lighting on athearn locos

[relucas]

this question has been asked 10k time . how do I get a non dcc athearn [c44s and ac's] engines to run at scale speeds and the lites be brighter? with all the res. and dios. out there someone has had to figured this thing out, and I hope they would like to share it .I do know you have to get rit of that monster bulb it comes with. I would even put the componets in a dummy and run fine wires to make it happen.If anybody has a way I'd be greatful..

[nfmisso]

re:

There are constant light kits for Athearn locomotive, search www.walthers.com Accurate Lighting is the manufacturer.

There are a number of ways to do it. A stand by is use four diodes arranged as bridge rectifier or a bridge rectifier in series with the motor. Cut one motor lead, connect the two cut ends each to one of the AC terminals, connect one light bulb to the positive terminal and to the the AC terminal that the motor is connected to. Connect the other bulb to the same motor lead and the negative terminal on the bridge. Use 1.5V bulbs. This is constant brightness, is very similar to the LL P2K circuit board, and has the down side of raising the starting voltage of the locomotive. If the light are not bright enough, make it so that there are two diode in series parallel to the bulb, meaning you have six diodes or a bridge and two seperate diodes.

Alternately you could use a 7805 and a 7905 voltage regulator in parallel with the motor (doesn't affect starting voltage), with bulbs or LEDs.

Get a basic electronics book, and you should be able to come up with many other ways of doing what you want.