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Need Help Wiring Model Railroad Street Lights
Michael asks:
“Hi everyone. I have a model car display that I purchased HO scale Lionel streetlights to add some ambience. I am not a train guy or an electricity guy. The lights ask for 6 -18v DC power supply (they also come with resisters). My question is there a way to use a phone charger (says up to 3A) and its cable (stripped to individual wires) to power these lights? I already tried once, hooking the black-to-black and red-to-red wires for one light (no resistors), and plugging it in did nothing. Is this a fool’s approach that just will not work? Thanks for any advice.”
Disclaimer: Any answers or suggestions submitted by others are comments only, and any matters relating to electricity should always be checked by experts with qualifications in matters relating to electricity.
4 Responses to Need Help Wiring Model Railroad Street Lights
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It’s unlikely that a phone charger will work. You say that the lights ask for 6-18 volts and most phone chargers only put out 5 volts. Technically, you could use a 9 volt battery, with resistors to adjust the brightness, to power a few lights. (I can’t say how many since I don’t know what power they each draw.) Other than that, power supplies are easily available online.
A power plug (aka wall wart) that has a 12 volt DC output should work fine. They can be found online or at most thrift stores for cheap. Wire the lights in parallel : red wires to the red lead and black wires to the black lead. As Dale stated; the resistors can be used to lower the brightness of the lamps.
One other thought: Since the lamps came with resistors ( one for each lamp?) are they LEDs and not incandesent bulbs? If in doubt, check with your local hobby shop or contact Lionel to find out. For LEDs the resistors MUST be wired in series with the lights, between the light and the lead, to lower the current and prevent burning out the LED.
You could also wire an on/off toggel switch into a lead wire to turn off the power without having to unplug the wart.
most lights that are for train use are able to run off of the dc terminals of the train transformer with no problems. Or you can use separate transformer. always find as much information about the lights from the instructions such as volts and amps and when the resistor is to be used. The most important fact is the voltage the amperage is a variable that is controlled by the resistors. When a transformer says 3 amps that means that it can handle 3 amps of load before it will burn out not that it has a full 3 amps output. hopes this helps.
I run my lights from the track to a switch, then to a resistor before the lights. (Positive + side) 1K