge 50V or greater will work, here's the DF-10G. For capacitors, I use something like this 330uf 50V.
If you shop around, cheaper deals can be had on quantities, sometimes on eBay you can get these for peanuts.
I didn't notice they were low, I'll have to get "on the stick".
Hi Gunner
I ordered 5 of your kits and have installed 3.5 of them. They work fine on DCS track voltage. Saw on the forum that Henning is low. Tried to order 5 more but they are out of stock. You're a good salesman!!!
Tommy
I have all the raw materials, I just have to package more up. I'm getting ready to place another production order, they're starting to move a bit faster.
John, I shot and posted a quick and dirty video showing LED lighting in conventional, variable voltage mode.
Where?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3528-5...;hash=item27f825802d
I bought this from the same seller. Not 100% sure what I bought but for $2.88 it has the adapter, remote and wallwart. I will report back in a few weeks as to what actually arrives. Looks like the set is cheaper than the parts. Am I reading this right?
moed321, yes, you're reading it right. For $2.88 could be some fun lighting effects to try out.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3528-5...;hash=item27f825802d
I bought this from the same seller. Not 100% sure what I bought but for $2.88 it has the adapter, remote and wallwart. I will report back in a few weeks as to what actually arrives. Looks like the set is cheaper than the parts. Am I reading this right?
For $2.88 (300 mult-color LED's, remote module and controller, and wallwort) it will be cheap entertainment if nothing else; hopefully, there is a useful hobby application.
I wonder if they'll send a suitable power adapter...
I wonder if they'll send a suitable power adapter...
Stan, the photo you posted looks the same to my untrained eye as the photo in the Ebay listing above.
I was pondering the following...
This would work European to USA adapter.
http://allelcdn.upshotcommerce.../image/2/2/0/544.Jpg
http://www.allelectronics.com/...-adapter-plug/1.html
Problem fixed. Next problem.
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Hope you're busy assembling more kits since Hennings' website lists only 1 kit in stock.
