I have a number of shorter N Scale passenger cars that I wish to add lighting. I have considered shortening N Scale Easy Peasy, but at the time I planned to do it, they were not available. I see that they are back in stock. I also wondered about using Z passenger lighting, but I having trouble getting any specs on them. I also wondered if there were any other ideas out there for this. My trains are DC and I believe I would like to use battery power instead of track current power. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Jim
There are some eBay items I have seen that look kind-of homemade/custom that use short segments of LED strip lighting. You could look for something like that or make your own. ESU makes light strips in both DC and DCC that can be snapped to length. They are a bit on the high side in price, and check to see how much you will need to break off. They are mostly for HO, so you might be wasting a lot of length. What about Kato lighting kits? Can they be modified for other car lengths? I’m just throwing out some things I have seen.
The passenger cars I am attempting to light up are older Arnold cars that measure 4.625 inches long so the lighting strip would need to be approximately 4 inches long.
I found an article on shortening Easy Peasy light strips that may help. http://www.tophobbytrains.com/easy-peasylightinginshortercars.aspx And another option would be to look a Z scale car lighting.
I don't see where I can take the Easy Peasy to a short enough length since I probably need to go down to appx. 4 inches. Also, I don't see any Z scale lighting that is battery powered.
I have seen quite a few Japanese modelers have lit Bandai cars which are around 30 N scale feet so your answer may lay in Japan. And a lot of the Z scale stuff seems to be designed only for the manufactures cars which use track pick-up. Streamlined Backshop produced lighting kits but has run any for awhile.
I would even like to find instructions on how to create my own custom length battery operated LED light panel.
Have you tried an extensive Google search? And I am surprised that some of the electronic gurus here have not chimed in yet.
Train Tech lighting in England may make what you are looking for. They can be cut down. http://www.train-tech.com/index.php/lighting/interior-coach-lighting
These are perfect as you say, but they are $25 a piece plus shipping from the UK. That is quite a bit when the Easy Peasys are appx. $7. I'm willing to cut and solder a lot for the difference, but thanks for locating that option.
Is anyone out there that can give me a list of the required components and a schematic so I can make these units for myself?
Still looking in my spare time and found one article where I gent uses small strips of LEDs. But he goes to track power. I would think that no more than two or three LEDs would work probably off a single battery. The next issue is turning them on and off probably with a Reed switch.
It depends on how advanced you want to go. Using Surface Mount LEDs is going to be your best bet. Through Hole LEDs will take up a ton of space in an N scale car, but SMDs are hard to solder without a PC board, which isn’t something you can just “kitbash”. You would need resistors unless you can get a battery that puts out the correct voltage. Check the specs of the LED to see what you need. Most batteries are 1.5 volts. Your main problem is going to be turning them on and off without totally disassembling the car every time. That is why I prefer track power lighting. Since you are DC though, that may be out of the question.
Knowing what you know, do you think that I could successfully cut down the N Scale Easy Peasy to the size I need? It has the switch, battery holder and all. I am willing to sacrifice some of the lighting , but still need the complete circuit. My concern is whether I can end up with a complete circuit, but I don't mind adding all the jumpers required.
I would direct this question to the folks who market and who make them. That way you can know direct what cut down could be done. I would word my question with a detailed measurement of the space in the car. And that would be the folks at Rapido trains.
Don't know enough about the electronics of connecting multiple SMD LEDs, but I use PCB tie material (left over from a past lives hand-laying code 40 Nn3 track and code 55 HOn3 track) to make power busses for soldering multiple wires together when installing decoders... ... Just a thought: Perhaps a simple "PCB" for a SMD LEDs connected in parallel might be fashioned from PCB tie material, either N scale or HO scale, depending on the size of the SMDs you are using. Cut the necessary length of PCB tie stock, and use a dremel cutting disc (maybe even just a hobby knife?) to rout a channel down the middle of the conductor, separating it into two parallel conductors. Tin the conductors with solder, place the LEDs across the "gap," and solder them in place. Attach the power leads wherever is convenient along the length. Of course, you will have to work out the details of resistors and battery holder...
That is actually a pretty good solution and something I didn't even think of. The only problem now is getting the LEDs to operate safely. LEDs in parallel usually need a resistor on each one, not just one resistor at the base of the leg to control them all. However, if you are operating the power supply within the safe voltage of the LED, you can omit the resistor. A small button battery may allow you to do this. If you can find a small magnet switch like the Rapido lighting kit uses, you may be able to build your own knockoff Easy Peasy system
I did just find an article on cutting the Easy Peasy on another forum. If looks like the only real modification is soldering a jumper to complete the circuit after you cut it. http://www.tophobbytrains.com/easy-peasylightinginshortercars.aspx
Model Train Technology has some really nice DCC passenger light kits. Streamlined Backshop stocks them.
