What to use to power buildings and lights?

The MTH Z4000 accessory taps are not sufficient for your load. One of the train throttles would be. I use a 12 volt outdoor lighting transformer for accessory lighting. A 100 watt toy train transformer may be enough. Consider converting buildings to LED lighting.

Dale H

I use a Lionel "V" transformer for accessories. I get four variable taps so every thing from lights to the drumloader to the milk car can all have their different voltages. They are not very expensive, either. I also use an older 12VDC power supply for lights which works well for both incandescent and LED lights.
John

quote:

Originally posted by Dale H:
I use a 12 volt outdoor lighting transformer for accessory lighting. Dale H

Dale...is there a minimum wattage of these transformers that should be considered? Can they be used "as is" to wire accessories? Are there any electrical safety precautions that need to be made/considered prior to using?

Thanks,
Rick

I use 3 Hampton Bay 600 watt ones for outdoor lighting. I bought these way back very cheap with a heads up from Jim Barrett of the forum here. Actually they are 2, 300 watt transformers in a package with 2 circuits. What I did was divide each 300 watt circuit into 2, 10 amp circuits each and installed a fuse on each feed. Thus each 600 watt transformers has 4, 10 amp circuits 120 watts each. This keeps maximum draw on the transformers to 80% of the rating. The breakers on my units are excellent and will trip before the 10 amp line fuses. The reason for dividing it into 4 is to keep the bus wire size down to 14 or 16 gauge and to make tracing of shorts easier. In fact it is a good idea to make a lot of the connections with barrier strips so sub circuits can be traced easier. A common return can be made out of Romex house wire. Shown here

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/Bl...d=432&categoryId=426

For smaller layouts size transformers according to needs. To answer the question a 150 watt outdoor one could run one circuit if a 16 gauge but preferable a 14 gauge bus is used and the breaker would protect it without an additional fuse. I still would add a fuse,would not hurt. The larger bus size lessens voltage drop. For toy train transformers,I think anything 75 watts or more is useful. Size wiring accordingly and consider voltage drop if you have long runs. Definitely add a fuse or breaker with PW type. Low voltage does not mean thin gauge wire,in fact it means the opposite for the same load and more voltage drop.. Even lesser ones can be used to make DC circuits for LEDs. Just add a 10 amp or more bridge rectifier. Hook the 2 transformer leads to the 2 AC terminals on the bridge. You can share the common bus by simply hooking one of the output leads such as the - to the common bus if used so then you need only one wire bus for the + DC output. Color code this to avid confusion. If fact color code all your wiring.

With outdoor lighting going to LEDs,more and more these type of outdoor lighting transformers described may be getting a little rarer in use.

A last point is that there was controversy as to whether these outdoor lighting transformers were suitable for indoor use. Mine are stamped "for indoor and outdoor use" These units have photo cells which can be bypassed with a manual switch. Mine do cause interference on the AM radio band,so if you listen to Rush Limbaugh you may have to turn it off to do it.

Dale H

Dale...good info. Thank you.

Rick

Dale maybe my math aint so good but how do you get 10 Amps out of 600 watts?

Using the Ol rule of thumb 1 amp is 100 watts that would be 6 amps give or take a little total?

I have a couple of those transformers and I think they're 1200 watts total not sure I'll have to look . I do know they're dual output.

David

4, 10 amp circuits at 12 volts. 480 watts which is 80% of the rated output.

Dale H

quote:

Originally posted by Dale H:
4, 10 amp circuits at 12 volts. 480 watts which is 80% of the rated output.

Dale H

Oop's,

The old guy had a temporary brain fart. I was thinking 120 volts your right sorry.

David

I got a brand new ATX power supply off ebay for seven bucks. I will modify it for lights and relay activated accessories. The "how to" is posted on the J&C Studios O Scale Archive.

Pete

You may want to keep an eye on e bay and your other sources for ham radio power supply's. These things are 12 volt and are regulated so it doesn't matter what the house voltage is they'll always put out 12 volts DC.
they're continuous duty so they can handle long hours of run time.

I've got one 20 amp and one 60 amp supply but the 60 needs 240 volts.
I think the 120 volt ones go up to 30 Amps.

Point is a lot of ham's are dying off and not a lot of people are taking up that hobby . May be a way to get your hands on a huge power supply cheap.


David

The PC power supply is probably the best Bang for the Buck in aux power supplies. I've pressed a couple into service for other uses, I can see that they would be useful for accessories and lighting. The bonus is no diodes for your LED lighting.

gunrunnerjohn,

I was just about to post the same thing. I saw an old computer down in our trash room and pulled out the power supply. I think it will provide 280 watts and has connections for multiple voltages - +12V, -12V, 5V, 3.3V. Nice if you need the lower voltages for something.

There is a how to on the JC Studios Archive - that's what inspired my dumpster diving!

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=222

And I have also found other tutorials out on the net. Seems like they are popular for benchtop power supplies for electronics tinkering since they supply regulated power.

I have been wanting to try hooking it up to an On30 train to see how it works running them, but I am too nervous that I will short something!

Phil

Note that for most PC power supplies, either the +5V or the +12V must have a load or the supply won't run. A couple of amps seems to do for either case.

quote:

Note that for most PC power supplies, either the +5V or the +12V must have a load or the supply won't run. A couple of amps seems to do for either case.

So, would having something like a light connected would do the trick? I guess it could be a power indicator.

Phil

Note that the 12V output is usually only a modest portion of the total PC supply wattage. Most of the power is intended for the motherboard at 5V and/or 3.3V.

Dale,

I didn't know that - thanks for pointing it out.

I just checked mine and it looks like the 12V supply is 108 watts while the 5V and 3.3V combined are 180 watts. The total power is 288 watts.

Phil

quote:

Originally posted by Dale Manquen:
Note that the 12V output is usually only a modest portion of the total PC supply wattage. Most of the power is intended for the motherboard at 5V and/or 3.3V.

That would be wrong for ATX supplies. By far the largest draw is from the +12 volt side.

I have a 400W unit here that's in the closet, from the label.

+5V @ 30A, 160W
+12V @ 20A, 240W

That's the norm for any modern ATX P/S as the MB uses 12V to run the on-board switcher for the process or power. Also, most modern video boards get 12V to run their switching supplies for the graphics processor.

Older AT supplies favored the +5V or +3.3V as that's what was in use at the time.