I was wondering how well these work and also is it possible to adapt them to the older shorter Arnold passenger cars. I would like to use them in longer as well as shorter cars.
I use them in MT heavyweights. They work well, but you have to keep an eye on the batteries so they don't start leaking. Haven't tried shortening one very much, but it should be doable.
Started this thread a few years ago. http://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/easy-peasy-car-lighting-system.61390/ I eventually decided not to go with them because the expense of replacing batteries and because I saw a difficulty in trying to shorten them. I believe the Centralia cars came with them at one time and I also had issues with turning the lights on and off with the wand.
For the Cars that were light equipped I used Kato light packages in Kato cars. I am aware of Z scale light packages that would work in short. N scale cars and are carried by a company that is not a board advertiser. These folks put light and sound into a 60 foot MT RPO. IF you PM me I can give you the company web link, they are primarily a electronics supplier.
I am in HO scale, and all my passenger cars are internally lit using Jim Betz's circuit with a supercapacitor (Google it). Very economical to build yourself, no batteries needed, and with very good flicker-free performance.
Reading Jim Bertz's information, I'm still not sure where the original electricity or power comes from. I'm not highly electronic so I assume I'm missing something.
Track power through the wheels/truck assembly to the circuit board. Fully charged, it will hold power for at least a full minute, and no on/off switches to hassle with. Are you on DC or DCC?
Me too, so that makes it simpler for the circuit. You can build the circuit in any shape you want to fit the cars or the available space.
