Ok...I am sure it's been asked a hundred times...but I cant find the answer sooooooooo....... Why would any manufacturer of diesel locomotives today put a dim greenish/yellowish headlight or rear light in a NEW diesel locomotive ?? One would think with todays technology a bright WHITE led could be used...even on the original DC board !! Will a bright white led not work on either a DC or DCC system? Why would the consumer have to fiddle and desolder the old led to put a different brighter one in ??? I just dont get it :-( THE Wife bought herself an E5...nice bright lights !! She also bought me an ES44AC.. the lights sux at best !!!! The ditchlight brighneess is pretty much nonexistant !!! It bothers me...yea. Mostly because THE Wife giggles everytime her locomotive passes mine and blinds the engineer... :-( Any logical and truthful answers would be appreciated so I can at least TRY and explain it away to her and myself. TIA
The product research and development committees at many manufacturers spend endless hours debating the merits of each type of LED. After many donuts and cups of coffee they finally come to a consensus. Which in all probability, will be quite different from a similar decision made the week before. We are lucky they do not recommend kerosene lamps.
What Russell said plus they probably only had one guy who was ever near a locomotive and that was when it was on a siding with its light dimmed. Plus they are cheap and got a bargin on those yellow LEDs.
Just to add... If this was some flakey manufacturer it may be understandable. But this is a top notch manufacturer by all accounts I've read.
My Kato MP-36 Metra has an almost green headlight, Kato made the light tubes amber and the TCS decoder's LED has a blue cast. Go figure?? Bob.
One of my Bmann 70 tonners has the funky yellowish light also. But that is okay since I'm using the mech for one of my Class A Climax locos and it has an oil light.
I prefer the "golden white" LEDs. But for some reason Kato has decided that using "white" LEDs and a tinted light tube will give the correct color.
Kato E5 has a yellow that is supposed to more accuate for the 1940's. Another thought, there was a time when the headlight was only lit during the nighttime so it would have been off all day. Since most of us model daylight hours there shouldn't be a headlight on no matter what the color, if your period is far enough back.
Can't edit, but Kato said this was because of the locations of some of the LEDs on the lightboards, that they couldn't use "golden white" SMD LEDs. However many decoder manufacturers can...so from the parts dept, you can get "non-tinted" light tubes for I know the U30Cs, and these will fit the C30-7s.
Also the SD70ACes - made a BIG difference. Ya gotta thank them for being responsive but cuss them for not doing it right in the first place...Be interesting to see what the FVM GP60s will have - I know Matt has probably taken a lot of flack over the yelow on the ES44/GEVOs. But that was an easy swap out...
Understandable on the E5. Period correct lights very well may have been yellow. We bought a Kobo shops DCC installed unit. The lights are bright white. More appropriate for our era (1990-2012). Its for THE Wifes excursion train and an E5 modern rebuild would most likely have whiter lights. On the other hand...earlier era modelers running DCC possibly cuss the whiter lghts ;-) The ES44AC on the other hand...hmmmmmm. For a locomotive built in the mid 2000's it wouildnt/didnt have yellow headlights. Like Jim says...Matt has probably taken lots of flack for that. Beautiful locomotive. Great detail. And I aint even a rivet counter !!! If the problem is somehow ON the board then using a 6 pin decoder socket was probably the wrong choice...as changing it over from DC to DCC doesnt change the light color ;-) Which btw still leaves the guys running DC with a yellow/green dim headlight. Like Jim also said...changing the light to white may be easy....BUT...in this day and age we shouldnt have to. Something as simply as the correct headlight color from the get go should be a research and QC issue. The only disappoint I can really find on the thing though...and its a biggy to me. :-(
Lights, lights and more lights George, which ES44 did you get, Kato or Fox Valley? I am not all that happy with Kato or FVM for their poor choices in lighting, and can not buy any new Kato because of all the wrong paint. Decoders usually take care of the dim issue on Kato, but only a new LED can fix a FVM. As for the light tube swaps, Kato should give those away for free.
Its the FVM David. My first FVM purchase too. Thought it only fair to get a FVM something to throw in the mix of locomotives I have. Yea...a light swap...grrrrrrrrr....not something I wanna do. Not that I cant...I just dont wanna !!! So it will go on as a yellow/green dim light and gnaw at me everytime it turns around on the layout and comes back my way.
"There was a time when the headlight was on only during the nighttime..." True enough, and most of the famous Con-Cor Hudsons don't even come with a headlight. But for "daylight" modeling, where you see the trains, that's really not a problem.
True if you are modeling older era trains...not true of 'modern era' trains. By federal law locomotives must have headlights on while moving. That being said...the ES44AC is a 'modern' locomotive...hence the lights should be on all the time...while moving. The problem being...the headlight is yellow/greenish and not the bright white it should be for a mid 2000's locomotive. Just annoying that such a locomotive DIDNT come from the manufacturer with the correct 'color' headlight. Other then an "ooopppssss" I'm not sure we got a definative answer on why FVM went yellow/green and not white. I really doesnt matter at this point anyways...it is what it is ;-)
I'm not sure if you guys understand the process of how many manufacturers make the trains we get. 1. The designer get the go ahead to do the designs. He does his research and specifies thing like the colors and parts to be used. Their research show a headlamp with a color of 4500°K. 2. The engineer takes the designs alters the design to be able to be produced. Cad drawings and sometimes tooling is made. They also spec out the parts to be used. Can't find LEDs with a 4500°K color. One with a color of 4000°K are speced. 3. Accounting goes over the specs of the parts and a 4000°K LED cost $10 per thousand more than generic Yellow/White ones. The loco now has Yellow/White LEDs 4. Designs, specs and tooling is sent to China to produce models. The test model are sent back tho the corporation for approval. The designer is disappointed, the engineer annoyed and the accountant is elated and offer the factory a 5% bonus to make it cheaper. 5. The factory owner takes the offer and the model is produced at a 5% saving to the manufacturer but actually save 20% by using paint colors similar to the ones speced, motors that a tested one per thousand rater than every one and yellow LED that he got surplus. Four workers are killed by a mold that fails because of alterations to save 5% more plastic. The 20% overun in production is cut to 5% because of the loss of the mold. 6. The models are lightly assembled and sent to North America and the rest of the world. 7 You go to the Hobby Shop, buy the loco, go home and then complain on the web on how badly the trains are made.
"The test model are sent back tho the corporation for approval. The designer is disappointed, the engineer annoyed and the accountant is elated and offer the factory a 5% bonus to make it cheaper." So its NOT the manufactures fault other then they need to fire some accountants and everything will be fine ? Who woulda thought it could possibly be that easy ! :teeth:
But...What if the manufacturer is the designer/engineer/accountant all rolled into one....OPPPPSSSSSssssss. ;-) :wink:
