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Post by loco8107 on Oct 29, 2022 15:02:03 GMT -8
Has anyone tried it either with or without the stock motor? And does it work using a Cannon cab despite it being thin? Toying with the idea with lighting on both ends of the unit on a future project with my undec GP38-2. At the very least I want to replace the clip with soldered wires or may even replace with a Kato motor but I’m undecided on using a Cannon cab. Thoughts? Anyone have pics to show how you all have done it? It can be any EMD unit be it GP or SW units. Thanks in advance as this will be a new thing for me to tackle. Note- my unit runs very well and even has the newer and correct size RTR wheels too.
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Post by Mr. Trainiac on Oct 29, 2022 16:36:09 GMT -8
You're going to need a diode system if you want directional lighting. I would use LEDs over incandescent bulbs, even without DCC. A true constant lighting system on DC is impossible if you run it off track power, but LEDs can get relatively close since they reach full brightness at lower voltage than a comparable 12V bulb would.
Acrylic tube and a 603 SMD LED glued to the end is probably the most straightforward way to do it. This is the conversion method for a lot of Athearn locomotives that use grain of wheat bulbs in the headlights. If you're worried about light bleed, paint the cab black inside or insulate the area around the headlight with black paper or aluminum foil. You can build an enclosure from styrene if you want to as well
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Post by mvlandsw on Oct 30, 2022 18:03:46 GMT -8
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Post by NS4122 on Oct 31, 2022 8:00:55 GMT -8
An easy solution to provide constant brightness LED lighting would be to tear out the metal contact strip and replace it with an Athearn RTR DC 21 pin motherboard, part number ATH67240. The board has a clip on the underside that snaps right on top of the motor to provide the positive motor connection, and has a DC shorting plug included. You will have to remove the motor and form the lower contact clip to isolate it from the frame (and maybe a piece of electrical tape too) and solder a wire from it to the negative motor contact on the board. Wires must also be soldered to the metal clips on top of the trucks and then to the board for one side of the track pick up. Additionally, you will have to find a spot on the frame where you can connect a wire to run to the other track pick up connection. Now you can connect the LEDs directly to the board without resistors and have directional constant lighting.
While the boards are sold out until March at Athearn, they are available on Ebay.
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Post by danraitz on Nov 8, 2022 8:03:02 GMT -8
Pre-DCC, I used the Utah Pacific constant lighting module (item #CLU-96). It gives constant directional lighting using a small circuit board with 6 diodes, but you need to replace 12v bulbs with 1.5v ones.
Dan
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