I'm working on a DCC/Sound install on Bachmann 2-8-0. All is going well. Headlight doesn't work, finally performed the very important RTFM step... and it turns out that a 680 ohm to 1K ohm resistor is required when used with LED headlamp. I have arleady hooked it up and tried to turn on the headlight... have I blown that LED, or when I install the 1K resistor will it solve the problem?
You fried the LED. So you need to replace it with a resistor in place. Joe
I am sure you know now a 1K resistor is normal for an LED.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Maybe, maybe not. If the LED was wired backwards as well as missing the resistor, it might have survived. When you turned it on, did you get one bright flash? That's what happens when you turn a Light Emitting Diode (LED) into a Darkness Emitting Diode (DED). If you got no flash, then maybe you lucked out because a LED doesn't do anything with the wires reversed.
The good news? LEDs are cheap.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Or you could do the equivalent of a quick coin-cell test on the LED to verify it's out. We have threads that tell the best ways to do this, and people like Randy who have the best advice on how to conduct it now.
In the 'nothing happens by accident in this world of sin' category: you now have the ability to spec a headlight LED of a more suitable color or shape, or file its surround plastic down to mount it in a scale parabolic reflector, etc. -- I would have the mavens here recommend the best approximation to a 'Golden Glow' on that locomotive. Not expensive, not particularly hard, and oh-so-good-looking!
Yes I did forget about the reverse connection. My bad. Some new users have done that. Proper direction is indicated with a search on the Internet.
I have never used an LED without a proper resistor, reverse or forward.
richg1998I have never used an LED without a proper resistor, reverse or forwar