# Lighting Passenger cars



## chucka (Mar 20, 2013)

I thought I could throw a couple of questions out to the group to get a little guidance. I want to light passenger cars using battery power. I have some of the "warm white" LEDs from Christmas lights that I intend to use. 

My questions are:

As I intend to run them in a strip along the roof, what is the preferred wiring scheme--series or parallel? Also, how should I space them from each other. I know I can wire some up and do some experimenting, but if experienced people have done this already and have come to a good plan, I can just go with it.

Thanks,

Chuck


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

Bulbs are usually wired in parallel. This means that each bulb sees the fill voltage of the power source, and they draw the current of an individual bulb multiplied by the number of bulbs. (This is how full size lighting is done, including your home, car, etc.)

Series wiring allows to power low voltage bulbs from a high voltage source without a transformer. For instance, five volt LED's could be power from 120 volt house circuits by connecting 24 bulbs in series. Although slightly cheaper (no transformer), the downside is a single failed bulb kills the entire circuit. 

I would only use series if you happen to already have both bulbs and batteries, and the batteries are higher voltage than the bulbs.

I'd probably use two bulbs in a short car, and three or four in a long one. Whatever looks good to you is fine, here.


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## chucka (Mar 20, 2013)

Big Red

Thanks for the reply. I will go with parallel and plan on using 14.8 volt battery packs. So, i know i will need to use resistors. Is it a better practice to use a separate resistor with each LED?

I also have accucraft and bachmann cars so i will see what combination works well, maybe 3 in the bachman and 4 in the accucraft.

thanks again,

Chuck


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## dbodnar (Jan 2, 2008)

chucka said:


> Big Red
> 
> Thanks for the reply. I will go with parallel and plan on using 14.8 volt battery packs. So, i know i will need to use resistors. Is it a better practice to use a separate resistor with each LED?
> 
> ...


Chuck - you may want to look over the article on my web page that discusses just what you are planning.

http://www.trainelectronics.com/LED_Articles_2007/LEDs_for_Coaches/index.htm

If you are going with 14.8 volts wiring in series may be a better option.

dave


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

All the led christmas lights I have seen have the bulbs wired in series.
Other wise each bulb would have to have a resistor dropping 117 volts which at 10 ma would give 1.17 watts of heat, times 300 bulbs would amount to a small heater!!!!!
Great on gutters for melting ice and snow here in the northeast.
Even the light strips I see on E-bay have leds in series, and sets of 3 would be in parallel. for 12 volt operation.

The higher the voltage (battery or track power) the more lights that can be placed in series to keep the current as low as possible.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

My Business Car has 4 LEDs from a Christmas string, wired in parallel. (One is on the second pin of the switch - it is in the bathroom so it only gets added if you flip the switch right instead of left. Parallel operation lets you add lights that way.)

A small 9V battery will run the lights for quite a while if it is only used occasionally for 3 or 4 LEDs. I put one in the cupboard or toilet compartment. Bachmann coaches have a compartment underneath (?).

Accucraft cars have 5V bulbs and a 5V regulator so you can use any battery you like as long as it puts out more than 5V. (try googling "accucraft coach lighting".)


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## bdp3wsy (Mar 14, 2008)

Chucka, I us the below string lights in my Aristo Heavyweigths. I put the timer/battery pack on the bottom of the car. Hit the button and the lights stay on for 6 hours. I have been using the same batteries for almost 9 months. And at only $10 a car these are great. They are warm white, so the color is correct for a heavyweight and the string is 60" enough to go back and forth on the roof 2x. Note I also paint the interior roof white to help spread the light and on some cars l block off the colestoral lights to give some cars a different look. It also looks cool when a train is in a siding all the lights stay lit and there is no flicker while running. Jack 

http://www.amazon.com/Everlasting-Micro-Light-String-Electric/dp/B004NEJ2L2ng


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## chucka (Mar 20, 2013)

Gentlemen,

Thanks for all the input.

Dave, your site was really informative. Great info, laid out clearly with great supporting photos and diagrams. Thanks for directing me there.

Dan, I needed your ice-melting advice earlier this winter. Chicago had one of the worst in history and anything else that could have "heated" things up would have been more than welcome.

Pete, thanks for letting me know about the accucraft cars. I have not opened any of them up as of yet and I might just try and light what is there before removing any lights and replacing them.

bdp3wsy, thanks for the recommendation from Amazon. The link you posted did not get me there but searching on the Amazon site for "Everlasting micro light string" got me to the item. I order stuff from Amazon all of the time and I am going to grab a couple of these and see how they do.

Thanks again everyone! One little question brought many suggestions and different ways to approach the idea. Now, I also have some cabooses that could use some illuminating attention as well and various plans to get that done.

Chuck


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

ChuckA, when I stayed in a hotel in Canada they had the bulb type lights on the gutters for melting the ice.

I have used the bulb type of rope lights to melt ice in my wall when a pipe froze, saved me from tearing down the wall. I just removed the electrical outlet and drilled a hole through the side and fed the rope in the wall.
wall was warm to the touch after 2 hours and water flowed once again.


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