Woodland Scenics Just Plug Lighting System
Aug 8, 2020 19:06:24 GMT -5
frankenstein and Bull like this
Post by mph on Aug 8, 2020 19:06:24 GMT -5
I've had a couple of conversations of the Just Plug lights from Woodland Scenics that I've used. Because of these conversations, I thought it would be worthwhile to create a thread with an overview of the system.
When the system was introduced, it was limited and I thought it was a waste. After all, I've been installing grain of wheat bulbs all of my modeling life, I know how to wire and this system seemed to dummy things down and was (and still is, in my opinion) expensive. But, there was one thing about it that I thought was interesting - the dimmer controls. One of the problems with traditional lights is that they always seem to be too bright and this addressed that problem.
Since I didn't want to spend money on the system, but wasn't opposed to trying it, I put on my Christmas list. I'm sure most of us have the problem of family wanting to buy us something for our trains, but won't spend the money on the locomotive. I discovered these products were sold through at Amazon, so on the list it went and lo and behold, I was gifted a few items.
To start the discussion, here are two photos that provide and overview of the system with the difference between them being the light on the street light lowered in the second photo, and the plain LED on the right is brighter.
The street light in the second photo is just bright enough to be lit without shining much light. This level of control got me hooked.
The components of the system are simple with the main piece being the various Hubs. Using the photo above, the power in is the connection to the AC terminals on a power pak. The CTRL is to connect a switch that will turn on/off all of the lights connected to the hub. No switch, no problem, the hubs come with a jumper plug. The 4 LIGHT connections are what the lights are plugged into and each one has a corresponding dimmer control below the plug.
This flexibility allows for a scene to be completely customized and balanced. For example:
This scene consists of a stick-on LED in the building, one over the door, and the light pole. The LED over the door is really turned down so it does not overpower the scene. The light on the pole is strong so light cascades on top of the roof. The building LED is a medium power. (By the way, the pole light does not shine as a star, that was a photography technique).
When the system was introduced, it was limited and I thought it was a waste. After all, I've been installing grain of wheat bulbs all of my modeling life, I know how to wire and this system seemed to dummy things down and was (and still is, in my opinion) expensive. But, there was one thing about it that I thought was interesting - the dimmer controls. One of the problems with traditional lights is that they always seem to be too bright and this addressed that problem.
Since I didn't want to spend money on the system, but wasn't opposed to trying it, I put on my Christmas list. I'm sure most of us have the problem of family wanting to buy us something for our trains, but won't spend the money on the locomotive. I discovered these products were sold through at Amazon, so on the list it went and lo and behold, I was gifted a few items.
To start the discussion, here are two photos that provide and overview of the system with the difference between them being the light on the street light lowered in the second photo, and the plain LED on the right is brighter.
The street light in the second photo is just bright enough to be lit without shining much light. This level of control got me hooked.
The components of the system are simple with the main piece being the various Hubs. Using the photo above, the power in is the connection to the AC terminals on a power pak. The CTRL is to connect a switch that will turn on/off all of the lights connected to the hub. No switch, no problem, the hubs come with a jumper plug. The 4 LIGHT connections are what the lights are plugged into and each one has a corresponding dimmer control below the plug.
This flexibility allows for a scene to be completely customized and balanced. For example:
This scene consists of a stick-on LED in the building, one over the door, and the light pole. The LED over the door is really turned down so it does not overpower the scene. The light on the pole is strong so light cascades on top of the roof. The building LED is a medium power. (By the way, the pole light does not shine as a star, that was a photography technique).
