Tip: Faller Mittelstadt Apartments with Controlled LED Lighting Date: , Addition

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1 Hi All, I have had the Mittelstadt apartments shown below on my layout for a long time and thought it was about time to add LED lighting to the buildings. With my success at upgrading the Faller imitation door lights I was keen to install some LED building lights controlled by an m83 decoder to finally complete this set of buildings. The two buildings on the right I bought assembled second hand, are an old version of the kit which has the original black card with window cut outs and the interior details are deco s which are glued to the inside of the windows. The two buildings on the left are a newer version of the kit which I assembled. The interior details and the blackout card are combined. The major problem is the interior details are the same for both buildings so for the details for the shops I cut out and used deco s from other kits. Both versions of the kit presented problems which I will explain in the text that follows. On top of the LED lighting challenge I had some physical changes as the buildings were mounted right on the edge of my layout at an angle so this is also a note on how the buildings were kit bashed to make them fit and present well. Imitation Door Lights to LED Lights Upgrading these imitation lights to functional LED lights was my first challenge for the Mittelstadt Apartments. I have presented this as a separate article. Faller Imitation Door Light to Real LED Light 1

2 LED Door Lights Installation The mounting indent for the door light from the front of the building has to be drilled with a 1.0mm drill to allow the enamelled copper wires to enter the interior. I used Selleys AllFix glue for the door light as this will allow removal at some time in the future if required. The wires were soldered to a small Vero board with a 12k current limiting resistor which is connected to the common black of the m83 decoder and the other end of the resistor is connected to the LED cathode wire. The yellow and black wires are ESU wires for a more robust wiring connection to an interconnection panel in the block with more room for all the wires from each building to be connected. The Vero board is held in place with hot melt glue in a position where it is clear of the folds of the blackout black card to allow it to sit in the correct position behind the windows. Extra black card was used to block light leaking below the door and front of the building see red arrow. This was done for each door in the apartment blocks. Fix and Improve Building Blackout Card Inserts For the blackout card on the old version of the building only the window card remained so I copied the dimensions of the new building version to create a new insert using the existing black card and completing the missing sections with white card as I wanted to be able to reflect the white LED light onto the back of the building insert to get an even softer type of light through the windows at the front. This blackout card insert is used on the right hand building as the black card had a black return for the end wall of the building. Because I wanted the light reflected I also glued a white card to the black card see red arrow. The other side was constructed with the white card. As you can see I have created floor level dividers so each level of the building will be lit with one LED. The top and rear for the old building version is also constructed with white card. 2

3 Floor Level Dividers The bend down tabs are 5mm. I used a sharp blade to score along the bend lines which allowed easy folds. The cut out is centrally placed to allow the LED light PCB to be inserted. At this time in the project I held the dividers in position with removable tape as I wanted to see how the LED lights would work for even illumination. LED Light PCB Four lengths of Vero board were cut and the copper foil was isolated by cutting with a 3mm drill. Next the PLCC2 warm white LEDs were soldered at the locations shown with the cathode down see red arrows. 4x 1k current limiting resistors were soldered at the locations shown. Finally lengths of ESU wire were used at the plus (+) locations. I used a different colour for each lighting strip. The common was a black wire. 3

4 LED Lighting Test The LED light strip is first inserted into the light mask insert then the light mask is inserted into the building. Note the LEDs point to the rear of the building and rely on reflecting light against the rear white card to provider even soft light through the windows. With the building in a darkened room I switched on the LEDs for each floor and noticed that I had light leakage between the floors. This was caused by two problems. 1. I had to place a small black mask around the LED light strip at each floor level see red arrows. 2. The floor dividers had light leakage and this was cured by cutting black card on the underside of the divider then covered by another piece of white card to aid in reflection. Other Light Leakage problems The extra cards can just be seen through the light strip holes and you will also notice the arrow in pencil for each divider, this edge is glued to the window side of the light mask insert. The holes were marked out with a template from the face edge to ensure correct position of the holes. 1. The left most building shown from the back allowed light to leak through the light mask and wall of the building. This was cured by inserting black card between the light mask and the building wall see yellow arrow. 2. For the light masks made of white card I painted the top and edges with black acrylic paint. 3. The new combined window and black mask is very thin so I opted for adding black card on top with a fold down over the joints. The photo also shows the different light transmission for the white card and the blackened card of the combined mask. With the light testing complete I glued all floor dividers into the mask inserts for the buildings. 4

5 Masking Windows Before finally fitting the lighting strips I placed all light masks in a line and with some help shining a light through the front window positions I masked out the windows by cutting small black card slightly larger than the window size then holding them in position with removable tape. Final Light Strip Fitting and Wiring With the windows masked off it s time to install the LED light strip for the last time. Holding the light strip in position I soldered an off cut resistor lead through a Vero board hole so it hangs at the correct height from the top floor divider red dotted line. The light strip floor masks are now glued into position. Door lights All the door light yellow and black wires are soldered to a 5x copper foil Vero board interconnection panel. Thicker 4x yellow and 1x black wire is soldered to the same connection panel. Building Lights Selection Matrix Interconnection Panel On a 5x copper foil Vero board I soldered 4 x 4 IC socket pins across the foils as shown. The white marked sockets are for level 1 of each building. The two groups of 2x IC sockets green arrows are for the common m83 connection. 5

6 All the ESU wires for the building levels are in colours (green bld1, violet bld2, grey bld3, blue bld1and there is a black common wire from each building) to simplify wiring to the Selection Matrix interconnection panel. Please refer to the Tips web page for lighting animation demonstration. Left photo shows the door lights as fluorescent tubes switching on. Middle photo shows the building floor levels switched on in order. Right photo shows the lights are more random when switched on, this is the final configuration. Wiring to the Selection Matrix Interconnection Panel Procedure Because each building has the same colour wires I first plugged in each set of wires so all levels across the building matched. Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 For a more random lighting selection I now changed the wiring on the selection matrix with the following procedure. A B C D A. Building 1 (left) all buildings on level 1 remained the same. B. B1-L2, B2-L3, B3-L2 and B4-L4. C. B1-L3, B2-L4, B3-L3 and B4-L1. D. B1-L4, B2-L1, B3-L4 and B4-L3 6

7 Building Levels 2-4 By looking at building 1 then the levels I can tell which levels for the other buildings have been switched on The selection matrix is held in position with double sided tape. If I want to remove the building mask for any reason the matrix will have to be removed from the double sided tape to allow removal. Kit Bashing the Model This was done many years ago so I ll just give it a quick mention here. With the requirement to mount the model on the edge of the layout I first assembled the model base, walls and roof without any details such as windows. Next I worked out the angle where I could cut it with a band saw to remove the overhang of the model to the layout edge. The model was then completed. The model is backed with 3mm MDF held in place with K-track screws that allows the model to be lifted to allow access to the track underneath by plastic brown MDF joiners. 7

8 This shows the building in the raised service position for the tracks underneath with working lights. To maintain tidy wiring I used two biro pens to form a sheath for the wires to freely slide in while maintaining the wires clear of the track. Wiring the m83 for the Building Lights Please refer to m83 Special functions_used with Traincontroller for more detail. For the use of LED lights you will require additional wiring to protect the LEDs and suppress the LED glowing in the OFF position. All current limiting resistors for the lights are installed in the building. I have used 2x 1k 1206 resistors soldered across the foils as shown to suppress the LED glowing in the OFF position. The yellow wires are the LED anode connections and the black is the common for the LED cathode connections. Only one black wire is required to the m83 from the building. 8

9 Configuration of the Outputs for DCC address , m83 switch address 1, 3, 4, 5, 10 To be safe use the programming track to configure the following options. CV Meaning Value Range Value Set Comment Function 112 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the red output for Turnout 1 F. Tubes 113 POM Pulse Width = 100% 114 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 1R 115 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the green output for Turnout 1 F. Tubes 116 POM Pulse Width = 100% 117 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 1G 118 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the red output for Turnout 2 F. Tubes 119 POM Pulse Width = 100% 120 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 2R 121 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the green output for Turnout 2 F. Tubes 122 POM Pulse Width = 100% 123 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 2G 124 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the red output for Turnout 3 Dimmer 125 POM Pulse Width = 100% 126 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 3R 127 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the green output for Turnout 3 Dimmer 128 POM Pulse Width = 100% 129 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 3G 130 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the red output for Turnout 4 Dimmer 131 POM Pulse Width = 100% 132 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 4R 133 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the green output for Turnout 4 Dimmer 134 POM Pulse Width = 100% 135 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 4G Possible Switching Functions Value Function Name Comment Touch- Switch Everything off Dimmer Blinking light Blinking light 2 Parallel blinking light to blinking light Flash 1 Flashing light Flash 2 Double flashing light Random task/flickering light Random sequence of pause/pulse Zoom Soft turning on/off Mars Specific blinking light Gyra Specific blinking light Tubes Simulates fluorescent tube lights Low energy lamp Simulates energy-saving lamps Max. switching Period indicates the Max. Switching time Min. switching Period indicates the Min. Switching time 18* --- Min. Switching with end switch Switching time is period or until the end position is reached * Factory Setting 9

10 With one m83 I have eight switching functions for the building. The door lights require four functions or two red/green channels of the m83 with the other four functions for the building floor levels. I would recommend that if you want to include LED lighting into your models you include the lights as you build the kit or at least provide model access to the constructed model when you are ready to install the LED lights. Overall I think the project was worth the effort and it has encouraged me to attempt LED lighting to my other buildings on the layout in the near future. In TrainController I have setup pushbuttons for the control of the m83 and the on-off switches serve as a visual indicator and memory for what is on or off. When the Power On Check indicator is switched on after a power interruption it will execute a macro called Power On Check that checks all the On-Off switches and all special functions that had been switched prior to the power interruption will turn back on without any user interaction. Please refer to m83 Special functions_used with Traincontroller for more detail. As always enjoy your hobby. 10