Looking for opinions on the Woodland Scenics Just Plug lighting system

The components are very nice- look great, scale etc. but they have to use hair-thin magnet wire to fit inside the posts.  And they are expensive.

I found the "yard lights" very hard to work with- because of the VERY thin wires.  I ruined 2 of 6 of them when the wires broke off or pulled out after I installed on the table as I was getting ready to plug it in.

The magnet wire used is also hard to strip (I know you shouldn't NEED to strip it of you are using the whole system.)  I was not using "the system".  I wired it to the transformer-supplied buss system.

I finally started scratchbuilding my own from brass tubing using RC car "K Lites" as shades.  I use 26 AWG insulated wire- you can even solder your negative to the tubing at the head, and at the base, running the positive red wired down the center. 

We used the Just Plug lighting system to replace the incandescent bulbs in all of our Dept 56 buildings on the layout (over 75) and they work great. Quick set up and you can daisy-chain the hubs together to cut down on the number of power supplies needed to light them. We bought them over time using coupons at Hobby Lobby (40% off) and looked for sales online as they are pricey. We also bought some of the street light sets and they all work well with the exception of the tall (2 pieces) wooden pole set which gives off an anemic amount of light.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably learn how to string LEDs off a transformer and make my own for buildings as it would be far less expensive. I think there are cheaper alternatives. Still, other than the wooden pole street lights, pretty happy with the lights.

Photo shows the lighting in the houses and if you look close you can see an example of a street light in front of the building that is behind the taxi on the left.

I used the system on my Atlas O Roundhouse lighting.  It is not cheap, but it is convenient and easy to hook up.  You get what you pay for.  I like it.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

As has been noted, they are not inexpensive... that being said, they are pretty easy to install (I did not use any of the “lamp post” type lights - only the type used for lighting building interiors). One major feature in their favor is that each light plugs into a separate slot on the hub, and each slot has a knob allowing you to adjust the brightness of the individual led.

It is a great system and I used it 100% of the lighting on my layout.  

They have multiple size and colors of leds to light buildings.  Multiple styles of streetlamps, also exterior wall lamps for buildings.  They now have started releasing lighted vehicles that plug into the system.  Also, for the street lamps, 2 street lamps plug into a single port of the hubs.  So you can get 8 streetlamps per hub.  I never had an issue with the super thin wires and they allow me to put them in places I would not be able to do with regular LED's because wires would be too thick.

A single wall transformer can power up to 50 + lights.  No need for a train transformer to power lighting which I love.

All plug and play.  They sell extension cables too.  It is a complete, well thought out system.  It is not the cheapest but I would not call it super crazy expensive either depending where you purchase the pieces.

For me building a new layout it was perfect.  I replaced all incandescent with LED's in any building without them.  

No fuss, no figuring out how to wire up leds, resistors, etc.  Plus each port on the hubs can control the brightness of the lights on that port, which I found super helpful.

You can put different color leds (bright white, yellow, etc.) in different buildings or even mixed in the same building to give a more realistic look.

We like them and would recommend them as well.

We have used them to replace the incandescent bulbs in all of the buildings on our layout as well as our Department 56 temporary holiday display. The Dept 56 buildings all use one of the stick-on LEDs from WS. We use some of the different color lights in our temporary display at Christmas, but have stuck to the warm and cool white for the most part on our layout. We prefer the warm white for most of them and sprinkle in a few cool white in office and industrial-type buildings. The WS buildings came with LEDs pre-installed and each building may have up to 3 lights connected to a circuit board, so that each building only requires one port on a Light Hub.

We are using more than 150 of the single bulbs in all. As mentioned by others, the components are fairly intuitive and easy to install. The instructions on WS website are fairly clear on all of the components. Customer service at Woodland Scenics is very helpful. We are using the WS power pack to power them.  We have only had one stick on light, one Light Hub, and one Port Extender fail.

We have 30+ street lights on our layout, the double light street lights in one town and the arched cast iron in the other. We like the look of both, realistic and classic. As stated in other posts, the wires are very thin, smaller than 30 gauge and do require some patience to hook up. The lights come with a plug that is added to the bare wires that are attached once you drill through the table. Only one street light had the stripped end break off when we were moving it to a different plug. We tried every wire stripper we had for 30 gauge wire with no success. We called WS customer service and they recommended a fine grit sandpaper. We used 150 grit and gently rubbed the wire across the sandpaper, checking often under a magnifying lamp to verify bare wire.

Have fun!

Mini scene created with their lighted vehicles.

Mooner posted:

We used the Just Plug lighting system to replace the incandescent bulbs in all of our Dept 56 buildings on the layout (over 75) and they work great. Quick set up and you can daisy-chain the hubs together to cut down on the number of power supplies needed to light them. We bought them over time using coupons at Hobby Lobby (40% off) and looked for sales online as they are pricey. We also bought some of the street light sets and they all work well with the exception of the tall (2 pieces) wooden pole set which gives off an anemic amount of light.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably learn how to string LEDs off a transformer and make my own for buildings as it would be far less expensive. I think there are cheaper alternatives. Still, other than the wooden pole street lights, pretty happy with the lights.

Photo shows the lighting in the houses and if you look close you can see an example of a street light in front of the building that is behind the taxi on the left.

I noticed you have the Department 56 Department 56 Diner towards the back in the above photo. So do I. It's one of my favorites. Arnold

I found them to be convenient, and fairly easy to install. also adding more lights has been easy. My only complaint is that when next to a building lit by a bulb, the LED light is cold and harsh. Kind of like comparing an incandescent bulb to a fluorescent bulb. I haven't tried other colors of LED's. That could be a remedy.

JimJohnson posted:

I found them to be convenient, and fairly easy to install. also adding more lights has been easy. My only complaint is that when next to a building lit by a bulb, the LED light is cold and harsh. Kind of like comparing an incandescent bulb to a fluorescent bulb. I haven't tried other colors of LED's. That could be a remedy.

Yeah you probably picked the white light ones.  The ones that give off an amber light give that soft glow.