I am looking to make my own signals using these signal heads: https://www.shapeways.com/product/G6SUJE8SU/n-15x-color-light-signal-3-lights?li=shareProduct What size LED do you think would fit? I am having trouble figuring out what to use.
yep, they are. I can do about 10-15 in about 90 minutes, and that’s it at that size for the day; but can then get another 15-20 0603s soldered, since it then feels as if I am working in a macro scale
Along these lines, am I smoking something to think a single LED can be programmed to emit red, amber and green without having to install 3 LEDs (and all those wires thru the pole) or a single RYG LED in a signal head? Also found this: QuadLN_S signal boards. Signal info here https://www.n3ix.com/pers/mr/n-scale-searchlight-signals/ Found a video on youtube about GRS Searchlight signals you might find interesting. On a side note, is fiber optic rod available small enough and flexible enough to fit in a signal head, be threaded down the post and be actuated/illuminated by a subsurface LED?
Not sure of the size and you still need 3 wires. I'd compare the size of one of those LED's comparted to three 0402 SMD LED's (red, green, amber). You could cut the 6 wires for three of those down to 4 wires (3 positive/1 negative). The 0402's are really small.... I used them above and you can get them prewired from amazon and other outlets cheap. If you used magnet wire you could even reduce the wire bundle size even more. Sumner
Is 40AWG magnet wire insulated well enough to thread thru a brass tube in multiple without shorting? The way this is looking for me right now, I'm looking at just getting presoldered lead 0402s in red, green and yellow, and putting a trio of them in each signal head. Considering I only have 8 signal heads to build, that's not terrible.
I ended up going with separate color 0402 from here: https://lighthouseleds.com/pre-wire...gle-12v-pre-wired-led-green-ultra-bright.html The signal bridge I am using is 3d printed from shapeways with no channel for the wires, so I haven't figured out how to hide them yet. The hardest part of getting the wires in small spaces is the pre-soldered and heat-shrinked resistor on the red lead.
I'd say yes if you are careful with it and don't scrape the insulation off. People twist the wires to LEDs in installs and they don't short there or in motor windings. Sumner
Does the resistor need to be right near the LED or can it be relocated out of sight? To be honest, the prototype needs to have conduit reaching from the signal head to the ground and into the instrument house (shack). The wires can be bundled neatly along the structure of the signal bridge just like the real thing.
It can be out of sight and if you need something really small there look at the different sized SMD ones, available also in 0402 size. I believe the one I used in the picture above was actually a 1206 or maybe a 0603 (not home so can't check) and it is still very small. You might also be able to get away with only one resistor if only one LED at a time is powered. I do this at times on decoder installs and only use one resistor for the forward and rear light on the loco if only one is lit at a time, Sumner
