Basement Train Layout: Week 227

Sun, Dec 2, 2018 thru Sat, Dec 8, 2018

Sun, Dec 2, 2018

No train activity today.

Mon, Dec 3, 2018

Train Day!

With Rob Fair from 6-8:30pm 2.5 hours

We started out tonight trying to get the LED lights on Lake Street working.

We failed, but we will keep trying.

Check out what we did accomplish though...

Tonight we will install the plexiglass and the outside trim board along Clinton Street in downtown Chicago.
Here is Rob Fair preparing the area.

Rob Fair continues to drill holes for the plexiglass.

Taking a look from another angle.

Plexiglass in place, now it's time for the outer trim piece.

One section in place.

The next section all set.
Now for the final section.

Plexiglass cut and put into place.

The final touch is putting the last trim piece in place.
Tonight's work is complete.
The next time I work on this section will be to paint the surface brown..

Tue, Dec 4, 2018

No train activity today.

Wed, Dec 5, 2018

Train Day!
w/Jordan Osborn and me
4-5:30pm 1.5 hrs.

Starting out train session with reviewing our "TODO" list.
Tonight we decided we'll figure out the light power for Lake Street City Lights.

As you can see in this photo, we had to stay absolutely focused tonight.
Jordan Osborn was a huge help tonight as we tested the LED lights with the appropriate transformer and resistors.

One of our tests tonight was to check out the transformer that would run the tunnel lights.
This one passed the test and will be incorporated into the electrical connections in this power district.

These are the lights that will light up Lake Street when we're finished with the electrical connections.

Under the table we'll be using this 5V DC transformer with the resistors shown to the right.
After testing several resistors with the 3V tester, we upgraded to 5V with a higher resistor.
I think you'll be happy with the results.
More to come...

Here are the wires coming from the light fixtures from under the table.
The blue and white wires will light up the tunnel lights.
The very thin red and black wires will light up the Lake Street City Lights.

Here are the tools of the trade we used tonight.
The transformer that takes 110V down to 5V.
The 3V battery tester - very handy so we wouldn't blow any lights and destroy the fixture.
9V battery which we used to run the tunnel lights.
Knowing they worked with the 9V battery was a pretty easy decision to use the 8V transformer you see again in this photo.
Finally, the volt meter. Couldn't execute proper testing without this very important instrument.

Our final test for tonight was to see how much juice was left in the Coca-Cola cup.
Not much! It was empty, but a whole lot of fun!

Thu, Dec 6, 2018

My goal for the rest of this week is to get the Lake Street Lights working.
Here we go...

Here are the wires hanging down underneath Lake Street from the 8 street lights on Lake Street.

One of the first things I needed to do was to install a power surge outlet to fit all the transformers I'll need to light downtown Chicago.

Fri, Dec 7, 2018

Next I'll need to install the terminal blocks to connect all the wires to the power source.

Here are the terminal blocks installed and the wires connected.
I'll explain in more detail in tomorrow's blog.

I'm always surprised on how many tools I need to retrieve even for a simple project.

Sat, Dec 8, 2018

Today, my goal is to meet my goal.

Here you can see the red wires on the vertical side to the right.
The black wires on connected together on the horizontal terminal block on the bottom.

Here's a good view of the resistors I needed to install to work with a 5V transformer.
The lights are rated for 3V so I needed to install the resistors so the voltage wouldn't fry the lights.
I learned that the hard way when I tried using a 9V battery to test a brand new light.
Poof! My bad!