Hello everyone I just purchased my first 'real' engine- a $30 Athearn UP GP38-2. I am impressed with most of the details, but I would really enjoy trying to detail it a little more. I haven't detailed a car yet, I'm just starting out. Anyway, I want to make realistic headlights. I can guess that I will probably need to buy some small LEDs to use in the two existing holes under the horn, but I would also like to add 2 headlights along the edge of the front walkway (as I've seen them there in protype photos). Can anyone offer tips on how to install the 2 lower healights and also how to wire them all together? I can imagine that they can all be daisy chained to the pickups that the current light uses, but would there be a signifigant voltage difference I need to account for? I am sure that with trial and error I'll get a quick answer, but in the mean time, I thought I'd throw the question out to you all. Thanks for the help- Dave
Hi Dave - welcome to trainboard. I don't do much work with LEDs so I can't tell you if they make them small enough to fit in the headlight openings. I use 1.5v, 15ma, 1.2mm diameter bulbs made by Miniatronics Miniatronics's web site these stay very cool in the headlight openings, and when they are used as individual headlights, they are very effective. You may want to use 30ma bulbs instead. These run a little bit hotter, but still are cool enough. I don't use these, because I use Digital Command Control, and want to keep the amperage as low as possible for the electronics. Warning: You can't wire the 1.5v bulbs directly to the track voltage (12v) or they will blow (and they do that right away) There are several options - you can use a resistor in series with the bulbs to drop the voltage (the size of the resistor depends on the amps of the bulb.) OR - and for a DC locomotive like the Athearn I think this is the best way - you can use diodes wired in parallel with the motor and wire the bulbs to the diodes - this will have a 1.5v drop to the motor (required a bit extra umph to get the loco going ) but will give you constant bulb brightness. Click here to see how it is done The lights on the front walkway are called ditch lights. These can be quite a challenge to wire, as the bulbs are only slightly smaller than the ditch light castings. These are made by details west - http://www.detailswest.com Here's an Athearn SD40-2 with ditch lights, headlights and an operating rotary beacon on top. The beacon requires a rather involved circuit and the above links show you where to buy one, or how to make one. DCC decoders include the logic.
