so, what sort of power supply does everyone recomend for powering lights, switch machines(controllers) etc.?
For lighting and other ytpe of auxillary equipment I used a 12 volt 3 amp power supply. To power switch machines is totally different. I use Peco motors that require high current to operate reliabily. To do this you need a capacitor discharge unit. Mine attached to the 16v ac outlet of my power suplly. The capacitor discharge unti supplies high voltage and high current for a very short amount of time reducing the risk of damage to the coils of the switch machine.
keyrail, I use a lot of LED's on my layout to indicate turnout position. These are 2 wire bi-color leds. To simplfy the wiring I use 'Bi-Polar' DC. My turnout motors are all Tortoise machines. But it will also work with CapDischarge turnout motors. Bi-Polar DC is constructed by taking two DC power supplies (use whatever voltage you need to operate the turnout motors). The power supplies must be similar. They are wired in series with the (+) of one supply connected to the (-) of the other supply. This common connection feeds a bus wire that runs around my layout. One of the turnout motor connections connects to this bus. SPDT switches connecther the (+) or the (-) supply to the single wire that runs from the panel to the remaining turnout motor connection. This system offers simplified wiring and use of low cost SPDT switches for control. I don't know how to put a diagram of the wiring on this post, so I can't show you graphically how it looks. It is very simple, and your wiring is also easy and quick. Hope this helps.
I use different power supplies for each application. One power unit for just throttle/track power. Another unit for power to my CD Units for switch machines. And another unit for just lighting power. This may sound complicated, but it is not. A cheap toy train transformer work will for switch machines and another for the layout lights. You can pick these transformers up cheap at swap meets, seems that almost every Model Railroader has a couple of them. I do use a good heavy duty power supply for the track power, no use to be cheap there.
