No, they are still round, like 3mm and 5mm. You can get them in any color. Warm white, cool white, whatever you need. And brightness can be controller by using a different resistor.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Yes, 3mm is NOT the smallest non-SMD LED. there are the 1.8mm ones - they are available from most any electronics parts distributor, same as the larger sizes. Or as mentioned above, Evans Designs caters specifically to model building and has them.
But the key is, you don't WANT the LED to fit in the light casting. That's what makes the Athearn bulbs ugly, they stick out through the light casting and look nothing like the lens on the headlight assemblies. You want to put some clear lenses (MV products and others make all sorts, to fit most anything) in the holes to make them look like actual headlights, and the LEDs mount behind. You can use fiber optics, but you don't really need to. The LED just mounts inside, behind the holes, it doesn't have to fit IN the holes.
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
dstephensonLED,s are 3mm in size as compared to Athearn factory installed 1.5V incandescent bulbs, which are less than 2mm in size.
There is a solution. Fiber optic tube, which you can buy the exact size to fit and make into a lens looking shape. Then CA the fiber optic directly to the LED.
LED,s are 3mm in size as compared to Athearn factory installed 1.5V incandescent bulbs, which are less than 2mm in size. I only know of one supplier who custom makes LED lens size bulbs in the 2mm range that are pre wired. The company is sbs4dcc/store, they offer a soft white color but I don't have any info on how realistic this LED is compared to an incandescent 1.5V bulb, such as a Minitronix 30mm which can last up to a 1000 hrs under normal use, all said and not withstanding having to drill out the original lens holes in Athearn shells in order to install any other manufacturers bulbs or LEDs, I strongly agree that Athearn should step into the modern age and come up with a solution to this growing problem as more and more RR modeler's today are not afraid to remove a shell and take on a do it yourself sound decoder installation job that offers multi light features, personal preference programing, and proto typical operation. Darryl
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I'm not sure how the appearance enters into it, you shouldn't see either when installed in the loco. The LED should be inside, and there should be a proper lens in the headlight casting. Realism depends on using the proper color temperature LED to match the period you are modeling. And if there are any special effects needed, it depends on the decoder. Some decoders, like TCS and NCE, are much better at managing LEDs than Digitrax.
And if you are going to tear out the existing incandescent bulbs anyway.... the Miniatronic bulbs may be far superior to the Athearn ones, but they will eventually burn out. An LED won't burn out in your grandchildren's lifetime.
Thanks for the write up on the CF 7 as I am thinking of the same project. As far as the bulbs go I still am torn. On my Athearn I do replace the bulbs with miniatronics 1.5 volt bulbs as I have never had a problem with them. I also think the mini bulbs look more scale and realistic. But I would not be bothered at all if Athearn switched to LEDS.
Steve B
For future installs, consider replacing those horrible AThearn bulbs with LEDs. They won;t burn out and there is no inrush current to burn out the decoder functions. And they can be fitted so as to not protrude out the light casting like they do in many AThearn models - even Genesis ones.
Long-standing complaint by many - how can Athearn keep using those horrible incandescent bulbs in even their top of the line highly detailed Genesis series, when most others have long switched to LEDs even in their lower tier products.
Just finished installing a TCS WOW sound decoder in this most recent CF7 run from Athearn. The engine comes with a rotary beacon in addition to duel head and rear 1.5 V incandescent bulbs wired to the RTR motherboard which has two wire bulb leads with built in resisters , a Genesis model has 4 wires for existing lightss and extras.
I tried to use the both of the extra wires provided on the keep alive side of the TCS decoder but I burned out the internal transistors due to the initial surcharge of the incandescent bulbs.
My only choice was to use a generic common wire and one of the two extra positive leads on the oppisite side of the wow decorder plugin harness , this was a bit tricky because I had to strip off a small amount of insulation on both wires with little room for a mistake when cutting and soldering.
After trying several different size resisters and flashing out the Athearn bulb I was able to get the rotary beacon to work with a 1/4 Watt 220 ohm resister and the 1.5 V model power bulb has not flash out since, if it does I will replace with a Minitronix 1.5 V 30mm bulb for longer life.
I also installed a WOW 28 ohm speaker in aTDC enclosure with an extender, it will fit in the engine cab face up, the engine does not come with an interior so all I had to do was black out the windows.
All said this was my fist decoder installation and I am very pleased with the results. The Wow diesel features are great and the speaker really kicks out without any vibration.
The CF7 runs smooth and with the TCS sounds and operating features grant this this job worthy of consideration if you like to run switchers in proto type mode . Darryl