HI all; there seams to be a lot of new products in the LED format that has caught my interest,
1. I bought some light boards off a E-xxx vendor that could be used for lighting passenger cars ,I tested one in a Walther's 85' and it seams to work great ! but now I question how many of these could be lit on a DCC system ? NO there not a BRAND name (minitronics,flickerfree,ect) they DO allow break points for size and are the SMD type LED and built-in resistor and have some type a circuit at end of board to allow running on 15 V DCC BUT @ what amp draw I have no clue
2. I have seen these newer flex able "reels" of cut-to-length SMD type LED's that run on 12 V DC and I'm thinking this could be a GREAT way of lighting passenger cars cheaply then I remember DCC is not DC ,,
so that comes to my question " has anyone played with these newer products and had success lighting passenger cars in DCC with out the major expense in $ or amp draw? Jerry
Jerry,
I have used the flexible LED strips with excellent success. I have put 2.4K resistance in line with the strips to tone them down slightly. Otherwise, for my taste they were too bright. Mine are installed in Walther's passenger cars which a re manufactured to pick up track power and route it to two (phosphor bronze?) near the ceiling at one end of the cars. I soldered a 1.2K ohm resistor to each side of the LED strip, then soldered the other end of the resistors to the tabs. There is a little flicker as the train runs but it is acceptable to me. One could include a capacitor to eliminate the flicker but someone else will have to tell you how because I don't know. I have thirteen passenger cars in my train, eleven of which use 10" of strip. The other two only use 8". No problems with power.
Good luck!
Jerr,
On option 2, the spec RP for HO DCC calls for 14.25 VDCC to the track. To use LED's effectively with DCC, you have to recitfy the current (turning it into DCC->DC) this is a 50 cent part. Rectifying the voltage will reduce the output by ~1.5V, making it 12.75DC roughly. This should be safe enough for the LEDs. But most will find the peel and stick flex reels to be a bit bright. So you'll be adding a resistor inline any way.
DO NOT put a capacitor in the circuit without rectifying the current first. You'll mess up your DCC signal, and possibly blow it up! It makes nice lil firework for a couple seconds.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
WOW ;great info guys ,many thanks! and ALL info would be welcome...Jerry
I use the Easy Peasy battery operated light system for my nscale passenger cars but I only have three cars lit. Very easy to install, they last long time, easy to turn and off and no flickering
I was thinking serrious on the easy-peazy ,but with my hard to open walthers cars I was going to have to put the battery holders in a remote local, (underframe of car or end door diaphame area or something)cause I know I'd forget to shut em off a time or two ...Jerry
LION has been futzing with LED car lighting for years now. And at the moment him has given up on constant lighting. Batteries work, but run out and need to be replaced. I tried a rechargeable battery recharging off of the track current, but I could not make that work.
I have also tried using capacitors, Once upon a time I could get a 2 Farad / 12 volt unit that would have been perfect, but I have not seen this in a while (at the cheap sort of suppliers that a LION would frequent.) I have tried 5 volt caps with a power regulator, but that seems to be beyond the ability of a LION to fabricate ad-lib.
At the moment I am simply placing two sets of three LEDs in each car, one set lights up eastbound, the other set lights up westbound. What the Heck and LED *is* a rectifier! There are new ICs that can be used in place of the resistors.
I had used two pair of wires between cars, one pair for traction the other pair for lighting. I have been omitting the lighting pair, and with whatever system I may install in the future, they will be per car rather than per train.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
MTH is using a "flicker-free" LED lighting system with a keep-alive cap in their new 20th Century Limited passenger cars, which works VERY well. According to the pamphlet that came with the cars, the lighting system can be ordered separately. It takes about a minute for the capacitor to charge up on the track and longer for it to discharge completely.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Jerry Im using old Con-cor Budd cars. Not very easy to open and did require some bashing on the car interior to get the Rapido Easy-Peasy to fit. I figure as much as I use the lights they might last 5 yrs long as I remember to turn them off. Easy to turn them on and off though with the magnetic wand supplied.