DanielD

I drilled out the holes and added the grommets that come in the kit to represent port holes. The rain gutters are not a part of the kit, one of my added features.

I didn’t worry about it, but next time I will do as Mike suggested, drill port holes after primer and sanding.

Bill, you can use your 3mm for everything. The 3mm is necessary for the deck lights as the 5mm are way too big. Inside the hull I used 5mm to give off more light, but if you paint the inside of the hull off white, you will get a lot of reflection and all will be good. If you are only doing one set (circuit) of port hole lights, you won’t need the compartments like I did and just place 2 or three LEDs between each bulkhead total. If you do the compartments version, I just used one LED per compartment.

Bill, as you know, in my version of the AV I have the two port hole lighting possibilities. In order to achieve this effect I had to create compartments within the hull for each section that I wanted to light. Then in each section I employed a single 5mm warm light LED. When I wired everything together I randomly connected some compartments to cabinet light circuit 1 and the rest of the compartments to circuit 2. Once the hull completed I drilled the port holes following the plans. If all my calculations were correct the port holes should line up in the middle of the compartments. Thankfully it all worked out.

Bill, here is an updated schematic.

While technically this will work, the standard in the industry is to use the red wire for the positive side of the circuit and the black wire for the negative or ground side. Opposite what you have shown with your colors. Also, the reason we put the switch on the positive side of the battery is to cut off electrical flow into the rest of the circuit to preventing being shocked when working on a system. In our case, we are only dealing with 12 volts and very minimal amperage, so even if you touched something you won’t be shocked. However, it’s best to learn the correct way so that future projects are done without risk. Hope this helps.

Bill, this will work just fine…but they are 20mm in diameter. That’s fairly large. One problem with using automotive switches is that are generally large. The ones I chose are still large at 16mm, but that is a trade off for using something that is readily available. One slight change to your description on the circuit above, and I’m sorry I didn’t put this into the schematic I drew last week. The switches should go on the red wire just after the battery or power source and the other side of the switch to a regulator. The black or negative wire should not be connected to the switch. This way, when the switch is off, there is no power going to the regulator and thus the LEDs are off. When you turn the switch on, the closed position, the circuit connects the two terminals and power is sent to the regulator and LEDs turn on. Hope this helps.

Good morning Bill. All the stuff you see on my control board will eventually be built into the stand or base so all hidden except the switches. I left the regulators accessible for now so that I could make final adjustments. Glad I did because I ended up adding additional deck lighting. Any single throw single pole switch will work, but in my case I prefer push button style switches. Push buttons come in a variety of types, toggle or momentary for example. Momentary switches are just that, turn on or off the switch while you hold down the button but immediately reset when you remove your finger, and not what I wanted for this project, but a perfect fit if your end product will be on display in a museum. A toggle switch is what is needed for my application, push to turn on, push again to turn off. Push buttons also come in NO (normally open) or NC (normally closed) versions. This means that in the default state is the switch on or off. A problem with push button switches is that it is not always easy to tell if a switch is turned on or off visually. My project requires a NO toggle type lighted push button switch. The lighted switch I chose is an automotive version that is designed to light up when you turn on your car and stay lit all the time. Well that just won’t work for what I wanted so I had to wire the switches in a certain way to get the effect I was looking for, I.e. when the switch is on, so is the indicator light. This can be done without altering the switch but careful consideration needs to be made when wiring and choosing the power source. As I said earlier, the switch I chose is an automotive version, so the LED light is designed to run on 12 volts, meaning they won’t light up if I use 2 AA batteries (3v) or a single 9v because there isn’t enough power. Therefore, I chose a 12 volt power supply, as I suggested for you, and combined with voltage regulators for the ships LEDs, all worked out perfectly. Sorry about the long dissertation, but I thought I might explain my thought processes so that you could choose a switch you prefer, but understand what the options are and what they mean so you get the correct switch for your needs. https://a.co/d/eGXCyfW

Welcome aboard mate!

Welcome aboard mate!

Bill, if I may suggest…if you plan to stick to four circuits, I would have 1) deck lighting, 2) the famous AV night lighting, and… depending on if you choose to do two displays of cabin lights, like I did, or a single display like Mike has done… double cabin lights like I did: 3) one set of cabin lights, 4) the second set of cabin lights. OR single cabin lighting like Mike has done: 3) cabin lights and 4) marker lights. All ships have marker lighting but the OcCre kit does not include them except one hint of them at the stern in a wood carving. The important ones are near the bow a green light on the starboard/right side of the ship, a red light on the port/left side of the ship and a white light at the stern. The AV has some additional lights because she is such a tall ship. There is a solid red light at the top of each mast. While I did this on my ship, it’s not easy and requires additional purchases as required mast material is not in the kit. Read my blog for more info on this, but in simple terms you need a hole in the center of each mast to run the wires, a wooden or metal tube if you will. Lastly, I added a stern lantern onto the marker circuit that is part of the night display of the AV. well, I’m off to work today, I’ll check in later.

Here are some photo updates that I took this morning. Bill, just to be clear, don’t paint the bottom of the deck black until after you have permanently installed them to the false keel and bulkheads. You want to glue wood to wood for the best adhesion and the black paint might create a weak glue joint. Then after some thought, when I do my next ship, I will paint the bottom of the deck black. Let that dry then paint again with an off white color. The reason for this is black will absorb the light when it hits the deck, ultimately making the light appear dimmer. What we want to do is have the light bounce around inside the hull so that it comes out the port holes to our eyes. So, the off white paint will cause most of the light to continue to bounce around inside the hull and what little gets through the white layer, the black layer of paint will absorb and little if any will shine through to the top side of the deck. Photos: 1) one set of cabin lights turned on. If you look at the bow you can see the lights shine through the decking 😡. Please avoid this from my (and Mikes) oversight. 2) the second set of cabin lighting, 3) both sets of cabin lights turned on. 4) the famous AV night lighting, the Italian flag. 5) the marker lights and 6) the marker lighting with one set of cabin lights on.

I second this! I didn’t do this initially and had to use a long drill after I had all the bulkheads and deck glued together. Do yourself a big favor and drill or notch a hole on both side of the keel, all of them, from bow to stern, so that you can run wires or light strips up/down both sides of the hull. While on the subject “wish I had done before,”something that I didn’t do and didn’t know I needed to do until it was too late, is to paint the bottom of the decks black. After I had my ship together and all the electrical working, planking done, deck finished, and looking wonderful, I decided to try the lights out in a dim or dark room. Wouldn’t you know, the lighting under the decks shines through! I never thought of this as there is the false deck and all the deck planking so the finished deck is fairly thick, but sure enough, not thick enough and the LED lights shine through.

Bill, yes the resistors will work for both types.

Welcome aboard mate!

Welcome to MSW!

Good morning Bill. As you have seen, I have seven circuits in my build, six for various lighting effects and one for the motor that runs the propeller. Each and every LED and the motor gets a black wire, the ground or negative side of the project. There are several black wires that run around the ship, but they all start at one place, a ground lug if you will. In the diagram I sketched for you above, if you follow the negative wire around, you will notice that they all connect together. There is a circuit for 1) the deck lights, 2) a set of cabin lights, 3) a second set of cabin lights, 4) the night light display the AV is famous for, 5) marker lighting, 6) emergency lighting, and 7) the engine. Now imagine that if I used only red wires for each different lighting/motor path/circuit. That would get very confusing. So…I had 4 colors available in my stash. I always used black for the ground/negative (since they all start/connect together). Then I spread the other colors around a bit so that things weren’t so confusing during construction. For example, the decks lights, cabin 2 lights, and marker lights are white wire. Cabin lights 1 and night lights are green while the motor and emergency lights are red. The color of the plastic that surrounds the copper wire makes no difference in how the circuit works, just makes it easier to keep things straight. I used 22 gage wire because it’s what I had. I could have gone smaller, 28 gauge for example, but the smaller the wire the harder it is to work with. I would suggest 22 gauge for your first time. Good question though, Daniel PS, if I were to do it again I would ditch the emergency lighting circuit. I could only find 2 lights on deck that were related to the fire system on board. I’m sure that are more and probably many below deck, but below deck isn’t relevant for my build since you can’t see inside. My favorites as the build has continued are the marker and night light circuits. But you have to have the deck lighting…oh and in my case I have the two cabin lights circuits because I wanted a more realistic look. I have never seen a ship with all its port holes lit up at once, so I have two sets of lights, turn one set on for a scatter port holes lighting, turn the second set on for a different port holes lighting effect or if you are daring turn on both sets and all the port holes will be lit. So many options.

Yes, this is exactly what you need.

Yes, the one I selected does seem to come with the adaptor. I didn’t notice that when I did my search, bonus!

Bill, here is a good choice from Amazon. https://a.co/d/gEG4DrN Most power bricks will come with an end like the one linked above. I would find the correct adapter to build into my base, simple, professional and removable. Also, no alterations required to the power brick. If you look closely on the unit, it shows that the outside ring of the connector is - (negative) while the pin inside is + (positive). You could cut off the end if you wanted to make a permanent connection, but I’d go with a connector. While I do have an AA degree in electronics, I’ve never worked in the field. For the last 25 years I have worked as a chiropractic physician. I can’t tell you how much $ I have saved because I have been able to fix or change things around the house. My only goal here is to help people like you push yourself a bit, just as I push myself, to make my models better than I thought I could. Each one we build will be better than the one before, and that’s a good thing. Oh I almost forgot. If you look closely at the wire of most DC power bricks, you will notice that one of the two wires has a faint usually white stripe and sometimes a +, this will be the positive side of the circuit. The things that are all around us that we never notice, until we know, then that’s all we see…sorry for the philosophical insite. 😂

Bill, here is a quick drawing. I’ve shown it with 3 circuits, but you could have more. As for a power supply, I would choose something between 12-20 volts. If you had an old piece of equipment that had a power brick, I’d check that before buying one. I seem to have a bin of them. The important thing to look for is the output needs to be DC (will be labeled DC or AC, only DC for our use), more than 9 volts but less than 40, and has a 1-3 amp capability. Again, all this info will be printed on the power brick, maybe in very small type, but it will be there. The voltage regulator I suggested above has a small screw that you adjust the output voltage to each color of LED which will be slightly different. Personally I set to a little more than the minimum voltage for the color of LED you will be using. Also, this circuit is in parallel, which means nothing to you at this time, but what it means for the long term is that if one LED burns out, it won’t affect the rest of the LEDs so they will continue to work. This is importance since some LEDs will be inside the hull and once fully planked you will never be able to change one out. I’m sure you remember old Christmas lights where one bulb burned out and they all went out…these were designed in a series configuration which we want to avoid. Last thing to keep in mind, the LEDs have a short and a long lead, short is negative and long is positive. The resistors can be installed in either direction so don’t worry about those; however, the OCD in me will pick one direction and install them all the same way. 😂 Oh, one more thing to think about. Where to “store” all this stuff? I’m building mine into the base which will be hidden but accessible if I want to increase or decrease the brightness of each color. If you build this into the hull, which will work, you will lose the ability to adjust things in the future. The trade off is going to be a more beefy display stand…

Bill, here is more information as promised. First, your warm LEDs: the minimum voltage is 3 volts, the max you will get from 2 AA batteries. If you connect a single LED to your 3 volt supply, it will work. But, if you have 10 LEDs on that same battery source, each LED will draw current and reduce the readily available power. Meaning you start out with 3 volts (2 AA batteries) each LED will decrease voltage by a small amount. So by the time you have 10 LEDs in the circuit, you will have less than 3 volts available and now you don’t have enough voltage to turn on any of them. Also, the more lights you add, the more current draw there is and the faster you drain your battery. so…. The fix to this problem is to use a voltage regulator. Basically you supply (input) more voltage than you will ever need, 9 volts for example. Then the regulator reduces that voltage to a constant set output, 3 volts in your case. As you add more LEDs, the regulator automatically adjusts the output to, you guessed it, 3 volts. The voltage regulator I used can be obtained from Amazon here: https://a.co/d/8F3D2dZ I also used a resistor on each of my LEDs. This is to add extra protection because I’ve installed the LEDs deep into the hull and in places that I could never replace them. So I want them to last forever. If you use a resistor, I suggest a 430 ohm 1/4w resistor which, practically speaking, can safely be used on all your LEDs regardless of color. They are inexpensive and will, in theory, reduce shock to the LEDs prolonging the life of the light and prevent over voltage. The one I used can be found here: https://a.co/d/dYBj2cP I have my lighting currently running on two 9 volt batteries but I plan to run it on a 12 volt power brick that will plug into the wall. Again, 9 or 12 volts is way higher than what I need but my regulators reduce to voltage to what I need for each color set, since they are all different. I also have a 6v motor on my ship to run the propeller, so the minimum voltage I need is 6 volts. The advantage to plugging into the house supply, I’ll never have to change batteries. some things to consider…in my HMS Terror, see build log below, I built the battery into the hull, below the capstan. I thought this to be a good idea at the time, but a 9 volt battery is huge to make room for and design a way to change the battery when it dies. At first it was not a problem, but by the time I had the rigging done, it’s a very difficult process. In my AV, power is supplied off ship and enters through the bottom of the keel. Hidden away but accessible and doesn’t take up any room. i think that’s enough overload for one night. I’m happy to sketch out a basic diagram if you are interested. It wouldn’t take long and likely helpful if you have never done something like this before. Happy planning and building.

Bill, more information for your overload 😊. If you choose to use more than one color, warm white and red for example, it would be best to wire two circuits. What I mean by this is don’t mix the white and red LEDs on the same red wire. The black wire can be share among all the LEDs. If you look at a new LED, you will notice that one lead (wire) will be longer than the other. The long wire is positive and should be connected to the red wires while the short lead connects to the black wire (this is important as the LED won’t work if this is backwards). If you add a resistor to each LED, you can technically add to either the long (red side) or short (black side) of the LED; however, for troubleshooting, always be consistent. I add my resistors always to the long (red) side of the LED. The reason for this is that as you install your LEDs you will likely need to trim the leads to fit and it can be very easy to lose track of what side the black wire should be attached to. You can also look at the LEF case, you will notice that there is a flat portion of the plastic…this is the side that the black wire should attach to. Hope this helps. Ask your questions. While this initially seems hard, once you have it figured out for one light you can easily replicate for 100s making a stunning display.

The two voltages are important. The low number is what is required to turn on the LED, a minimum voltage if you will. The larger number is the do not exceed voltage. In your case, the warm white will require 3volts (2AA batteries) to just turn on the LED. In this setting they may be a bit dim. To get a brighter warm light you would need to add more voltage, but an additional AA battery (4.5 volts) would be way too much and likely burn out the LED. In the case of the red LED, 1.8 volts required to turn on but don’t exceed 2.0 volts. So a single AA battery (1.5v) not enough to turn on the red, but 2 AA batteries (3.0v) would burn them out fairly quickly. This is why we use resistors. To be fair, most LEDs have a plus/minus tolerance of around 20%, meaning you could, with a little risk, use a max voltage of 2.2v for the red LED and probably be okay. Adding a resistor to each LED is not hard and safely protects the LED from over voltage and quick burnout. Resistors are very cheep, can get a 100 of them from amazon for a buck or two. Technically a different size resistor would be required for each color of LED; however, in real world practice, allowing for all the tolerances, the same small 1/4 watt resistor can be used for all the colors. When I get home I can let you know what I used and even provide an Amazon link.

Bill, Mike is correct in that as long as you don’t exceed the voltage requirement for your LEDs, you have everything you need. Now comes the hard part. Each color of LED has a different max voltage, usually stated on the package. In my case, the voltages ranged from 2.3 volts to 3.2 volts and a couple in between. A single AA battery would be 1.5 volts and not enough to turn on most LEDs while two AA batteries is 3 volts and exceeds the 2.3 volt requirements of my green LEDs. While this doesn’t seem like much a difference, .7 volts will cause my green LEDs to be very bright and likely burn out much earlier than they should. Thus the desire to use resistors to protect the LEDs from over voltage. Another option, like what I used on my AV is to use an adjustable voltage regulator. I purchased a 10 pack of these from Amazon for about $12. Using this method, I can have a large input voltage, in my case a 9 volt battery. Way too much voltage for most LEDs, but the cool thing is the output of the device is adjustable. With this scenario, you can set the output voltage to exactly what you need, I.e, 2.3 volts. Also, as you add more LEDs to your build there will be a voltage drain and you can then just turn up the output on the regulator to get back to the 2.3 volts necessary for full brightness. One last advantage is, because it is adjustable, you can to some extent control the brightness of the LEDs. Hope this helps.