Dinky little wired lights

SteamDonkey74 Oct 26, 2007

  1. SteamDonkey74

    SteamDonkey74 TrainBoard Supporter

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    I am looking to customize a steam locomotive kit and I want to add some lights to it. I am looking for dinky little lights, namely a headlight and a tail-light, with or without mountings. I will be wiring them up to a decoder so that I can front and rear light action depending on the direction of the locomotive.

    I can figure out how to wire it, but is there some common source for little lights, preferably something like and LED where burnout is less of an issue, for locomotives.

    Oh yeah, I am working in N scale.

    Adam
     
  2. SteamDonkey74

    SteamDonkey74 TrainBoard Supporter

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    If it makes any difference the frame I am modifying has resistor dropping the voltage to the motor. I will be using either a TCS M1 decoder or a Digitrax DZ143 (or maybe a DZ123) decoder. The light will be fed into a hole drilled through a resin casting and so the leads should be a about an inch and a half long or more. I am going to have to train a couple of gnats to drag the wire through for me.
     
  3. SteamDonkey74

    SteamDonkey74 TrainBoard Supporter

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    Also... the lights don't HAVE to have wires attached to the, though it would be handy. It would also be handy if the light itself was no bigger than about a millimeter or two on each side of its face (or in radius if it is round) and no longer than about three or four millimeters.

    I guess I am looking for product suggestions from people who have experience doing this.

    Adam
     
  4. 2slim

    2slim TrainBoard Member

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    Richmond Controls

    Adam,
    These guys have surface mount LED's which they use for N Scale caboose markers. They have red, green, yellow & white available from what I recall.

    2slim
     
  5. Ray Stilwell

    Ray Stilwell TrainBoard Member

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    The spec sheet for the TCS M1 lists resisror values for bulbs. but not LEDs. If you use the "blue" wire power source, a 1000 ohm, .25 watt resistor would be good for each LED.

    Richmond controls and many electronics houses offer LEDs. You'd probably need to find 1mm or 1.5mm dia or turn down the more common 3mm LEDs. I think surface mount units might be a pain to install, but they are small.

    Remember that LED light is very directional so it won't light numberboards while illuminating the headlight like a bulb will.

    You could consider grain-of-rice bulbs. They're very small and the TCS M1 provides 1.5v power for them. See the chart in the directions.

    Walthers, as well as many LHS, probably have grain-of-rice bulbs .
     
  6. SteamDonkey74

    SteamDonkey74 TrainBoard Supporter

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    I talked to the guy at my LHS, who actually knew most of the answers to my questions, and ended up buying a pack of grain of rice bulbs. I will take a look at my M1 instructions again and, if necessary, get some resistors for these.

    I just like the pre-wires character of these little bulbs, and with an estimated life of 500 hours it won't be a huge deal when I have to desolder on and put in its replacement.

    Thanks to everyone for their answers. I will come back to this if I have problems.

    Adam
     
  7. Ray Stilwell

    Ray Stilwell TrainBoard Member

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    If you use a dropping resistor to drop the lamp voltage, you can extend the life. In fact double the life at least.

    Try using a 1.5v battery and different resistances to see how much resistance you can use and still have enough brightness. You could start with the 390 ohms suggested for the 1.5v output of the TCS M1 decoder. then try 470 ohms, etc. until the minimum brightness you can stand is reached. Then use that value resistor from the decoder red or black power wire to the lamp.
     
  8. dstuard

    dstuard TrainBoard Member

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    Richmond Controls also sells white surface mount LEDs with #30 enameled wire attached. Surface mount LEDs don't have the acrylic lenses that "normal" LEDs have and thus emit light in all directions.

    Maybe a consideration...
     
  9. SteamDonkey74

    SteamDonkey74 TrainBoard Supporter

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    I will do this. I am going to buy an assortment of resistors today or tomorrow and give this a shot. It looks like it's going to rain a lot this weekend, and I am sort of grounded anyway because I am smoking some fish for Thanksgiving (parents recommended it) and so I have that to tend.

    I understand the basic theories of electricity, but I am not always all that wonderful at implementing it. This kind of message is really helpful. Thanks!

    Adam
     

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