USA Trains N-W 2 headlights

[CHRIS MOLNAR]

Hello out there, I have a USA Trains N-W 2 Locomotive and I'am using an Aristocraft 5480 Basic train engineer with an Aristocraft 5460 power supply. The headlights do not function when power is applied but the loco runs fine.I have tested the loco and lights work just fine using straight DC from a normal power pack. Can anyone shed some light on this? No pun intended. Thanks.

[Greg Elmassian]

The PWM (pulsed) power is confusing the voltage regulators in the loco.

Are you sure they don't come on at full throttle?

 

Greg

[CHRIS MOLNAR]

Thanks Greg for your response. I have not tried powering up to full throttle.I will try it and see what happens.Do you know of anyway around this? Can the headlights be bypassed from the circuit board and run direct from track power?I understand what you are saying but it's funny my LGB and Bachmann locos function just fine. Thanks agian.                                                                                                                                                                                                       Chris

[Greg Elmassian]

The lights in most USAT locos do not run on track voltage.

This requires a regulator IC and they do NOT like PWM.

The benefit is that once you hit enough voltage for the regulator (typical voltages are 3, 3.5 and 5 volts), then the lamps are a constant brightness.

Also you tend to get brighter lights at lower speeds.

The disadvantage is that this is more expensive and often does not play well with PWM.

So, you can replace all the lights with 24v bulbs, or replace them with LEDs.

 

Greg

[CHRIS MOLNAR]

[quote user="Greg Elmassian"]

The lights in most USAT locos do not run on track voltage.

This requires a regulator IC and they do NOT like PWM.

The benefit is that once you hit enough voltage for the regulator (typical voltages are 3, 3.5 and 5 volts), then the lamps are a constant brightness.

Also you tend to get brighter lights at lower speeds.

The disadvantage is that this is more expensive and often does not play well with PWM.

So, you can replace all the lights with 24v bulbs, or replace them with LEDs.

 

Greg

 

Thanks for the advice. Sounds like replacing the blubs is gonna be the way to go.Off to the work bench! :)