Got this beauty of a caboose from Rapido and it says you can add batteries for the marker lights Who was done this? How did you do it. This is what the instruction shows but I can't even get that cupola to even wiggle. And a close up shows tabs but.....??????
It's a long thread but two key posts. https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=55826.msg791954#msg791954 https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=55826.msg793867#msg793867
Thanks for the links MK.......I may have to try trimming my tabs. But honestly, the lights are so useless, I probably won't bother. As noted, the lights are so dim, they are virtually useless, even in a totally dark room. Too bad because it's a nice caboose otherwise. It IS poorly designed though.............the tabs are front and rear of the cupola, which is also where the smokestacks are and getting my fat fingers into the gap isn't easy.........it would have been much easier if the tabs were on the sides. The instructions, at least on the early releases, were also pretty poor........mine didn't show anything about how the batteries were oriented, or even what batteries were required. I just took a guess based on my Rapido passenger cars. They DID get an updated version on the website though, but it wasn't easy to find.
Thanks MK! That helps I guess. I'll give it a try again this afternoon and see how it goes. I may do something to trim the tabs a little like suggested in the linked post assuming I get it open without breaking anything.
I trimmed the tabs on mine and it does make access a bit easier. It's a bit dicey getting the cupola off but squeeze as best as you can. I actually inserted a chisel blade from a hobby knife as a wedge to help but you have to be mindful not to shave off the tabs or scar up the paint. So far the one caboose I've powered up has drained two sets of batteries within a couple of days and that is with the lights powered off. Somehow it still drains them. I have two other cabooses to test on and see if the same results but these things are so dim when lit I am not motivated to try at this time. They are nice looking though so not too upset about it.
It was a battle but I got it off finally based on all the tips you guys provided. But the batteries didn't show up until late yesterday so they are not installed yet.
I'm jealous........you have AC units instead of the easy to break smoke stacks. And mine does the same thing to batteries that Freddy_Fo reported.......the first time, I figured I had left the lights on (since it's so hard to tell they're on), but it's now burned thru 3 sets of batteries and the lights have probably been on a total of 2 minutes. It seems to burn thru batteries just sitting there. I also noticed that the cupola gets easier to remove with each battery change.....guess it's self filing the tabs. If it eats another set of batteries, it will become an "unlighted" caboose for the remainder of it's life........I could see putting a set in for a train show weekend, but the lights are so dim, noone would notice anyway, so why bother.
For me , it's not worth the effort. And if it's happening on multiple units, there's a QC issue at Rapido. But good point on a possible fix.
Obviously, it’s gotta be the AC unit that @MRLdave was talking about. A wood or coal stove with the chimney wouldn’t have that problem!
Yes.....the AC could be running the batteries down, but mine has the chimneys and it still drains the batteries.........maybe they have an electric toilet?
I always thought using batteries was, at best, a second-rate solution especially when there is ample power in the two rails that the caboose rides on. I got lighted flashing EOT devices that are completely truck contained and the components cost mere pennies.
A long time ago I gave up on battery powered because it was eating batteries in a short time. Happened with the Rapido passenger cars. I use Kato track powered cabooses for part of my fleet. Lights at both ends and are bi-directional. Nice and bright.
I assumed rail pickup would be how this was done but they went back to batteries on these. My first rapido pax cars were/are battery operated but they shipped with the batteries in place and if you forgot about them they would do as old alkaline batteries do and leak out making a mess of things. The later produced Rapido Canadian pax car set did come with track power but no meaningful flicker control and I've yet to figure out how put a capacitor in those and may eventually replace them with ESU or modeltraintech boards. I'm also not a fan of the magnetic wand activation they use and prefer DCC control. When I get the get the motivation I plan to dive in and try to install dcc activated lighting. There should be enough room to install a moderate cap pack and a nice function only decoder to take advantage of the DCC on-off.
