# DCC Control of Structure Lights



## Mark VerMurlen (Aug 15, 2015)

I'm nearing the point of putting some buildings on my layout and I want to have them lit. I'll be using LED lighting. I have Digitrax hardware for my DCC system including three SE8C turnout/signal controller boards. Rather than using mechanical switches to turn on/off my building lighting, I'm thinking I want to use DCC to control them. I don't need or want to control them all individually. I expect to group lights by type, region, or "scene". Meaning I'll probably put all street lights onto one circuit and split up my buildings into some groupings so that I can have the lights come on or turn off in phases rather than all at once. So maybe a half dozen circuits with somewhere between 2 to 10 LEDs on each circuit.

Has anybody used DCC to control their lights? If so, how did you do it? I've been thinking of using a few of the SE8C signal channels to control the light circuits. While the SE8C could probably drive 2 LEDs, I'm not sure it could drive 10 on one circuit. In that case, is there some type of relay that I could use with the SE8C to switch on/off the power of a circuit?

Any recommendations or advice are welcomed.

Thanks!

Mark


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## JerryH (Nov 18, 2012)

That's the way I am going to do it. See post 435 in this thread.
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=14852&page=44


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## Mark VerMurlen (Aug 15, 2015)

JerryH said:


> That's the way I am going to do it. See post 435 in this thread.
> http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=14852&page=44


This is exactly what I want to do. I've even got TrainController Gold as well. In your posting referenced above, you were experimenting with this. Have you finished it? I also see you were only driving 1 LED per SE8C "switch". Did you try driving more? I'm not sure how much current the SE8C can drive per circuit as I've not been able to find any specification for that.

Mark


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## JerryH (Nov 18, 2012)

According to this you can light multiple leds per signal. I don't know what the limit is. At least 6 simultaneously per switch command according to the diagram.

http://www.digitrax.com/static/apps/tsd/attachments/1372188986.26/se8cpennsyperm.pdf


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

Mark VerMurlen said:


> Has anybody used DCC to control their lights?
> Any recommendations or advice are welcomed.
> 
> Thanks!
> ...


Well in my case I used RR-CirKits devices exclusively for turnouts, signals, etc and they have devices for controlling most any kind of load.

Frederick


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## sachsr1 (Mar 3, 2016)

I'm just starting to learn about DCC++ and Arduino based control. My next project (when the parts arrive from China) is this...

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/19070


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