Platform and Street Lights

[weave]

Hi guys.

Hope I'm not interfering with your thread Port Perran but thought my questions might help you too.

Thankyou for keeping it simple (ish). Got a better idea of what to do but

1. Leo1961... The 'chock block' connector things come in different ampage so which ones?

2. You lost me on the potentiometer thing. Googled it and still prob need another picture in crayon! 

Thanks guys for help and any more gratefully appreciated.

PS Have a Gaugemaster Model D controller sort of spare as have gone Kato. It has 12 volt DC and 16 volt AC 'holes'.  Presume the 12 volt DC as mentioned but you could always confuse me further with what the 16 volt AC is for!? 

Cheers weave.

[port perran]

So.......forgive me for being stupid but.......if I have an old set of Christmas lights, can I cut off the lights just after the transformer (is that what it's called?) then join my street lights to the cut off bit of wire, will it work ?
And.....I'll add an on/off switch as well .

[Leo1961]

Hi guys.

Hope I'm not interfering with your thread Port Perran but thought my questions might help you too.

Thankyou for keeping it simple (ish). Got a better idea of what to do but

1. Leo1961... The 'chock block' connector things come in different ampage so which ones?

2. You lost me on the potentiometer thing. Googled it and still prob need another picture in crayon! 

Thanks guys for help and any more gratefully appreciated.

PS Have a Gaugemaster Model D controller sort of spare as have gone Kato. It has 12 volt DC and 16 volt AC 'holes'.  Presume the 12 volt DC as mentioned but you could always confuse me further with what the 16 volt AC is for!? 

Cheers weave.

1. Given that you will probably be dealing with small quantities of lamps it won't matter which connector blocks you use as even the smallest are rated at a higher current than you will be dealing with 

2. Potentiometer is just the proper name for a variable resistor,  which as it name implies varies the resistance, and therefore the current flowing through the circuit.  This just means as the current varies so does the brightness of the lamps in the circuit.

In the image below you would just connect the middle tab with either of the outer tabs, so you now have two connection points.  Then you use this to replace the switch and by twiddling the part that rotates it will raise or lower the brightness of the bulbs. 



As for your controller, the 16 volt A.C. is for operating items such as point solenoids or signals 

[weave]

So.......forgive me for being stupid but.......if I have an old set of Christmas lights, can I cut off the lights just after the transformer (is that what it's called?) then join my street lights to the cut off bit of wire, will it work ?
And.....I'll add an on/off switch as well .

Great question. Seriously, great question although I'm worried that I might meet you in the afterlife after both blowing ourselves to bits!!

[Leo1961]

So.......forgive me for being stupid but.......if I have an old set of Christmas lights, can I cut off the lights just after the transformer (is that what it's called?) then join my street lights to the cut off bit of wire, will it work ?
And.....I'll add an on/off switch as well .

With the disclaimer that you are an adult and therefore ultimately responsible for your own actions, then yes 

The real way to do all of the 'electrickery' stuff is to have a multi-meter so that you can check the voltages are in the right ballpark before you start connecting anything of value to the power supply 

[NeMo]

So.......forgive me for being stupid but.......if I have an old set of Christmas lights, can I cut off the lights just after the transformer (is that what it's called?) then join my street lights to the cut off bit of wire, will it work ?

The safe answer is no. While a transformer that produces 12 V sounds as if it'd be suitable for powering any sort of 12 V component or device, we're ignoring current (and by extension, wattage, or the "work done" by the component or device).

In brief (as a physics teacher rather than an electrician) different devices draw different currents, and the bigger the current, the greater the work done (watts = amps x volts). Needless to say, the more work that's done, the more energy is being converted from electricity into something else per second, and that in turns means more heat is being produced as well. So a 12 V transformer rated at, for example, 1 amp would be overload (and would fail, melt or even explode) if forced to draw a current of 2 amps or 5 amps or whatever.

LEDs are pretty efficient and tend to draw very little current, but ordinary bulbs are the opposite, very inefficient and produce lots of heat in the process. A transformer designed for a bunch of LEDs wouldn't be a good choice for use on ordinary bulbs which would likely draw a lot more current.

Cheers, NeMo

[scotsoft]

I may not be reading this correctly but all you need is this wiring, in the picture, connected to a 12V supply.



cheers John.

There seems to be a problem showing pictures, I shall report it 

[daveg]

John, yup; your pic isn't loading.

Pls try again hoping it's a temp glitch. 

Dave G

[trkilliman]

I have a Morley Vesta twin track controller.

It has a 12 volt uncontrolled outlet. What does this mean with regard to platform and street lights please?

[Leo1961]

I have a Morley Vesta twin track controller.

It has a 12 volt uncontrolled outlet. What does this mean with regard to platform and street lights please?

It means you should be able to power them from this source with no problems

The usual caveats apply with regard to common sense being the over-riding guidance on such matters 

[port perran]

It means you should be able to power them from this source with no problems


What happens if this isn't the case?
What are the likely problems ?

[daveg]

I'm planning to use these for my lighting circuits.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-MAINS-POWER-ADAPTOR-300MA/dp/B003BEZ7HI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1388264195&sr=8-5&keywords=transformer+adapter

Dave G

[Leo1961]

It means you should be able to power them from this source with no problems


What happens if this isn't the case?
What are the likely problems ?

If the current is insufficient then the bulbs will be very dim. 

[ozzie Bill.]

port, get a 9v battery and put one wire on the + sign and the other wire on the - sign. that should light the lights, albeit dimly, just to test. If all ok, then wire them to the 12v outlet on your DC transformer. Then you can put a simple on/off switch into one of the wires ( the wire from the + side) so you can control night and day! 
A potentiometer is a way of sending more or less power to the lights, a dimmer switch if you like.
Cheers, Bill.

[EtchedPixels]

For 12v bulbs I try and use abou a 9v smoothed supply as that makes the bulbs last longer.

Alan