Lighting Passenger Cars using a magnet

[Lou Showers]

I have been updating IHC SS passenger cars by putting in the interiors and using Fox Valley Models battery powered lighting kits which turn on and off with a magnet.  This worked great in all but my vista dome car.  The section of seats for the vista dome does not permit the Fox Valley kit to extend all the way through the car.  I feared that if I cut one of these kits to fit it in one side or the other it would cause the kit to fail.  I tried emailing Fox Valley but have not received a reply.  Therefore I set out to do it my self.  Using a dual CR3032 battery pack, I tried wiring it through a reed switch, resistor, to the leds.  This worked but it would only light when the magnet was near.  I want to turn the lights on and have them stay on until I apply the magnet to turn them off.  I purchased a Hall Effect magnetic switch but it has three leads and though I have tried wiring it several ways it doesnot seem to work.  Is there anyone who can tell me how to wire a a hall switch into what I have to make it work?   The diagram will need to be simple as I only know the basics on wiring.

Thanks for your help.

Lou

[RR_Mel]

The reed switches need to be “latching” type.  About two years ago I found some on eBay for $2 each, I bought 20.  Out of twenty seventeen worked, three duds. 

 

I have installed the latching reed switches in all of my Shorty passenger cars and several cabooses.  I use a single rechargeable LIR-2032 Lithium-ion cells (3.7V) with wide angle warm white LEDs and a TP4056.

 

I run the LEDs at 95µa with a 15K resistor, any brighter and they loose realism.

 

Here is a link to a post on my blog of my coach lighting:

 

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/2016/04/april-15-2016-more-car-lighting.html 

 

 

Mel

 

Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[tstage]

I really like the way MTH handled it with their 20th Century Limited cars.  They used an LED lighting module that uses super caps: Place a car/cars on a powered layout and the caps fully charge up within a minute.  Remove the cars from the layout and it takes ~5 min. for the caps to completely discharge.

No batteries to replace.  No switches to turn on and off.  No magnets or wands to deal with: My kind of lighting.   If I ever do a lighting project on some passenger cars, that's the route I'm going to take.

Tom