I have a Athearn Gen SD70ace I need to know what light bulbs to use for the ditch lights.
If you still want to use bulbs, I use Miniatronics 1.2mm 1.5 volt / 15ma bulbs. They last a LOT longer than the factory versions ....
http://www.miniatronics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=1_1
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Why not use smt type LEDs?
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
Hey thanks for the info, I put in a bulb that had the same spec as you said i think it was the same my friend got them for me, and they were to week.
Athearn said I can use thes bulbs that they sell ATHG63843 the spec are 1.5v 2mm 1ma that doesn't sound right to me, what do you guys think??.
I've got both the 1.2mm and 2mm bulbs here, and there's no way the 2mm bulbs would fit. The 1ma rating is definitely wrong. I seem to recall the Athearn bulbs are rated at 10ma.
The biggest fault for the bulbs burning out too quick (that I've found) is that the DCC track voltage is set too high. DCC track voltage should be right around 14.5 volts. I've seen some that were over 18 ! Bulbs are voltage devices, and even though the the voltage output on the Athearn board is somewhat rectified, it will still swing with variances in the input voltage.
A 1.5 volt bulb running on 1.75 volts WILL end pre-maturely .... and that's with only a quarter of a volt increase to the bulb. I know a number of people who purposely run their DCC systems at a lower voltage and have been running Athearn bulbs for years.
I'm sick of bulbs I just had another one go out on my ATH GEN SD70ACE DCC.So I need to know all the info on what LED to use etc and where to buy them.
I have been using 1.5 optic cable with a surface mount LED glued to the cable and then inserting the 1.5 cable inot the holes where I removed the light bulbs.
You need to polish round the ends that stick out so they look like bulbs.
I use the 0402 pre-wired LEDs for those ditch lights, it fits right inside the the housing making for a very bright ditch light.
This is one of a few sources that have them (bottom of the list) ....
http://www.ulrichmodels.biz/servlet/the-DCC-Components-cln-LEDs-and-LED-Lighting-Kits-cln-LEDs/Categories
Lately, I've been getting mine from this Ebay seller ....
http://stores.ebay.com/ledbaron/_i.html?_nkw=0402&submit=Search&_sid=67795515