Brawa Plugs and Junction Blocks arrived

I was talking about some of my disappointment with the LED plug-in lights from Brawa. I now believe that the problem may have been the relatively unregulated voltage that I was using. I'm going to change my power to 12vDC 'fixed' voltage (former power supply to an external hard drive) which will solve the problem (I assume).

I also mentioned that I was going to order the Brawa pin sockets and junction boxes as recommended in the instructions. I doubt these will do anything to change the incorrect voltage, but they certainly will make the connections and wiring of non-track accessories on my layout much simpler. The idea is to use Red and Black wires for my 12v DC LED wired buildings (see this post) and a Yellow and Brown set of wires and connectors for another 12V system for the lights from Brawa (and other street lights). And finally, all buildings or connector blocks will be connected via Kato-like Tamiya connectors. The idea is that the entire layout will be completely 'plug and play'! No more twisting of wires, etc...! I have to commend Reynaulds for very fast delivery and for having the items in stock! That's always a challenge when ordering online for anything that's not a typical US prototype!

Not sure if you can tell from the photo, but my layout has an abundance of accessory lighting! I have an obsession (one might say OCD?) with every building at least having some light source, and with every street or corner having a street light or other appropriate light. Sigh, I am not even close. This Brawa system should, at least, clean up some of the tangles under the layout, and then I can have a very slick looking wire set up under the layout (today...its very embarrassing!).

Product Comments: Brawa pin socket LED lights

When I first came across these novel lighting products from German manufacturer Brawa, I was blown away with what a great idea these were! Brawa has produced N Scale lights that use a small metal pin which is inserted into a socket that you install in your layout, allowing for flexibility and stability that is hard to achieve with other alternatives. Additionally, they are LEDs which means that you get a light that will last much longer than a conventional incandescent bulb, plus low heat, and low power consumption. The 'plug and play' simplicity of the pins and sockets mean that you can change light fixtures as you wish, and if you need to replace a bad bulb (in theory with LED's, a rare occurrence?), changing the bulb/light fixture cannot be easier.

I love this idea and despite the relatively hefty per light price, it seems like a good investment. A Brawa 4000 (single, curved street light) goes for about USD $11-13. Brawa's similar non-Led and traditional wire version is about 30% less at USD $7-8. Of course, you can go with the very cheap Model Power versions, where you can get a pack of 3 for about $6-9. I don't care much for the Model Power versions despite the price (they just look cheap to me). Brawa has a similar 'traditional' model as well (the #4596) but this has the same challenges and limitations as the Model Power lights.



Brawa continues to come out with new light styles, with remarkable quality for N scale, allowing you to change lights or 'upgrade' if you find something that better creates the ambiance you are looking for. Take a look at the picture of the two lanterns near my cathedral.

The only 'down side' with these lights is that they are definitely the 'blue-ish' white type of LED's, and not the more 'warm white' versions that I think most of us prefer. This seems acceptable for street lights, which can often be 'blue or green-ish' (except for the Netherlands, where all the lights are quite orange! I've always wondered what the reason for that is, other than the obvious Orange symbollism...anyway, I digress).

The trick with installation is that you should ensure you have a 5.5mm drill bit (or the closest thing possible) and a power drill to bore the hole for the socket. Don't go too far, otherwise your drill will leave a bit of an impressions on your sidewalk, for example (ugh, also see my sidewalk around the 'socket' in my second-from-top photo)!

Unfortunately, I have to report that my experience has not been great. Of the 18 that I currently have or have had installed on the layout, 9 of them no longer work! The instructions imply that these lights should be used with the Brawa plugs, plate, and cables connected to a 12-16v power supply (the non-LED, non pin socket versions specify 14-16v AC for longest life, but no preference for AC or DC in the LED pin socket instructions is specified).


My connection is to an AC transformer with a max of 18VAC. Its likely that the max voltage was turned up one too many times and some of the LED's were fried (not not all of them, and the ones that went dark seem to do so individually). Additionally, the instructions state not to remove the lights with the power on. Yep, I've done that before. However, I've always noticed the the lights continued to work on those few times when I removed them from the socket with the power on. I've also noticed a curious decrease in the LED's brightness which I now recongize as an early sign that the light will soon fail altogether.

Its a mystery to me why I have a failure rate of 50%, which is clearly not acceptable! Something has to change! The Brawa fixtures look great, although I am adding in some Viessmann lights which look just as good with traditional bulbs. I am going to change my power supply, and because I like simple, clean, and easy to connect type of arrangements for wiring (just like with Unitrack), I will probably order the Brawa plates and plugs (I still have enough 4000, 4020, and others already installed and waiting to be installed to make this salvage effort worth it). If any reader with more electrical knowledge than me (which is near zero) has any suggestions that might help, I'd like to hear from you. Otherwise, at this point, I have to say this esteemed and high quality German manufacturer seems to have a great product concept, but it has been a disappointing experience for me (so far).