I can do a little bit of everything in this hobby except wiring. I'm totally lost when it comes to wiring my track and I need my boy friend to wire the lighting for my buildings. I want to learn how to do this myself or at least some of it, but I don't know where to start. Can anyone suggest a good book or web site I can go to? Helpless female :disapointed:
From the work we've seen you produce, I'd sincerely doubt that you are helpless. Kalmbach Publishing has how-to books. You might look at their site: http://www.kalmbachstore.com/modeltrains-railroading-model-railroading-books.html Boxcab E50
Helpless, I doubt that. Here are a couple of websites Candy http://www.building-your-model-railroad.com/model-railroad-wiring-2.html http://www.nmra.org/beginner/wiring.html http://www.amazon.com/Model-Railroad-Wiring-Second-Railroader/dp/0890243492 http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-wire-your-model-railroad-track-236497/ http://railroadman.wordpress.com/2007/04/11/dont-be-intimidated-by-all-the-wiring/ http://www.thestorefinder.com/rr/library/rrbeginner.html Google "model railroad wiring" to find a bunch more Gary
Though you only have a single module you might want to check on wiring for DCC just in case you head that way.
I just have a single module but my boy friend wired the entire thing including the lighting. Thanks to you all I've found some good sites and I'm learning. THANK YOU ALL! slainte Candy
It just takes some playing. Most wiring is done parallel. With the loads such as lights having each side connected to each side of the power supply with the load rated to handle the full voltage of the power supply. Try it, with a model streetlight etc, with an unused power supply, connecting each side to a different terminal screw on the aux side of a power pack. Turn on the power supply, and it should light. Now add on another light, just like the 1st. It should light just like the 1st. You should be able to repeat this, until it starts dimming the lights, which depends on the amps your power supply puts out.
My boy friend said amps are like moving water in a pipe...the more water you want the bigger the pipe has to be. He said the more amps you want the bigger the wire has to be..and he said volts are like the pressure from a water pump...the more volts the more pressure. Does this sound right? I can picture it.
A crude but accurate way of picturing it. Amps are the flow of electrons in the wire. More amps means more electrons are flowing through the wire at a given point in a given time. To get more amps through the wire, you need bigger wire, because bigger wire has less resistance to the flow of electrons and that way you won't be wasting power heating up the wire. Volts is just that - how much push there is behind the electrons. But it's a little more than that. Read up in the sites mentioned and you'll get the basics. Have fun!
[Oops! Mike snuck in there. ] That is correct. Think of Amps as actually doing the work and aways equate to flow in water. No flow, no work. Volts is the potential to do work, but doesn't have to and won't unless the amps are flowing. Think of a water tank on the top of a roof. If it's full of water, you can release it and do some work with the water (say using). But if it's empty, then you can't any work even if you open the valve. Also, if it's full but you don't release the valve, then it has a lot of potential to do work but it's not doing it since the water is not flowing.
Best start is a battery, a flashlight bulb, and two wires. If you can make that work, you're golden - basically, it's all the same principle from there, and a matter of reading the values on the power supply/bulbs/resistors and putting the right pieces together. for instance, you might need a resister in series with a low voltage bulb, to prevent blowing the bulb up [1.5v bulb on a 12 v circuit, for example.]
Thanks everyone. Jimmy has left a lot of stuff so I can do some reading and experimenting tonight. Now back to work before I get caught ! slainte!
let there be light Okay, don't laugh at me...this is important to me. Last night I sucessfully connected three 12 volt lamps and a switch to my power unit and it worked!!! I didn't blow out anything !... HAPPY GIRL !
:thumbs_up::thumbs_up::thumbs_up::thumbs_up: I knew you could do it. Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gary
Max got hugs and kisses! Congrats Maybe color and boldface will get me some of those! LOL!!! Candy, women can do anything they put their mind to. We all learn the same way. Gender makes no difference!
Just like when I was learning to cook or sew, I just had to put my mind to it. As said above Gender makes no difference. The more you learn the better you are. Don't be afraid that you might make an error, because we all do. Gary
