LED lighting help needed..

[coosvalley]

OK gang, I bet you can help me with this..I've said it before and I'll say it again, electronics is not my hobby. I dislike it.  But I often find a need for it, so here we are.

I recently bought some LED lighting, based on an article I saw on the Model:160 website.

http://www.model160.com/workbench/n-scale-prototype-modeling/scenic-subdivision-nscale-layout/scenic-sub-project-part-5-exploring-led-lighting-for-model-railroads/

 ---fast forward, I bought the recommended setup at the bottom of this page:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JPCFRYS/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=model16004-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B00JPCFRYS&linkId=f95728fd5f90d10d00ee9db12ae4873b

So I have two problems, the first is how to hookup the power supply, which has a plug similar to a computer, but the LED controller only takes 2 bare wires. I know I could cut the cord, but then would it be obvious which is the +(pos) vs. the -(neg) ?..Or should I find the correct female plug and wire that in?...What would YOU do?..The power supply is for this purpose, so cutting it is just fine with me. See it here:





OK, problem #2, is there is little to no documentation showing how to hook these together. So, before I do something wrong, I figured I'd ask you guys. Here's what there is, what wire goes where?..IF I were to guess, red wire to the right terminal, white on the left, black next to that(center left)...



Thanks, any help is appreciated

[peteski]

If you want to have the power supply removable then find an appropriate female socket and withe it that way. The plug polarity is marked on the supply's label.  If you cut the plug off then there is a good possibility that the individual wires will be color coded red and black, but no guarantee.  To be sure, you need to use a multimeter to find the polarity.  If you have a digital multimeter (set to measure DC volts) and make sure that the red test lead is in the positive socket in the meter and black is in the negative socket then touch the test leads to the exposed wires from the power supply (which is turned on).  If the voltage shown on the meter is positive (no minus sign on display) then the meter leads indicate the polarity (red is positive).  Easy enough? 

[coosvalley]

Thanks @peteski , I dug deeper and found some bare wire connectors, perfect!..

Now I just need to figure out if I'm correct on how to hook these up...

[peteski]

Thanks @peteski , I dug deeper and found some bare wire connectors, perfect!..

Now I just need to figure out if I'm correct on how to hook these up...

Could you elaborate?  It really is just a simple 2-wire hookup, but you need to be 100% sure the polarity is correct. That is why a a properly utilized multimeter is a very handy tool for this.

[coosvalley]

See the second part of my post, I need to figure out how to hook up the LEDs to the controller too

[peteski]

Oh, ok.
Without any manuals I would think that you will use the hookup in the middle row in the chart printed on the LED controller.

The red wire from the LED strip goes to the V+ terminal
The black WW (warm white?) wire will attach to the W (for warm?) terminal
The white W (cool white?) wire will attach to the C (for cool?) terminal
The terminal marked "/" will be left unconnected.

As long as the red wire goes to V+ then even if you incorrectly connect the other wires, nothing should blow up. 

[coosvalley]

We seem to agree !..I think I will be good to go now!..BTW, these are what I ended up getting, I can figure these out...:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071GV5XDD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Point353]

Without any manuals...

This would appear to be the controller device in question:
http://www.ltechonline.com/html/en/LED-Controller/Easy-RF-System-Series/Mini-Series/M2&M3-3A.html
Here is the manual for it: http://www.ltechonline.com/uploads/pdf/en/LED-Controller/Mini-M2-M5.pdf

[peteski]

We seem to agree !..I think I will be good to go now!..BTW, these are what I ended up getting, I can figure these out...:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071GV5XDD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So you found the the female part. I would still verify with a multimeter that the red wire is the positive.

[peteski]

This would appear to be the controller device in question:
http://www.ltechonline.com/html/en/LED-Controller/Easy-RF-System-Series/Mini-Series/M2&M3-3A.html
Here is the manual for it: http://www.ltechonline.com/uploads/pdf/en/LED-Controller/Mini-M2-M5.pdf

Real men don't read manuals! 
Just kidding of course.