Kato RS-3 lighting mod

[Anonymous]

I have an old Kato HO RS-3 with the old light board. I have selected
the Digitrax DH163K0 decoder to replace the light board. The decoder
instructions call out reusing the original light buld which sits in the
center of the loco and feeds both front and rear geadlights via light
tube in the roof of the cab.
I would rather use separate LEDs for the headlights. Anyone done this
kind of mod on a Kato and if so, how would I wire it to the DH163K0?
Also can the light pipes be cut shorter to accomodate the LEDs without
sacrificing the light conductivity (the light pipe ends would not be
polished if I cut them?

Thanks,

Doug

[rrinker]

Yes, you can. I did this on an RSD-4, same basic shell construction with the light bulb in the middle. I tried to get pictures when I did this install but they are mostly blurry (before I got a new camera).
Those two tabs inside of the pins where the track pickups connect to? Those are the connections for individual front and rear lights. The 'blue wire' (NMRA standard color code, if the decoder HAD wires) function common is repeated at both ends, the other terminal at each end is either F0 Forward or F0 Reverse.
You will need 2 LEDs and 2 resistors. I used Golden Whites, and 1K 1/4 watt resistors seem to work just fine (lot of places say 750 ohm, that seems like too much current for me. They are PLENTY bright with the 1k). The function common pin is POSITIVE, the function connection itself is negative. Nothing bad will happen if you hook it up backwards - it just won't light.
I cut the light bars back to just to the inside of the point where there's a couple of pins that hold it in place. Here's where a picture would be nice, if you could actually see what I'm talking about, but it's not too clear in my poor picture. I wanted to make sure there was a way to hold the bar in place afterwards, but since I had to glue it in anyway, you can probably cut it back shorter and allow more room.
All i did to the ends after I cut it was polish it slightly on the finest sandpaper I had handy, which was about 600 grit. I used a piece of heat shrink to hold each LED over its section of light bar. A dab of white glue (don;t use plastic cement, it will wreck the light bar) holds each section in place, but if I need to pull it apart I can. The lights are PLENTY bright without doing any kind of wierd filing to the LED or the light bars.
I have the pictures around, if you want to see them, but like I said, they are quite blurry.

--Randy

[mcouvillion]

Doug,

I did the same thing with an Atlas RSD4/5 (built by Kato). Essentially the same as Randy described except that I drilled a small hole in the end of the light bar to recess the LED into the light bar. I think I painted the outside of the light bar silver to keep the light in except where I wanted it to go (the headlight lenses). Its plenty bright. I try to avoid using glue or caulk if I can so that maintenance is fast and clean. Use small pieces of cellophane tape to hold wires, bulbs, and other small things in place under the shell.

Mark C.