I started playing with the idea of mounting led "rotary beacons" on my switchers. It started with repowering and TSU2 install on a BB S-12. This isn't one of my favorite engines so I thought I'd use it as an experiment. I looked at buying the (to me) extremely overpriced detailed ones, got out my caliper and decided that scalewise a 3mm LED was about the right size. Research showed me that GN used some flat top domes as their earliest rotarys so I carefully flattened the top of an amber 3v LED with a file, painted the base rim, wired it up and installed it through a slightly smaller hole in the switcher roof. When I showed it to the wife on the layout her reaction was "How'd you do that?" I took that as a win!
Moving on to my SW1 that had some other lighting problems I'm going to try a different route. Playing with other LEDs I settled on using a 12v amber, it's brighter, and instead of mounting in a hole I'm going to use a slot, some adhesive and connect it using an SIP socket that after a trim I can plug directly right onto the anode and cathode.
https://www.allelectronics.com/category/561/sockets-sip/1.html
When I was trying different LEDs I found these .100" center sockets accept the anode & cathode readily and will make cab removal easy. I understand frequent connect/disconnect may loosen the connection but I don't expect this application to be a problem. Just wondering if anyone else has tried hooking up LEDs this way.
The header sockets work great I use them for all kind of goodies. To me the best advantage is you can use them for any number of pins and they come in dual row 40x2 80 pin, a two row 2x4 makes a great NMRA 8 pin connector for pennies per pin instead of quarters.
My oberservation car using the Micro connectors on LEDs.
Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, CaliforniaGrowing old is a bummer, aging is definitely not for wimps.
Yeah Mel, I've been using these connectors to facilitate shell removal on just about all the DCC engines I have done. I really like being able to use 2-3-4-5-whatever number of pins/sockets in my connections. On some I've mounted the female connector side soldered directly to the Atlas style boards. This time I'm going to try connecting the LED 'nodes directly using the female plug-ins to accept the LED 'nodes sticking through the cab roof, like an appliance to an extension cord. A blue dot on both the cab internal end and the female receptacle for alignment. Wish I could do a photo but this forum isn't quite as accepting of photos as others .....
I mount a male connector to the shell and the female to the frame on my Athearn passenger cars. They connect when the shell in put back on.