mars light

[markjr]

I see MR has 4 old articles on mars lights in HO. Anyone have a handy schematic they'd care to share? Would it take a special bulb?

[cwclark]

i wired two white LED's back to back (anode to cathode) with a 580 ohm resistor for directional lighting and powered it with the locomotive's motor pick-ups...I then ran fiber optic strands approx. 4" - 5" long (.75 for the ditch lights and 1.5 for the headlights) or (mars lights) flared at one end with the heat from a candle so they would fit in the lighting housings and bundled them all together with a pice of electrical tape..i then took a piece of styrene tubing and shoved one of the LED's in one end of the tube and the fiber optics into the other end of the tube..i then slid a piece of heat shrink tubing over the entire assembly and shrunk it around the entire thing to hold the LED and the fiber optics in place and then did the entire proceedure again for the rear engine lights...i then carefully placed the engine shell back on the frame, put it on the rails, turned the power on ,and it was the best lighting i've ever seen on a locomotive... here is the results http://community.webshots.com/photo/137793353/238594941OhvBte ...Chuck

[markjr]

chuck: thanx 4 reply. Merry CHRISTmas & happy new year!

[mcouvillion]

markjr,

I have a circuit I developed with an electrical engineer about 15 years ago that uses a standard incandescent bulb for the Mars light. This was way before the electronics were developed in decoders where theses features are built in. I'll have to dig in my files for it. If I remember correctly, the bulb always has a trickle current going to it, such that it is slightly lit all the time, giving the appearance that it is pointed away from you. The voltage then increases quickly and then decreases quickly, such that you get the flash. I think the voltage actually exceeds that of the rating of the bulb for an instant, but is so short of duration that is does not harm the filament. This circuit was designed to run on DC and I think the voltage regulator was for 5 volts, so you would have to have 5 volts to the rails before the Mars light started working. I don't think this was a problem, as the engine it was used on did not start moving until it was a little higher than 5 volts.

There are commercial circuits that are available for DC engines and most of the better decoders have Mars and Gyralite capability built in. Why rebuild the wheel?

Mark C.

[Anonymous]

What exactly does MARS stand for? Are these the flashing lights or does it refer to the headlights. Always been curious about this one. Thanks.

Dave

[Anonymous]

The story I heard is that they were invented by Mars - as in, the same people responsible for M&Ms. Read this in a book on Chicago-area commuter operations of all places!

[rrinker]

Mars lights were a product of the Mars Signal Light Company, NOT the candy company. Their competition was the Gyralite from Pyle National. People tend to call them all "Mars Lights" but unless it was from the Mars Signal Light Company, it's not a Mars Light. Both a Mars light and a Gyralite as similar, but NOT identical. The oscillating light pattern is not the same between the two.

--Randy

[SP4449]

[2c] To rrinker: contrary to your comment, MARS Candy Company did help develop the lighting system that later became known as the MARS light because they had the skilled designers and machinery to tool the housings. One of the candy company owners helped with financing as well.

As for the light swing pattern, the MARS was generally a horizontal figure eight and the gyralight was a plain oval.

The link below is to a web site that manufactures special effects lighting for model railroaders, part of a train club in texas.

http://personalwebs.myriad.net/lruback/

The avi files associated with this site are pretty good and if your system can't play them off the internet, save them to your hard drive and then play them. The effects are good and installing a module for the effect will probably be the same cost as building a circuit and most certainly save the frustration of testing and retesting to get the results you desire.

To markjr: thanks for posting the subject which spurred me to google gyralight and discover the source. I have been looking for good mars lights for my SP units. [:)]

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info gentlemen!