Electrical for the G-Scale Garden Train Railway - 11-09-13

(Blog entry by Bob)

The great thing about a battery powered train set is that you do not have to run wires or worry about broken circuits... except when it comes to lighting.  We have x4 different types of electrical circuits in the train layout and sometimes I have to take a break from weeding to keep everything working.
The first is solar.  This is the easiest one to manage even though the dollar store lights usually stop working after a year. Not only do we have solar streetlights..



and solar spotlights..





but we also a solar pump to circulate the pond.



The other three power supplies are stored in the garage.



There is 120-volt (yellow extension cord) for the high flow pump that runs the waterfalls every 2 hours during the daytime (Spring & Summer).  CLICK HERE TO SEE WATERFALL BLOG 
[Up Shiltz Creek in G-Scale Land - Part 2 Waterfalls - 06-01-13]
 It is on a timer plugged into its own Ground Fault Recepticle. A 3-volt power supply (small black transformer plugged into the white cord of the left and Two 18-volt power supplies - big train controllers running wires off of auxillary terminals)  They all run off a separate timer and Ground Fault Recepticle. The lights turn on at 6:00 am to 7:30 am and turn on again from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm The 18-volt and 3-volt run in 4 wire telephone cable that runs out of the garage and into the layout. 



Cables are tucked under either concrete slabs, the shingles of the track bedding or the rubber tiles of the road.



The 120-volt yellow extension cord ends under the brewery where it is married to the pump plug.



The 18-volt and 3-volt zig-zags its way to every building where they are joined to the building lighting. 



The first 18-volt power supplys runs the x18 lights that are in the residential side (north of the pond) and the second powers the x18 lights on commerical side.



In the new trailer park we are building, we have an animated campfire circuit.  It is probably designed for indoor use only so I encased the whole thing inside hot glue so the rain and snow doesn't affect it.  Look to future blogs for this to be shown. 



If you missed what the downtown looks like when it is lit-up at night we ran some pictures of it a couple weeks ago in the blog.

CLICK HERE FOR SOME ASSORTED BLOG ENTRIES CONTAINING NIGHT PHOTOS OF THE LIGHTING SYSTEMS IN THE LAYOUT