I recently got a Bachmann RS3, Boston and Maine, and find the head and back light LED's to be a yellow-orange color, not white at all. What do people think of this? Is this so unreal I should change it? I was looking at LED's on the Soundtraxx site and they have Sunny White and Golden White LED's so I was wondering what the difference in those were. On the Bachmann, it has a little bracket that the LED slips into, so are the sizes pretty standard?
A golden white 3mm LED will be closer to the color of an incandescent bulb and is the size used by Bachmann. If you decide to change them, take a voltage polarity measurement before removing the Bachmann LED because if you solder a new one in backwards it won't work.
If the one in your RS3 is 3mm then another one of the same size should fit. It's your choice whether you can live with the "orangish" headlight or not. I can't...so I switch them out for golden- or sunny-white LEDs. MUCHO nicer!
The difference between the golden-white and sunny-white is subtle; the latter being slightly more yellowish in color than the former. The biggest difference is in the physical color of the LED lens itself. The golden-white LEDs are orange in color but don't emit the orangish light. This is really only crucial if the LED lens will be visible when the LED is off.
FWIW...
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
The yellow LED's are a lot less expensive that a true white or golden glow LED. Even some of the high end models like early Kato's had them. Several vendors have more correct LED's if you cannot live with them. I suspect it may be a 3mm LED.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
I have one of their GP7's. They have the same orange LED's. I changed them when I added sound to it.Is this a sound equiped loco? If not,the decoder Bachmann uses has the + and - signs on the decoder .If sound the wire(s) going to the LED might be color coded.Whie and yellow are the + blue is -. Joe
Does Bachmann wire them backwards? The blue wire on a DCC decoder is the postive wire, not negative.
From one extreme to another - I used to have one of the E33 electrics and it came with bluish white LEDs for the headlights. Golden white is era-appropriate for an RS3, unless it's been modernized in which case sunny white would look right.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
You maybe right. I was going off of wire the resiter gets hooked up to. I thought it was the positive side. Hence wite or yellow. Joe
So, I guess there is a difference between golden white and sunny white? Sunny must be whiter, but still not white-white?
Yes, it's whiter than the golden-white - with just an ever-so-slight tinge of yellow to it. Richmond Controls makes some nice golden-white and sunny-white LEDs. Here's a description from Ulrich Models on the differences between the two.
Intermountain used the horrible orange LEDs too, at least in their older models. I'm not sure what they use now.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
For those who do a lot of LED headlight installs, there is a company on e-Bay selling sunny white, super-bright, 3mm LEDs for $8 per 100.