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Re: How to connect wiring for lighting?
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:56 am
by bazzer42
If you tin both ends with solder it shouldn't be too much heat exposure if you solder quick. I've never had problems and haven't used a heat sink in the past (4mm modelling). Mý dear old dad used to warn about not too much heat whether modern leads are more tolerant, no idea.
Re: How to connect wiring for lighting?
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:35 am
by ge_rik
CSL wrote: ↑Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:23 am
(Genuine but embarrassingly basic question alert.)
If soldering wires end-to-end, is a heatsink required to prevent heat damaging the LED at the end of the wire to the light?
I have dim and distant memories of a school electronics project to make a rudimentary bridge rectifier when I got through about ten diodes... Although in that case the diodes were right next to the solder joint. As you can tell, I've barely touched a soldering iron since!
From memory a crocodile clip would be used as the heatsink, but I'm not convinced the products come with enough bare wire to clip it on and solder, and the Modeltown wires in particular are so tiny it looks tricky to strip the insulation.
It shouldn't be necessary if you don't leave the iron on the joint for too long. With the thin wires, the worst that can happen is that you melt the insulation on the wires.
Rik
Re: How to connect wiring for lighting?
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:45 pm
by Big Jim
I have never used a heat sink when soldering LED's, I think if you are quick enough there should not be a problem. Make sure the wires are clean and use a good flux and you shouldn't have any problems.
Re: How to connect wiring for lighting?
Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:32 pm
by Peter Butler
When I altered the height of my Christmas street lamps it was necessary to extend the wires and because of the way they had been manufactured the tails were very short, only an inch or so. As already suggested, work clean and fast and they will be fine. All of mine work.
It is important to remember that LED's are +/- sensitive so if you do a test sample and it doesn't work, try reversing polarity.
Re: How to connect wiring for lighting?
Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2018 6:18 pm
by Robert Hammond
I have solid concrete platforms with black roofing felt on the top surface. Wiring for lights goes under the roofing felt. I use permanent power supply except for trains, can't be bothered changing too many batteries. LEDs are very sensitive to over-voltage. A standard transformer will not necessarily supply the correct voltage, but I used one specially designed for LEDs which is stabilised at 12 volt output. My platform lights are 3 volt so I have connected banks of 4 connected in series (end to end) .The biggest problem I have is squirrels and foxes knocking them over or chewing the tops off.