Tried this on the HO board with little luck, hope some of you guys might help. Most locomotives come with an Amber LED for a headlight (KATO being an exception). The solution is the 1.5 V microbulbs, because the white LEDs seem to be too blue. Question is, who's used these bulbs, and do you have to drop the voltage (ie resistors??) to use them. I'm working in DCC, but some of the DC practices may work for DCC. ------------------ Corey Lynch VP - Rensselaer Model RR Society NEB&W RR http://www.rpi.edu/~lynchc/Railfanning/railfanning.htm - My Site http://www.union.rpi.edu/railroad/ - NEB&W
It would be a lot easier to use the white LED. It's a one-to-one replacement. After awhile, you won't notice the blue tint. ------------------ Keep on Track'N Harold Riley www.phcomputing.com
Hence I said I have had little luck. No offence Harold, but I posted here to find out about the micro-bulbs. Heard a lot, but not quite sure how to go about it. If I was gonna use white LEDs, I wouldn't have needed to post the question. Anyway, I have not seen a locomotive with a Yellow headlight, nor have I seen one with a Blue headlight, so until they can perfect the white LED, it's gonna be microbulbs for me! ------------------ Corey Lynch VP - Rensselaer Model RR Society NEB&W RR http://www.rpi.edu/~lynchc/Railfanning/railfanning.htm - My Site http://www.union.rpi.edu/railroad/ - NEB&W
Corey,if memory serves me right (gettin senile ya know) when using DCC all ya gotta do is install the micro bulbs. I believe you can control their voltage via the decoder. ------------------ Catt!
If you have the White/Blue LED, all you have to do is put Gel Wratten #85 filter in front of the LED to correct the color. The theater groups use them to make their blue halogen lighting correct back to an incandescent color. I did several locos so far and it works! You can get it in huge 11 x 18" or something sheets for about $7. ------------------ Robert Ray The NP & UP N-Scale Railroad
And where might one obtain this filter? ------------------ Corey Lynch VP - Rensselaer Model RR Society NEB&W RR http://www.rpi.edu/~lynchc/Railfanning/railfanning.htm - My Site http://www.union.rpi.edu/railroad/ - NEB&W
Something like a filter is definitely needed! We went to a model railway show yesterday, and I saw for the first time Kato "white" headlights - they were VERY blue, I would prefer orange or yellow!! This was in HO locomotives, and when I was in this scale some years ago, all my locomotives had 1.5V bulbs with a set of 6 diodes to give direction controlled constant brightness at all speeds. Not sure about DCC though. Haven't tried this in N scale yet, but may do one to test the system. Fibre-optic is great for getting two headlight lenses from one bulb!! Will see if I can find space for six diodes and a couple of bulbs. ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com http://Andersley.homestead.com http://galleryusarail_tehcaj.homestead.com [This message has been edited by Alan (edited 30 April 2000).]
Ok Corey. Bye from me on the LED subject. ------------------ Keep on Track'N Harold Riley www.phcomputing.com [This message has been edited by sd75mac (edited 30 April 2000).]
Believe it or not...you can find the #85 filter in the dumpster behind the high school auditorium. If you got kids have them ask the performing arts teacher. This stuff is an orange/yellow thin plastic film. Stage lights heat it up, and it wrinkles, then they toss it. When they cut the sheet to size, the trimmings alone are a lifetime supply. Also you can get smaller pieces from the camera supply shop. check these pages: http://tiffen.com/camera_filtersby_ira_tiffen.htm http://207.41.165.39/mpfilter/brochure/Color/color.htm Just start searching the web to find a locak vendor ------------------ Robert Ray The NP & UP N-Scale Railroad
I have 6 HO locomotives which have either pathetic lights or no lights at all. How can I get the pathetic ones to shine much more brightly. I remember reading an article on using diodes to 'steal' the starting current, but where would one fit them in such cramped quarters? Any ideas appreciated. Murray Campbell, New Zealand
16+ year old thread brought back to life! Kids getting license today weren't even born when this thread was created You can use surface mount LEDs to retrofit the stock lights. They have sizes very small, like a millimeter by a millimeter. You can measure and figure out what you need and then decide if you want pre-wired LEDs with leads. YOu can get the sunny white ones from TCS. Here is a link: https://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Products/Supplies/ToolsAndSupplies/LEDs/LEDs.htm Keep in mind that you will need to have a resister to control the amount of current that flows through the LEDs or it will be overpowered and burn out immediately. I'm not an expert at which resistors to use.
With analogue, LEDs with a 1000 ohm resistor in series, usually light up about the same time the motors start to turn. The newer white LEDs got rid of the blue background light and look more sunny or golden white. However, they are quite sensitive to reverse bias voltage spikes that can toast them. The motor generates these spikes when it temporarily looses power which causes a collapsing field in its windings. I place a fast acting Schottky diode in parallel with the diode but in reverse polarity to short them out. I also put a small capacitor across the same point to bridge the forward polarity spikes that pop up when the locomotive is in reverse and momentarily looses power when it hits dirty spots in the track. The LEDs just flash without the cap but it is kind of annoying when you are backing up and the light randomly flashes.
It's Christmas! Go buy a set of LED Christmas lights that are golden white. No reason to settle for blue-white these days. Open the box and be sure of the size. For N scale need smaller. HO can obviously go bigger. Also check the LED lens form- it it domed (desirable) or concave (I would think less desirable.). Sometimes there is some kind of cap you can pull off. Then you will have a supply for YEARS to come at a cheap price. That's what I did.
This is a great response for an adaptive circuit Russell! It isn't any simpler than that to balance out flicker. I have done the same thing with my lighted Kato passenger car LED's, and that really minimizes the flicker. Doesn't get rid of it completely, but dials it back enough to hardly notice.
If you need a few LED's I would recommend this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-x-Su...25deg-white-/122037486372?hash=item1c6a004324 I bought 300 for 3 bucks.
