I need some help here! I really like the white blue "BRIGHT" led on the snoots! Does anybody know if these can be used on other units? Is there a lot of soldering ,cutting hard to do labor? I would love to have these on my Dash 9's! Thank you everyone in advance. God Bless! Dave
Yes, they can be used in other units. I took out the back LED (not needed in my opinion)and added it in one of my C44's. To take the old one out, I simply put a soldering iron on both of the metal tabs that stick into the circuit board until the solder was hot enought that the white LED fell out. I did this to the front LED on my -9 also. Then just make the swap. I'm not sure if I had to cut one down or not to make it fit. Any way, good luck! Craig Martyn ------------------
Rather than going to that trouble, wouldn't purchasing the white LED's be a better proposition? Yes, they are more expensive but undoubtedly less than making a mistake with an OEM Kato light board. Just my thoughts on this. Gary. ------------------ Gary A. Rose The Unofficial TC&W page N to the Nth degree!
I wouldn't exactly say that's true Gary. Here are my thoughts, the Kato LED's are speacial in the fact that they are a LOT whiter than other LED's on the market. If you do buy white LED's from some store, you will still have to solder them in anyway (just like with my method). And also, I left the front LED in for good on my "snoot", I only messed with the back one, and in my opinion, you don't really need the back one so if you mess it up......who cares (I'll still sleep like a baby). Just my thoughts. Craig ------------------ BLMA(best looking models around) Custom painting and detailing [This message has been edited by Craig Martyn (edited 18 May 2000).]
Actually, I have had a couple of strange things like that happen to me also. So I guess were both "weird". LOL ------------------ Craig Martyn BLMA(best looking models around) Custom painting and detailing
One thing Craig forgot to mention is that you MUST be sure the replacement LED is installed with the same polarity. Look at the LED installed on the board. You'll see a design called a "flag". Be sure the new LED is installed with the flag going the correct way. ------------------ Keep on Track'N Harold Riley www.phcomputing.com
When I saw the headlights on my 'snoots', I knew I had to have them on other units! Like Craig, I will move the back-up light and use these to replace some headlights on other locomotives. So everytime I get a new Kato, I will also get another 'spare' headlight ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery Alan's European Gallery Alan's British Steam Gallery
Craig, I can appreciate your ideas on the rear lighting. If it's not in your operating profile to have them, then well and good. But, there will need to be another source for the same type of LED if someone wants to uprgade an older loco and keep the rear light on the SD. Kato does not make LED's. They get them from a supplier. In fact, I would say they get the whole LED assembly comes from an outside source. That supplier is supplied from a manufacturer or distributor. It's a matter of finding out who produced the LED and then finding a distributor in the US, or wherever, for that particular brand. Unfortunately, LED's are not marked by manufacturer as far as I know. Another thought occured... you will need as many SD 'snoots' (or standards) as your other locos to upgrade them all equally. Gary. (Devil's Advocate ) ------------------ Gary A. Rose The Unofficial TC&W page N to the Nth degree!
Don't different color LEDs need different resistor values? Is the resistor that is part of the OEM Kato board for the yellow LED enough to handle the new White LED? Or is it too close to matter? P.S. If you can't see all the posts that the main page says there are, just hit the REFRESH button in your browser's tool bar. Then they will appear. ------------------ Mike Drzycimski Arlington, TX The Southview Lines www.crosswinds.net/~mdrzycimski [This message has been edited by mdrzycimski (edited 19 May 2000).]
90% of my DCC units now have white LED's in the front. R u guys looking a white LED's? ------------------ Keep on Track'N Harold Riley www.phcomputing.com
Didn't I read somewhere that a white LED is actually three LED's in one? The primary colours, I expect. ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery Alan's European Gallery Alan's British Steam Gallery
How many volts/amps do these lights draw. I have some ideas for some aplications in HO scale and are woundering If I can use track power (my layout averages 12 to 18 volts depending on what I have running and the power setup) ------------------ Theres no such thing as having to many coal hoppers or GP40-2 when you model Chessie System LONG LIVE THE KITTEN!!! LONG LIVE BIG BLUE!!!
Gats, You said that I will have to buy as many "snoots" as the rest of my fleet to convert the older units, BUT, I am getting the LED's from a supplier, the only reason I used the one from the back of the "snoot" was that I thought it would be a lot better in an older (previously yellow LED) locomotive, and I was right. Also, the LED's don't have to be all the same color. The blue in both is just about the same and I almost never have locomotives running side by side to compare so the color isn't a big issue. Any way, these are just my thoughts. ------------------ Craig Martyn BLMA(best looking models around) Custom painting and detailing
My mistake, Craig. You note a difference in the 'colour' of the new Kato supplied LED over those you have bought previously? That in itself is interesting, though expected. Now comes the the detective work. Who supplies whom, and what are the differences? Gary. ------------------ Gary A. Rose The Unofficial TC&W page N to the Nth degree!
OK, here is one thing that I have noticed. You hear people talking about how the Kato LED's are blue, when infact they are almost ALL WHITE, and when compared to other LED's (sold on the market),there THE best! Now, with Kato's LED's I noticed that they look "fogged over", but the ones that I get from Digi-Key are very clear. So I think that the LED's start out the same but are then dipped or sprayed with a color corrector to make them appear more white. But any way, this makes sence to me, though it might be right or it might be wrong. Even with all of this said, the Digi-Key white LED's are just a tad blue (but not bad at all), and the price is right! Any more input? ------------------ Craig Martyn BLMA(best looking models around) Custom painting and detailing
I saw somewhere, I think it was from Ted Curphy (Funnelfan) that if you paint a thin coat of yellow on the LED it will correct the blue tint. ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery Alan's European Gallery Alan's British Steam Gallery
I like the white LED's so much, I've installed 24 of them on some of my Digitrax boards and gave a couple to Craig for his enjoyment. Now I see Digi-Key has another customer ------------------ Keep on Track'N Harold Riley www.phcomputing.com
That's an interesting observation, Craig. It might be some treatment of the lens to distort the light frequency. Plus Alan's post regarding a yellow tint indicates a different path for a similar result. Oh, they joys of physics! Gary. ------------------ Gary A. Rose The Unofficial TC&W page N to the Nth degree!
You got that right Harold! I love those things! ------------------ Craig Martyn BLMA(best looking models around) Custom painting and detailing
