ILLUMINATED MODELS’ ELECTRONIC ESSENTIALS

A small but very useful range of economically-priced and sometimes hard to source electronic circuits are offered by Illuminated Models, including locomotive lighting enhancement kits and decoder socket combinations. Products that caught our attention included flashing tail-lamp circuits and a pack of very well-priced bridge rectifiers.

Bridge rectifiers

They are a must for DCC-users if a DCC power bus alternating current is to be tapped for a 12v DC supply (ideally from an accessory DCC bus rather than the one that supplies track power) for powering lighting circuits, control panel illumination, signals and turnouts (when accessory decoders are not being used). A pack of five (AL-20) is priced at £3.95 and they are professionally-made circuits with 4mm long solder pads for the input power and 12v DC output.

At 18mm long, 9mm wide and 3mm thick, they won’t take up much room in a control panel or rolling stock for lighting. Just check how much heat they produce for your given circuit before using in rolling stock, although when tested with LEDs, the bridge rectifiers only became warm, not hot.