Replacement headlights

[Anonymous]

I recently purchased on Ebay a P2K loco & the headlights are burnt out. Can someone tell me where I can buy new ones. I've been to a couple of train shows recently but the vendors I talked to didn't stock headlight bulbs & were not able to help.
TIA

[cacole]

Contact LifeLike, the makers of the P2K engines. In my dealings with them, they have replaced parts at no charge because they claim that P2K products are guaranteed for life. Before contacting them, however, you need to insure that the bulbs are really the source of the problem and it's not a case of someone removing the lights, especially since you got it off of e-bay and it is not new. Does the locomotive have a DCC decoder in it? If it does and you're trying to run it on DC block control, that's why the lights don't work. You need to open the locomotive up and check it out, or have someone with electronics knowledge check it for you, before you contact LifeLike, and don't just assume that the bulbs are burned out.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info. I have opened the loco up & it is DCC. I've disconnected the bulb wires & they read infinity on an Ohms scale.

[Don Gibson]

Proto 200 engines - as they come from the factory - use 1 1/2v. 15 ma. bulbs.

Replacing their Diode lighting with someone's DCCboard means all bet's are off - including P2K's fixing any after-market modification..

You need to 1. Determine whose DCC board is being used, and 2. what the lighting out put is. It could be as much as 14 volts. Try using you Voltmeter first.

Most LHS stock bulbs. It's not a mail order item. Caboose Hobbies stock's a wide asssortment.

[rrinker]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Don Gibson

Proto 200 engines - as they come from the factory - use 1 1/2v. 15 ma. bulbs.

Replacing their Diode lighting with someone's DCCboard means all bet's are off - including P2K's fixing any after-market modification..

You need to 1. Determine whose DCC board is being used, and 2. what the lighting out put is. It could be as much as 14 volts. Try using you Voltmeter first.

Most LHS stock bulbs. It's not a mail order item. Caboose Hobbies stock's a wide asssortment.

Unless you use a Digitrax DH163L0 decoder, it has current limiting resistors that assume the P2K stock light bulbs are in place. Easiest install possible, unscrew the P2K diode board, connect the decoder, done.
Other companies make drop in boards for other makes of engines that have reistors on-board, yet their P2K drop in does not - beats me as to why.

[cacole]

If a decoder has been installed, then the light bulbs are probably fried because the person who put the decoder in didn't know to change them. At this point, your options are extremely limited -- in fact, you only have one -- replace the bulbs. Two possible sources of 12-14 volt bulbs are All Electronics in Van Nuys, California (http://www.allelectronics.com) which has 3mm 14V bulbs with 10" leads (CAT# LP-6) priced at 2 for $1.00, or MicroMark in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey (http://www.micromark.com) which has bundles of 100 12-14V miniature lamps (#82590-C) priced at $39.95. Both sources do not include shipping. Your cheapest bet would be to check a local hobby shop for some equivalent Miniatronics bulbs, which usually come in a package of 2 per. As mentioned, if a decoder has been installed, all bets are off on getting LifeLike to honor the warranty, especially since you got it off of e-bay and are not the original owner.