Building and street lighting solutions?

[POLO]

Hello,

I am planning on my layout with the viaduct station and other tall Japanese buildings around a unitram and was curious what has been a nice lighting solution for the buildings?

I have seen nice success with the woodland scenics lighting systems on HO, but I am not sure how well it will do in N scale buildings. I think the independent dimmable light control in their hubs could work, but wondering what others had success with?

 

Also I was googling street post lighting for the unitram city setup, and it was overwhelmed with China sourced lights on eBay. They look decent, but again wondering what others had success with?

Also any tips for the small gauge wire management?

 

I failed one Christmas temp G scale layout street lights wiring with their ~28 gauge wire being so delicate.  I was trying to do plug and play with the Marklin male and female plugs with set screws, but that didn't work well at all.

 

Thank you for your help!

[Madsing]

I am using various kinds of LEDs and LED strips, all "low cost", purchased from AliExpress. This is a very flexible option, as there is a huge variety of LED sizes and colors available, but you must be able to solder wires directly to the LEDs. Reading your post, that may be what you are trying to avoid, I am not sure.

My system is described here: 

Feel free to ask any question!

 

[POLO]

25 minutes ago, Madsing said:

I am using various kinds of LEDs and LED strips, all "low cost", purchased from AliExpress. This is a very flexible option, as there is a huge variety of LED sizes and colors available, but you must be able to solder wires directly to the LEDs. Reading your post, that may be what you are trying to avoid, I am not sure.

My system is described here: 

Feel free to ask any question!

 

 

Nope, that is perfect! thank you!

[cteno4]

Polo,

 

yes some of the chinese lights on ebay are decent and a lot easier than rolling your own. But make sure to get a small batch first to make sure it’s what you want before you buy a bundle. This just takes a month for shipping...

 

yeah the fine 28 or 30g wires don’t work in most terminal blocks, even the mini pb board ones. You can use ic sockets to shove the wires in (you need to tin them first) for a removable connection. You may also want to use your own resistors and turn the leds down. These usually have inline resistors for 12v at full 20ma and can be quite bright, best to experiment and find the best ma to run them at so they are not all mini suns. Also better to use 5v power for these as with 12v you are just burning over 3/4 the power as heat. 5v power supplies are ubiquitous now.

 

Jeff

[POLO]

1 hour ago, Madsing said:

I am using various kinds of LEDs and LED strips, all "low cost", purchased from AliExpress. This is a very flexible option, as there is a huge variety of LED sizes and colors available, but you must be able to solder wires directly to the LEDs. Reading your post, that may be what you are trying to avoid, I am not sure.

My system is described here: 

Feel free to ask any question!

 

 

Also, are there any keywords or links to LED lights and/or street lights from Aliexpress that work well? 

 

Edited February 1, 2020 by POLO

[Madsing]

These are the links to the LEDs and lamp posts that I have used:

 

20pcs 1:150 Model Railway Train Lamp Post Model Layout N Scale LEDs Miniature Architectural LQS06 6cm

Lamp posts. Look nice. Very easy to install as the wires are not too thin.

Example:

 

 

C0402 40pcs Pre-soldered micro 0.1mm Copper Wired 0402 SMD Led Different Colors RED ORANGE BLUE YELLOW GREEN

Very small, very difficult to assemble, very difficult to solder. Only use when necessary.

Example (under the roof, above the trucks):

 

 

Y1-4 1:300 10pcs SCALE MODEL RAILWAY STREET LEDS LAMPPOSTS/LIGHTS

Lamp posts. Look nice. Very easy to install as the wires are not too thin.

Example:

 

 

New 5M SMD 3014 3mm 90ledS/M 450LEDs Super bright Led Strip Light Fridge lights DC12V white/ Warm White/Natural White/Ice blue

Led strip. Quite narrow (3mm). Can be cut every 3 LEDs. Solder small wires.

Example:

 

02-66 100pcs/LOT 2X3X4 square LED Transparent White light-emitting diode (square)

Very easy solder. For whole rooms inside buildings.