building lighting

[mighalpern]

ok probably opening a can of worms
So what do you guys do about lighting for your building.  I would like to create a bus system to power all my buildings. But I have mounted a bunch of 1.5 volt minitronics lamp shade lights on the exteriors of a few buildings already.  I have a bunch of 3 volt LEDs and 12 volt grain of wheat bulbs in my spare bin.  i'm all for LEDs  so I would like some feed back.  some places to buy them in bulk,  power sources  etc...
thanks
Miguel 

[Philip H]

@wm3798 runs his light bus off a 12 volt wall wart salvaged from a Habitat For Humanity Restore. I think he had a single bus per town but don't hold me to it. There are a ton of building lighting tips buried in layout engineering threads.

[RBrodzinsky]

I use an old PC power supply to provide a -12V, +3.3V, +5V and +12V (and common) buss around my layout. I then tap in, where and as needed.  If I need some other "special" voltage, I will build a small board with voltage regulator for that spot.  For LEDs, will always put current limiting resistors in place, so tend to run those off of +12V (never just trust that the voltage coming in will protect the LED, plus, dropping the current reduces the brightness).

I use Electronic Goldmine, DigiKey and Ngineering as sources of LEDs.

[peteski]

For LEDs, will always put current limiting resistors in place, so tend to run those off of +12V (never just trust that the voltage coming in will protect the LED, plus, dropping the current reduces the brightness).

Those words are gospel!

Seeing how many modelers power up their LEDs makes me cringe.