Locomotives and light bulbs Question

[yankee flyer]

 HI all

I have a loco that I pefer not to use an LED in because the DSD LC does'nt like LEDS. It calls for  12V bulbs and I
have 12Vs at 50 MAs and 5.5mms. Can't swear for the millie amps.
Also have 1.5V 90 MAs? and 2.4 mms.
How do you tell how bright they will be? the little one take up less space but I would have to use a resister. I have room for the bigger ones and I don't need resister.
I'm not sure what size looks best in a loco for brightness.

Thanks 

Lee

[richg1998]

 I do not use light bulbs but I would watch out for the heat from the bulbs. Some people have had melting where the bulb is if in a plastic shell. Usually they had a 12 volt bulb. Some put the bulb in a brass tubing and use that as a heat sink. Many use 1.5 volt lamps like Miniatronics that require about 30 ma. or so with a resistor and do not run hot from what I have heard.

With an LED, all you would require is a 1,000 ohm resistor. I have used those decoders and no problems when a resistor is used. Many people do that.

SoundTraxx sells a Tsunmai decoder that puts out 1.5 volts just for 1.5 volt lamps and no resistor needed.

All the decoders put out 12 volts DC or so depending on the voltage used to run the controller and 1k resistors are required for an LED.

Connect the lamp to 12 vdc and see how hot it gets when not in an enclosure.

Rich

[cacole]

 I've used LED lighting with many SoundTraxx DSD LC decoders with absolutely no problems -- just put a 1K Ohm resistor into one of the LEDs wires and they work just fine with any decoder.

[rrinker]

 If you DO use bulbs, use 1.5 volt 10 or 15ma ones, they don't get hot. You'll need resistors if the function output is 12 volts, 680 ohm might be a bit low but 820 is probably too high.

                                       --Randy