The small circuit board with two LED on it (one for beacon, one for headlight) appears to be defective. The headlight was flaky from the beginning & now doesn't work at all. Beacon light works. I replaced all the wires to both headlight & beacon & soldered all connections - no luck.
Athearn said they don't have a replacement part, only whole shells available. IMO this is nonesense.
Anywway, any ideas on what/how to replace the headlight LED?
ArtoThe small circuit board with two LED on it (one for beacon, one for headlight) appears to be defective.
Are you sure they are LEDs? or are they Athearns typical 1.5 volt incandesent bulb?
As far as I know, none of Athearn's light boards, or motherboards, will support LEDs. You usually have to tap right into the decoder, blue wire, with a resistor to have LED lighting.
Or you could get Athearn's bulbs, which would probably be easier.
That's been my experience with Athearns, Genesis or RTR.
Mike.
My You Tube
I'm pretty sure this one of the first Athearn locos to use LED.
The "light" is very small, maybe 1/32", square, two on the same "board" that fits up into the shell body/light lens' "compartment".
Since you've already done some work on it, I assume it's no longer under warranty or you have voided it by what you have done. Too bad, LED's should live long and prosper.
They must be surface mount led's. Tony's Trains sell surface mount leds. One wonders if it died because it was a bad Led or there is a problem with the board.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddy Since you've already done some work on it, I assume it's no longer under warranty or you have voided it by what you have done. Too bad, LED's should live long and prosper. They must be surface mount led's. Tony's Trains sell surface mount leds. One wonders if it died because it was a bad Led or there is a problem with the board.
Athearn is aware of the "investigative repair" work I've done and seemed to be ok with that (under warranty), but they don't have the replacement part available anyway, just whole shells, and would do a shell swap under warranty, which I might still do. Either way it still costs me extra.
Initially (first run) the headlight was ok. After a few short sessions it began to intermittently flicker, then went dead for a while, came back on, then started flickering again, and that was the last of it.
Agreed, I thought it might be the board too (still might be). Never worked with or replaced a surface mount LED before. Seems like it could be kind of tricky
If they are surface mounted right on the board, I've never done that either.
I guess if Athearn is willing to replace the shell, under warrenty, than I would go for it, making sure that the board and lights are part of the shell.
So your extra cost are in sending the shell back to Athearn, do you also have to pay the shipping to get the new shell? You'd think they would do an even swap, you pay the shipping sending the old back, they the shipping sending the new.
Off topic, but I have bought many items, usually an online catalog purchase, and the retailer sends along a return shipping label to use, if you have a problem with the product. You'd think Athearn would do the same.
I haven't bought anything new from Athearn as far as locomotives go, for about 3 years, so I don't know of recent changes, but I am truly amazed that yours has LEDs.
Good luck,