I use a Nano with four shift registers for 32 individually addressable LED's per nano. I used an 8 port ethernet junction box as the housing and the ports for the wiring. But I love seeing all the creative ideas and solutions! Good stuff.
Great tutorial. Enjoying watching your tutorials on all the layouts. There are 2 main things to keep in mind if people are using LED's on their layout for lighting. It's better to have each individual LED have its own resistor. I have seen multiple LED's running on a shared common resistor, but this can cause the resistor to get quite warm in use. The other thing is to make a choice of common annode (positive) or common cathode (negative) wiring. It makes life a lot easier if you stick to one standard way to wire things. I noticed you had a common cathode setup, which is probably the more common way to do it, but either way works :) On the voltage thing. 12V bus is better, then use a resistor to drop for your LED's at the LED as there will be less voltage drop on the 12V bus. If you use a 5V bus for your LED's you need a thicker wire to prevent the voltage drop, which will make it harder to hide the wiring on the layout.
This is an idea I have had for a long time but am not ready to start working on it as yet. It is good to find someone with great ideas, especially working ideas. I will look into your method closer later on in my build and am sure to implement most of it as you have shown it. Job well done 😁👍
I would use neopixel LEDs. They are daisy chained with just 3 wires. Power plus data. You can control individual brightness, colour and timing with an Arduino. I currently use them for a lightning cloud with sound above my club module.
@@ModelRailroadTechniques I don't have one yet for buildings but would probably base it off of this you tube video but using a nano instead of a trinklet. th-cam.com/video/k8iCOa0slXo/w-d-xo.html
I am contemplating how to use the Arduino to have light control and sound based on the arrival at a station, or to turn-on for different regions of the layout. So, I am trying to determine whether to use a central Arduino with multiple I/O wires or distributed Arduinos with a power bus and signal wires. I will study your DCC control video to better understand that option. Thak you for the insights.
Depending on your amp requirements for the lights, an array of mosfets should be able to handle the lights cheaper / smaller than a bunch of relays. You can also use an i2c i/o expander to convert a couple of arduinos pins into 8 or more outputs if you have a lot of lights to operate. You should really be able to combine both arduinos into one.
Interesting. I had a bunch of cheap relays hence their use. I would be open to put all sketches on one arduino. I wouldn’t know where to start with that. Any suggestions would be 🙏
This is what I have been wanting for the last 3 years for my Epoche 2 German n gauge layout. Do you have any plans to make this commercially available? I do not have the experience to follow your very knowledgable tutorial. Thanks Alan.
1. Is this sort of system you would use? 2. Is there a better way for me to do this? 3. Is there a way you may further customize my system ? Thanks for commenting
I use a Nano with four shift registers for 32 individually addressable LED's per nano. I used an 8 port ethernet junction box as the housing and the ports for the wiring. But I love seeing all the creative ideas and solutions! Good stuff.
Great ideas. I need to get myself a sketch for the nanos. Cheers
Great tutorial. Enjoying watching your tutorials on all the layouts. There are 2 main things to keep in mind if people are using LED's on their layout for lighting. It's better to have each individual LED have its own resistor. I have seen multiple LED's running on a shared common resistor, but this can cause the resistor to get quite warm in use. The other thing is to make a choice of common annode (positive) or common cathode (negative) wiring. It makes life a lot easier if you stick to one standard way to wire things. I noticed you had a common cathode setup, which is probably the more common way to do it, but either way works :)
On the voltage thing. 12V bus is better, then use a resistor to drop for your LED's at the LED as there will be less voltage drop on the 12V bus. If you use a 5V bus for your LED's you need a thicker wire to prevent the voltage drop, which will make it harder to hide the wiring on the layout.
Thanks for your great advice as always. My lighting was all retro fitted. A number of years ago. Definitely looking into better ways moving forward
This is an idea I have had for a long time but am not ready to start working on it as yet. It is good to find someone with great ideas, especially working ideas. I will look into your method closer later on in my build and am sure to implement most of it as you have shown it. Job well done 😁👍
Thank you very much. I love experimenting. Let me know what you think when you get going. Cheers
Very good You and I think along the same lines
I would use neopixel LEDs. They are daisy chained with just 3 wires. Power plus data. You can control individual brightness, colour and timing with an Arduino. I currently use them for a lightning cloud with sound above my club module.
Great ideas. I have been experimenting with these. Watch this space. Do you have a link to a sketch you are using?
@@ModelRailroadTechniques I don't have one yet for buildings but would probably base it off of this you tube video but using a nano instead of a trinklet. th-cam.com/video/k8iCOa0slXo/w-d-xo.html
@@allanandsherralynne starting an area from scratch. Great idea. My town was retro fitted as I has old bulbs too. Mixture of the both is the way to go
I am contemplating how to use the Arduino to have light control and sound based on the arrival at a station, or to turn-on for different regions of the layout. So, I am trying to determine whether to use a central Arduino with multiple I/O wires or distributed Arduinos with a power bus and signal wires. I will study your DCC control video to better understand that option. Thak you for the insights.
@@lab4746 sweet. Please update me with your findings. Would be a great video.
Depending on your amp requirements for the lights, an array of mosfets should be able to handle the lights cheaper / smaller than a bunch of relays.
You can also use an i2c i/o expander to convert a couple of arduinos pins into 8 or more outputs if you have a lot of lights to operate.
You should really be able to combine both arduinos into one.
Interesting. I had a bunch of cheap relays hence their use. I would be open to put all sketches on one arduino. I wouldn’t know where to start with that. Any suggestions would be 🙏
This is what I have been wanting for the last 3 years for my Epoche 2 German n gauge layout. Do you have any plans to make this commercially available? I do not have the experience to follow your very knowledgable tutorial. Thanks Alan.
Hi Alan thank you for your kind words. Pls email me on modelrailroadtechniques@gmail.com. I will help you through
1. Is this sort of system you would use?
2. Is there a better way for me to do this?
3. Is there a way you may further customize my system ?
Thanks for commenting