These buildings originally have C7 7 watt incandecent bulbs in them and lamp cord supply at 120V. I have changed out the bulbs to C7 led at 120V 0.4 watts. Can I cut the lamp cord and use 24-26awg wire for better flexibility in routing these wires around the layout? Is the 120V still too much for that size wire even at very low wattage? Thx in advance for the advice.
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There’s not much amperage for these LED’s however 24-26 wire is very very small for plugging in to 120 VAC. Try google to find minimum recommended for 120 Volt. I would not use it. Hopefully a licensed electrician can comment.
So, using a water analogy, am I trying to run a fire hydrant volume through a garden hose?
romiller49 posted:There’s not much amperage for these LED’s however 24-26 wire is very very small for plugging in to 120 VAC. Try google to find minimum recommended for 120 Volt. I would not use it. Hopefully a licensed electrician can comment.
At first I'm thinking this is the same concept Estes uses to ignite rocket motors, then again how thin are the wires in a Christmas light string?
OK Ted- you got me. I would not recommend anything less than a 18 gauge zip cord type wire if you are going to plug them directly into a wall receptacle. The short circuit protection is going to be 15 amps minimum at the panel. If the wire is rated for 300 volts max then add a small in-line fuse to protect against shorts. If the wire is rated below 300 volts then I would not recommend using it as you propose.
Hope this helps.
Bob
How many buildings are involved? Are you committed (you already purchased) to the 120V AC C7 bulbs?
Wondering if the back door is open to switching to low-voltage 12V DC C7 LED bulbs. Not sure you can beat a buck-a-bulb but just asking...
Makes sense. The plug for the building already has a 5A fuse in place, so I guess I’ll just deal with the lamp cord. Can I solder the wires for three or four 7 watt bulbs together to at least give em just one plug?
stan2004 posted:How many buildings are involved? Are you committed (you already purchased) to the 120V AC C7 bulbs?
Wondering if the back door is open to switching to low-voltage 12V DC C7 LED bulbs. Not sure you can beat a buck-a-bulb but just asking...
Yeah, already have the bulbs. Little better deal at Menards 
Will have three buildings total. Three bulbs. Have hooked one of these bulbs up to 12VAC from accessory side of CW80. They work, but not quite bright enough, and I don’t notice much if any difference at track power.
TedW posted:Makes sense. The plug for the building already has a 5A fuse in place, so I guess I’ll just deal with the lamp cord. Can I solder the wires for three or four 7 watt bulbs together to at least give em just one plug?
I don't see any problem with doing this.
Bob
RSJB18 posted:TedW posted:Makes sense. The plug for the building already has a 5A fuse in place, so I guess I’ll just deal with the lamp cord. Can I solder the wires for three or four 7 watt bulbs together to at least give em just one plug?
I don't see any problem with doing this.
Bob
Thx for the help. What’s the worse that can happen? 
I know I would not wire all 3 together.
Be careful when using 120 V wiring on a layout where most of the wiring is low voltage from the transformer for trains and accessories. You need a foolproof way of recognizing one from the other when working on wiring. This would be even more difficult if you use lighter gauge wiring for those 120 V lights.
Choose a very conspicuous color for the 120 V wires, tag them clearly as high V, and run them well away from any low voltage wiring.
All electrical codes require that any 120 V wire connections be contained in a standard electrical junction box (for very important reasons!). Think of the reaction of an electrical (or fire!) inspector if he saw two household lamps with their respective wires soldered together and run to a single plug. What you are proposing is really the same thing.
Using those 12 V bulbs and keeping all layout wiring low voltage is really the way to go.
Jim
I have been using these C-7 bulbs for my christmas light show, I buy the spt-1 wire by the 500 ft role and sockets and make up my own strings, I never even thought about using them on my layout da,
. I have some strings that have 100 bulbs and they plug into my 110 control boxes. This year I will have about 15,000 lights.
The issue I see with splicing several cords together is a biggie, that the cords will no longer be U.L. listed. In the event of a fire, if the layout wiring is determined to be at fault, your insurance may not pay.
After considering my options, I chose the Dept. 56 low voltage lighting system, cat. no. 56.53500. You may be looking for an economical solution which I admit this isn't (but please read my whole post), but it eliminates the risks of using modified 120-volt light cords. The kit comes with a power supply, a low-voltage distribution strip, and nine light cords in three lengths, with bulbs. The wiring is thin and the small plugs pass through a small hole in your layout. Currently the set retails for $95, but they can be had on the 'bay for less if you're willing to shop around. Some sellers offer gently used ones for about half that. Lemax has a large enough market share that it may offer a similar system; I haven't checked.
The only downside I can see with the Dept. 56 system is that the 3-volt bulbs aren't as bright as C7 night light bulbs. I will admit, since I already wrote about this in another thread, that I got around that by doing away with the original power supply and using spade lugs to connect the distribution strip to the 5-volt terminals of my vintage 1033 transformer. Yes, this way the bulbs will operate at more than 3 volts, but I have a hunch that as designed they're operating under their rated voltage, because I have yet to have one burn out. If you're handy with soldering, you could make your own distribution strip because the light cords and bulb are available as separate-purchase items for $15 for a set of three. Or you could simply splice the low-voltage cords, and do away with the distribution strip. I used the strip because I already had it. The Dept. 56 part number for one of the separate light cord sets is 56.53598; there may be others.
I hope this helps.
Well, I just bagged the whole 120VAC scenario on these Lemax buildings. Instead I used some leftover led strips glued to some square wood stock, glued to a masonite disk and hooked em up to accessory power. Will hold them in with hot glue probably. 6 led was too much IMO, so used 5. Might fine tune the color with some paint, but they look OK for now. Could put a bridge rectifier inline to change to DC but not sure if it’s necessary.
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