I finished the signal by inserting a piece of heat shrink tubing over the soldered legs of the LED and painting it silver.
It actually looks better on the layout than in this close up photo.
Rich
Alton Junction
Ordinarily a very sensible precaution - I always use heat shrink for things like installign LEDs in locos with decoders, there simply are too many places where a bare lead could contact the metal chassis, for example. Plus there's movement and vibration involved. When the final product isn;t going to be moved around, it's generally safe to forego the extra insulation and just paint the shiny parts, paint will insulate just fine, but not for long if there is physical contact and movement. I look at things liek that similar to painting loco handrails, the slippery plastic kind. Even the flexible paint like Tamayai will flake off if handled - well, don;t touch the loco handrails! See also why I switched to a carrying case that lets me stand my locos and rolling stock on the wheels instead of laying down.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinker The heat shrink is not really needed, you can just paint over the solder and back of the LED and witht he leads cut short plus the LED fixzed int he signal, there's little or no chance of the connections shorting against each other.
The heat shrink is not really needed, you can just paint over the solder and back of the LED and witht he leads cut short plus the LED fixzed int he signal, there's little or no chance of the connections shorting against each other.
Thanks, Randy.
I guess that I was just being extra cautious in placing heat shrink tubing on the legs of the LED up close to its base.
I' f I'm going to run wires off at right angles to the LED, I usually solder the wire on then cut the excess LED lead off. DOubt that tiny extra bit of wire left on during the soldering process actually helps in any sort of heat sink way, but I've never fried one in soldering. With a good clean solderign iron tip and with the iron not too hot (ie, not plugged in for hours already - or a soldering station) you should be able to loop the wire and push it right up against the base of the LED before soldering without melting anything.The heat shrink is not really needed, you can just paint over the solder and back of the LED and witht he leads cut short plus the LED fixzed int he signal, there's little or no chance of the connections shorting against each other.
gandydancer19 Nice. It looks like you left the leads really long. (paint it / them black) You can cut them off really short if you can solder the wires on them quickly. I'm talking abut making them only 1/16 inch long from the base of the LED. To solder them quickly, put the wire on the short leads, add a bit of flux. Then clean the tip of your iron, add a small amount of solder and touch the tip with the solder to the lead and wires. Count to three and get off it. Wait until the first joint cools before soldering the second lead. That is the way I have soldered all of my LED's on my signals and haven't burned out any of them. You should have enough solder on the tip of the iron to make the joint, so don't try and add more solder. That is where things can go wrong. You can practice this on some small solid wire that simulates the LED leads. Can you see the LED's in the signal from the side? If you can't, it may be a little awkward to keep looking in from the front like an engineer would if he were in the loco cab. By having them stick out a little bit, it will be easier for your operators to see the indication from the isle beside their trains. I know that doesn't look prototypical, but real trains aren't controlled from the side either.
Nice.
It looks like you left the leads really long. (paint it / them black) You can cut them off really short if you can solder the wires on them quickly. I'm talking abut making them only 1/16 inch long from the base of the LED.
To solder them quickly, put the wire on the short leads, add a bit of flux. Then clean the tip of your iron, add a small amount of solder and touch the tip with the solder to the lead and wires. Count to three and get off it. Wait until the first joint cools before soldering the second lead. That is the way I have soldered all of my LED's on my signals and haven't burned out any of them. You should have enough solder on the tip of the iron to make the joint, so don't try and add more solder. That is where things can go wrong. You can practice this on some small solid wire that simulates the LED leads.
Can you see the LED's in the signal from the side? If you can't, it may be a little awkward to keep looking in from the front like an engineer would if he were in the loco cab. By having them stick out a little bit, it will be easier for your operators to see the indication from the isle beside their trains. I know that doesn't look prototypical, but real trains aren't controlled from the side either.
Elmer,
Thanks for that advice.
You are correct, I did leave the LED legs pretty long. That black material at the base of the LED is heat shrink tubing which I applied on each leg to prevent the two legs from touching and shorting. So, that takes up some room before I was able to solder the wires on the ends of the clipped legs. I will clip the legs further to shorten them up.
The LEDs can be viewed from the side, so that won't be a problem.
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.
About 8 years ago, after I first got into the HO scale side of the hobby, I bought some inexpensive Model Power signals with separate green and red incandescent bulbs. I recall my brother-in-law, a true HO scale modeler for many years, stopping by to view by layout. With a sweep of his hand, he remarked that he liked the layout but that I should replace the incandescents with LEDs for a more realistic look. Well, 8 years later, I finally got around to doing it and what a difference.
For years, the Model Power signals laid in a drawer, while I accumulated a fairly large number of Tomar Industries Signals with LEDs on my layout. It strikes me now that the cost difference is substantial, and I just may buy more Model Power signals in the future and convert the incandescents to LEDs.
Here is a photo sequence of the conversion.
The first photo shows the original setup with the two incandescents. Pretty ugly, huh?
The second photo shows the signal with the wiring and the incandescent bulbs removed.
The third photo shows the signal converted to a Miniatronics 3mm bi-polar LED.
The fourth and fifth photos show the alternating green/red LED signals.
I am about ready to place some of the converted signals on the layout, but I am wondering what, if anything, I should do to "finish" the signals. My concern is where the wires are soldered to the legs of the LED (see third photo). Should I paint the soldered area black, or silver, or just leave it alone, or shroud it?
Any thoughts?