Wiring Menards building that has been altered

MSP: Most likely going to have to find out what's happening inside the building. It could be as simple as the wires being crossed within.

It seems like all the other wires are a pair consisting of a red and a black. Are there any stray red wires?

Yes everything else is red and black.....no stray wires.....Everything else looks tight.   I got it this way don't know the history

looks like it would take some serious dismantling to get to the wires inside - would be nice if there was easy access....

Which Menards building is this?

Could you elaborate what you mean by "shorts other buildings when using the plug"?

Have you tried plugging in this building by itself with no other buildings or accessories connected to the 4.5 Volt DC power supply?

County Suites Building

I have the menards three outlet adapter....going to the World Headquarters and the Police station....when I plug into this building the other two buildings go dark.  

Yes one straight 4.5 volt plug....nothing happens.

Clearly that is an inverter PCB meant to drive a sign. Now is it factory, or an add on, you say this is a modified building.

The yellow object near the multi wire plug is the high voltage transformer.

Could be the inverter was killed and now is dead shorted.

@msp posted:

County Suites Building

I have the menards three outlet adapter....going to the World Headquarters and the Police station....when I plug into this building the other two buildings go dark.  

Yes one straight 4.5 volt plug....nothing happens.

MSP,

I felt it pertinent to point out that the 3-outlet adapter we carry has a capacity of 2,000 mA. Since the World Headquarters draws nearly 5,000 mA by itself, that may be your problem. For reference, the County Suites draws 1,220 mA, and the Police Plaza draws another 400 mA.

Thank you,
Mark the Menards Train Guy

If you are going to use a lot of Menards buildings, another option is to build a 4.5 volt DC power source.  There are a lot of ways to see how it is done by searching the forum.  I can run as many Menards buildings, flats and signs on my layout since building one from the tech experts' advice on this forum.  And it's not very difficult as long as you follow the directions explicitly.

Mike

Okay so I have tried a single 4.5volt plug going straight to the plug and straight to the wires.  Neither one works.  I guess there is something is just shorted inside ....the inverter I guess.

So the only thing I know to do is put my own lights.    Any reason not  to do this?….Menards 4.5 volt with my lights

Plan to hook up several of these lights and use the 4.5 volt power source

however in my testing the strip lights don’t work.  Have strip lights in a similar application-  didn’t light up a couple sets if strip lighting

MSP: What is the voltage required of your strip lights? They are usually 12 VDC. Your Menards 4.5 VDC power will not be enough for the strips.

Thanks Leo - it is usually the obvious isn’t it

So what i don't understand is there is a very similar strip on the building itself.  And while obviously those work with a 4.5 volt....they look the same as what i have in the pic above.....I realize they are not exactly the same but in my simple electrical mind i would think lights of similar size would use similar power.  

So this is how I fixed it -  so I thought the two black wires were the input but after closer review I saw a vacant  input (not sure what you call it)    So I plugged into that, then directly to the 4.5 volt Menards power source.

not sure what the the two black wires go to - could have been linked to the next building ?   I will just secure them and keep moving

thanks for everyone’s input

Interesting result. Does anyone have an unmolested image of this building wiring? Glad to hear you solved it.

@msp:  So not to start down the rabbit hole, a short explanation of the led strips might help.  Menards uses 5vdc light strips, by design, powered by their 4.5vdc supplies. Your strips, while they may look alike per se, are 12vdc strips, "generally" identified by a resistor for every three leds.  The 5vdc strips, "generally" have a resistor for each led.  The Country hotel building, as you see in the description below takes around 1220mA.(1.22 Amps)  And, has an animated sign on the top front.  So a 1Amp output wall wart may be inadequate(or borderline) to operate this building.  The fine print on the cube of the wall wart plug will tell you the volts dc output.  Does your sign light and animate?  The other wires you speak of may be to power the sign.  Hope this helps somewhat.

@TedW. That does help from an overall view.  Realizing just because they look alike might not mean they are - bottom line there are lots of variables

with respect to Menards the 1000ma power source apparently had just enough to light up the hotel sign and all.  I will go back and pay attention to make sure I have the correct power sources to the appropriate buildings.

wonder why the 3 pronged power source from Menards has max capacity of 2000ma while there is a 1 prong with 5000ma  

@msp posted:

with respect to Menards the 1000ma power source apparently had just enough to light up the hotel sign and all.  I will go back and pay attention to make sure I have the correct power sources to the appropriate buildings.

You may soon find you are running out of outlets by adding wall warts for your lighting needs.  There are inexpensive dc volt power options used by lots of members that would provide enough power for many buildings(leds), if you choose to go that route.