FINALLY!!!!! Jamestown 2014 complete. I cannot believe how long this took! I Thank all who gave me support, tips, opinions, ideas, and just plain thoughtfulness. I also gave a nod to Jim Banner if you notice. He really knew his stuff didn't he? Well I am sure he has a train operating in his happy resting place. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and God Bless. I can't wait til next year!!!

http://youtu.be/dV7waLsnU5I

Hey fellows I'm Back! Gez I was all the way on page 4 or so guess it's been a while. Need opinions, working on my 2014 Jamestown video. I want to add train whistle to it. Which whistle sound is more authentic for a Steam powered locomotive? The shrill one or the deep bass sounding one? Also, do steam engines use bells or just whistles? I know the deisel sounding ones aren't it, just not sure about the "pitch" of the whistle. Did that make sense? I may not be a MR but I know you all will be viewing this and would like to have it as authentic as I can. I've relied on your input, helpful tips, opinions and suggestions, etc. You will never know how much I appreciated it all. So bring it on with your suggestions/opinions on which whistle I should use and also about the bells. sneak peak of Jamestown. Not sure if the video will play good or not. let me know. later gator

Hello there! Hope turkey day was a good for you all. As for me I have spent 4 long days decorating inside and out for Christmas. I am worn out and I am still not done! Jamestown is almost ready for it's debut. I need to place the residents and other things and then video it for everyone to see. I have shown it to a few neighbors and they all seem to like it. "Prairie" is the hit of the town. I am so pleased that I purchased it, she just pulls her cars around town with ease. I hope my move back east will find me a larger place to live so I can start increasing the town. I think I might just have gotten hooked on this Model Railroading stuff. It was suggested a while back I could incorporate Jamestown into to a larger layout. And it struck me  "hey I can make it into a four season layout". You know, winter, spring, summer and fall. just travel through the seasons. My mind just gets overloaded with all the ideas of how to do it. I will let you all know when I have uploaded my video. Later gator. Martha

D - the adapter ready to crap out is where I was thinking, had a power supply for a laptop do that. Odd thing is, when plugged directly to the wall socket it gets the normal warm, also on a extension cord with only one 3v string of lights on it it stays warm. Hook it to the power strip which is feed by a light weight extension cord it gets hot, even with just one 3v something hooked to it. So I think I will just eliminate it. It was a 3v with 500mA and it was designed to run four feeders (thanks for using that word, for the life of me I couldn't think of that word). So it should of operated at least 4 something or others without overloading it. I will keep my eye out for a 3 v with maybe 2500 mA? If I knew how to measure all the mA's I am using I'd get a better idea what size I needed.

Tonight I dusted off Prairie, cleaned off the tracks, hooked up some Christmas cars to her and she has been just traveling around Jamestown for quite some time. I have 90% of the lights I want on Jamestown, just the street lights remain. The more I get into this train stuff the more I am leaning towards a full blown HO scale train layout. Jamestown will stay Jamestown but maybe my Grandson and I can work on a new layout once I move back to NY. I have plenty of stuff I don't use on Jamestown but sure could go for a MR layout. And I will stick to the HO Scale on that one.

I am still trying to figure out that multimeter but for now just leaving it alone until I can grasp it a little better. I figured out where to set the darn thing to check the voltage but not sure which one will measure the mA.

I thank you for your reply. Haven't heard from jbrock27 hope all is okay in his neck of the woods.

Later gator

Hey fellows just wanted you to know I didn't toss Jamestown out on the curb! I got to a frustrating point and stopped and walked away from it for a week or so. I am back at it again. I have only managed to do 2 street lamps seems I get wrapped up doing something else on it. Friday is Nevada Day and it's a paid holiday for me so I will have a nice 3 day weekend to work on it.

I do have three questions

Question 1- one of my 3.0 volt adapter (has the four legs running off from it) gets extremely hot when plugged in. I mean can't touch it hot. I had it plugged into a power strip with other adapters. What is causing only that one to over heat? It's not supplying power to more lights than others. And I noticed I had it plugged directly into the wall outlet and it didn't over heat. Should I be concerned about it heating up like it does? There is no wall outlet close to where the layout goes so I have to use the power strips for power.

Question 2 -  now that I have my multi meter how do I measure how many volts a small string of lights are using or how to measure the volts used for any of the dc things I have on Jamestown? I can't seem to find any help on youtube about it, just how to check a batteries voltage. and I never understood why do they show videos showing you how to check the battery, why not just look on the side of the battery and read what volts it is?

Question 3 -  Here's my scenario and then the question. I have 22-24 things that need power, strings of lights, tiny lamppost, flickering bonfires,skating rink, spot lights, lighted trees, hedges and bushes oh and Santa's sleigh and reindeer. they are either 3.0 or 4.5 volts. I have three 3 volt adapters each of the adapter has 4 wires running off from them and 1- 4.5 volt adapter with the 4 wires running off from it. I have wires running everyplace. They are all connected by quick disconnect connections so when I break this down the only thing left on the platform is the track. My question is, is there some way I can reduce all the adapters, still supply the power needed for each thing and not burn out anything? I have a 9 volt wall wart, can I hook numerous 3.0 and 4.5 volt things up to it or will it over power and burn out all of the stuff?

I know this is not a typical situation MR's might run into or I assume you wouldn't run into this type of problem. I am all about the lights never too many as far as I see it but the logistics of connecting all of them neatly, efficiently and with out breaking the bank is overwhelming me.

Lastly I will share this little story. I have one lighted tree that part of the 1 mm led's  burned out, not sure why anyhow I added another string of lights. Not wanting two connections I spliced the string of lights to the existing ones. working with wire the size of hair is a real b. After several minutes of matching wires to wires to get them both working I was successful and soldered the connections. After much trial and error I have learned not to shrink wrap or tape wrap the connections until I know for sure they are going to work. So once they were working I tape wrapped them, careful not to disturb the welds or cross wire them. Finished that and I was a happy camper. I took that tree over to Jamestown to place it and run the wire under the platform and connected it to one of the adapter connections and nothing!!!! I stood there looking at in disbelief! I checked to be sure it was connected tightly, those little quick disconnects don't always snap together, yep it was correct. I took it back to my work table, undid the tape, checked the connections and using the adapter I keep at the work table it worked fine and dandy. Now I am getting pee owed. wire back together put it back in place hook it up and nothing! The vision of Clark Griswold came to mind when he so proudly put those two plugs together and nothing worked. He stood there jiggling those plugs cursing under his breath, he drop kicked Santa and his happy reindeer to kingdom come and ........ then Ellen flips the switch in the garage! Yep I proudly admit I didn't flip the power strip on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gosh what a dork!

Later gator

You know that saying "sleep on it" well I did just that and I am not sure if it was a dream or one of those wake up and the little light bulb goes on over your head, either way it had me check (later in the day) what adapter I was using. It appears I have three (not sure where the 3rd one came from) doesn't matter, 2 of the 3 are 3.0 volt with 500 mA the 3rd one is 3.0 volt 1000 mA. I recall Doneldon mentioning the 1000 mA would power a lot of LED's. Sure enough when I checked, I had most of my connections going to the 500 mA adapters. I just had too much on one. I wondered why it was so hot to touch. So tonight with refreshed confidence, I rewired a larger majority of the lights/accessories to the 1000 mA. I had great success in doing that. I am still using the 500 mA's for some of them. I also did a little research on some of lights/accessories I have that actually wanted the 4.5 v to work, they worked okay on the 3 volt but the 4.5 definitely has them working brighter or as I figured they should be working. I would of done more tonight but spent 3 hours with the company accountant going over our books. I am not a bookkeeper per say but I have learned a lot working with the accountant. So my brain is pretty much mush. I stopped while the getting was good on my wiring. Tomorrow is another day! I am almost ready to get to the street lights!

Night all.

I think Jamestown has got it in for me! I spent Friday night and most of Saturday wiring up this and that. They worked great at my work table. Took them over to Jamestown and some worked, some didn't! I am scratching my head wondering what the heck is going on. Is it possible that I am tying in too many lights on the one 3 v adapter and the power is just not getting to all of the connections? The adapter I am using (have 2) are Lemax 3.0 volts. They have 4 spliced wires on each adapter. Meaning there is one main wire then it breaks off to 4 separate wires. they have plug ins that are meant to plug into one Lemax something or other, say a strand of lights or a lighted tree. I have numerous splices off each of the 4 wires. In all I have at least 14 lights or flickering campfire or reindeer or...... you get the idea, stuff that need power. Not to include the street lamps. They are going to be on one adapter by it's self (well maybe!). I got so frustrated I just gave up on it and walked away. Haven't touched it since Saturday. I know I probably need to check what I am drawing with my meter but I don't know how to do that. I am afraid to hook up a 9 volt adapter I have and see if that works. and to be honest that means more wiring to make it work with all I have, I don't mind doing that if that will make everything work. I don't want to over power the leds and burn them out. So I am at a stalemate. Sorry to be so electrically challenged! and can't seem to figure this out. I was thinking maybe the 4 spliced wires off the main one I need to eliminate and just hook up directly to the main line to the adapter? Does that make sense? Well any who that is where I am at with Jamestown. NO WHERES.

Later gator

Anyone have a quick tip how to scratch off the varnish on magnet wire Quick and Easy? I making my own light strands for a tree and gosh scratching to get a good connection is taking forever. I am using 3 mm leds and I think it is 30 gauge magnet wire. ALSO quick tip how to quick and easily remove the outer skin of 30 gauge wire? Wanting to do the same thing.



Thanks.

Thanks for the tip. I normally solder them end to end and then shrink wrap it all together. I will definitely  go check out your suggestion. Thanks!

Thanks guys for the reassurance I won't zap myself to death! I do find it interesting how some videos do more bad than good. I guess if I was messing with 220 standing in bathtub in a lightening storm I might get hurt. As it is, I just found the definitions of the symbols I didn't know what was what. So it will take a little while to figure out how to use the VOM.

Tonight I soldered a bunch of quick disconnects to more lights. Yes almost looking like Clark Griswold's home!  Helping hands was a life saver as a lot of these have 30 gauge wire. Yikes it's like trying to connect strands of hair. I actually think I am almost done with the lights, well except for a spot light, street lights and hmmm what else? My power strip is almost looking like Clarks' in the garage scene. plug on plug on plug. There are 3 adapters, 3 110 and the train power box. I probably need to add a second power strip just so it doesn't look quite so dangerous.

D you gave me quite a compliment a while back and I hadn't thanked you for it. It really meant something. I put a LOT of hours in this each year. My choice, and I now know how much time, energy, money, thought process and enjoyment Model railroaders enjoy.

So tonight was a very productive night and my eyes, back and brain is tired out. I did enjoy the shock stories. I guess all kids have done something similar I know I have! "If I get myself buzzed now I don't even notice it right away." I had to laugh, if we were any younger I would of been presuming you meant you were getting high on drugs!

Tomorrow night...... think I will whip up a new strand of lights with my 3 mm lights I STILL have not messed with.

Later gator. oh haven't seen/heard from jbrock27 in a few days hope all is okay with him.

D- Conestoga Wagon delivered FINALLY today . So naturally I have questions.

Multimeter, has me a little bit afraid of it, keep reading Warning you could get seriously hurt using it.  From what I briefly have read in manual and on line most of the bad stuff is to do with the AC which I am not interested in. It is going to be dc volts, resistance and maybe ohms. Right that I will most likely be using? Instruction manual vague on using it. 



Here is the front of it. upside down horseshoe is OHM's right? That's the only one I think I know! 

symbol V with dash and dot dot under it is???

symbol V with squiggly line is ?

hFE??

Would I need to know what F stands for?

Symbol A squiggly line is?

Symbol A dash with dot dot is?

Music symbol arrow thing is?

do I need to know what the PNP NPN top right is for? (transistors?)

Is there any good how to youtube videos out there that explains this stuff in layman's terms?

The only part I think I get is the red wire goes to the V ohms arrow connection and the black goes to COM connection.  not sure what the 20A or mA is for but I had previously read getting a multimeter with the mA separate from the V ohms connection was a good idea. Once I know what all these symbols stand for I might be able to figure out how to test for the Ohms law. Of course not even sure if I need to know about the Ohm's law is.

I feel rather foolish asking these questions but I have come to rely on you all to help me out.

One more question for the night. Why would the 5 mm LED get so darn hot? Is it the magnet wire is too light weight to care the power? D said I won't need a resister for the LED with the 4.5 v adapter. I am hooking up 10 to 12 5 mm LED's to that adapter Still don't need a resister?

Thanks, going to play with the helping hands, at least I can figure that one out! OH I also got my multicolored 3 mm lights so I can make a few more strands of lights. that will require a lot of soldering, good practice for me and now that I have a couple extras hands I sure be pooping in tall cotton as my 85 year old friend says! where she gets these phrases? I love them.

later gator

MarkInLA, thanks for jumping in, never too late the way I see it. Funny you mention the led flashlight. I bought a small LED lamp at the dollar store last year, has 5 bright leds' with a swiveling tube from base to light, you can twist and turn it any and all directions. I actually used it last year to video Jamestown in the dark. http://youtu.be/kulQYLP7a0M. Held it in one hand and the camera in the other. It does give it that moonbeam affect. Wiring is my Achilles heel. I am working on it and getting better but..... I am pretty sure I can turn it into a moon or . I use 3.0 volt, 4.5 volt, possibly 9 volt adapter as well as 110 for power on Jamestown. Most of the lighting is Lemax brand for Christmas Villages. I do appreciate your input, it has given me an idea to mull over. oh by the way, that little lamp I mentioned I have more than one. it worked fantastic for the wiring and soldering I've done. you can really direct the light right where you need it, it doesn't get hot like a regular lamp and the batteries last quite a long time.

Hello all, Happy Post Columbus Day! Apparently my helping hands and multimeter just arrived on Plymouth Rock, not sure if it was the Mayflower, Santa Maria or Pinto that brought it ALL the way from Los Angles to Reno but it is showing they should be delivered today! Now normally I expect delivery to take a while however, these items were shipped early last week from LA. I could have driven to LA and back sooner than these packages are coming. So I can't tell you how I like the helping hands nor the multimeter. I have trekked on with Jamestown, always something to do on it. Rearranged the buildings and that meant moving the 2 strands of Xmas LED lights I use to light the inside of them. I just poke holes in the foam and bring two lights each for each building up from below. Simple enough to do however it's back breaking work. Bent over for a few hours well, not a spring chicken any longer! I have rewired trees and other lighting.

I have not progressed at all on the street light project. I know I will need that helping hand for that tedious soldering work and the meter! I experimented with metal beer bottle caps and wooden bowls for the lampshades. Easy choice once I shorted out one of the LED's on the bottle cap..... wooden bowls it it!  Yes I could still use the bottle caps just needing to use more caution, but not worth the extra time and effort.

LED lights - I was experimenting with I think it was 22 gauge rubber coated black/red wire but it was too thick to work with. So off to RS for some magnet wire. Three pack, 26, 28, 30 gauge. Very nice stuff but didn't notice it said in fine print, scrape off coating before soldering. NO biggie just an extra step to do. I first started out with 30 gauge, a 5 mm LED and a 150 resister. I am using a 4.5 volt adapter. It was very dim.  I then went up to the 26 gauge 5 mm Led (I am using 5 mm for the brightness I want) no resister and yes I have a burn mark from it. Holy cow it got hot. I was also at the time experimenting with the bottle cap and well...... I just stopped the whole thing. Until I get my meter today I can't tell what resistance I need or have or even ask more questions or have answers to give until I have that meter to use.

Someone gave me a RS soldering pencil, 40 watt and you can replace the tip. It works much better than the one I had. I will eventually get a work station just not now.

This post is more of what I have been up to not a help me!!!! post. I will be back with more questions and answer segment once the Conestoga wagon delivers today.     

Later gator

Well I am taking a chance on buying the meter on ebay, it isn't the ones I shared earlier, I found some video on youtube discussing how to choose the right one. Well it's like choosing the right vehicle! Way to many options, cost, user friendly or not, heck I don't even know have the words he was using to describe them the ONLY thing that got my attention is making sure there are 4 connections to it. Let me see if I can remember how he describe that. Separate connections for volts and amps. He said you forget and have it on amps and testing volts you could blow up what ever you were testing even blow off your hands. Well the later part of that statement got me. I actually like my hands so...... I found one that the connections(lead wires) for amps and volts were separate. I must confess I did not listen much farther on that Youtube tutorial once I noticed it was 59 minutes long! He mentioned some other figures and the one I got had those too. The only thing he insisted on YOU have is a auto reader. Probably a good thing but I am not to lazy to turn the dial to a setting. That's what I got out of that part, convenience. So we will wait and see. will be here tomorrow.

Now Don I asked this question on Jonathan's forum and realized I didn't give info that might help you to tell me the answer. The question was, I got the string of lights to work on the 4.5 v adapter. They actually will do the extra functions as well, blinking etc. How many extra things, strings of light or a mini spot light, or maybe a lighted deer can I hook up to the same adapter without problems? Here is the info that might help to get an answer. The adapter input 120V 60HZ 300mA output 4.5V 1000mA. I didn't mention either that this adapter once had 4 male jack connectors that worked with any of the battery/adapter type lights or gizmos for Christmas villages.  So if I am thinking correctly I should be able to hook up 4 whatevers?

Oh Saturday I will be joining the helping hands group! No more struggling to hold things to solder. Next investment will be a solder station but that is down the road. Someone gave me a 40 watt Radio Shack pencil soldering iron and it works okay. Better than the crappy one I had.

Later gator

I've been doing a lot of happy dancing here in the last couple days. First my new string of lights are not burning out! and I FINALLY found what I think will work great for my street lights connected to my telephone poles. Jonathan's street lights were the inspiration. I already had my "pencils made into telephone" telephones and just wanted to add a light to each. Take a look

They are wooden bowls I found at Hobby Lobby, I already pre drilled a hole. They are concave a small bit on the other side. I am using a 5 mm LED so they make a very nice glow on the snow.

This one is the prototype I am working with.

This telephone pole was the prototype for it. It is not in very good shape but you get the idea I am sure.

A VERY quick paint job, sloppy as all get out but once again just the prototype

I think I like the green enamel and white inside but open for suggestions in the paint department.


Next is to figure out how to run the power pole to pole and still have them hanging off the side of the pole like this one. Once again any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I have ten poles surrounding the track layout. I think I will just run them straight across the arms of the pole, I string lights on the poles as well and was wondering if I could use that for the power. You know splice into it instead of running separate wires. I just don't know how much power that will take and how many resistors I should use. Maybe my new multimeter (arriving tomorrow) will help calculate that.

Later gator