As some of you know I have built a Garratt. It has 2 headlights on the front and one on the back. I used the headlight bodies from the big haulers but they do not have bulbs in them.
I did a quick search here and found a chat about bulbs or LED’s I think regular bulbs would look better in a steam engine.
What do I need to setup 3 lights using track power? Are there any diagrams out there?
Thanks
Aristo, I believe, used 6v bulbs with 5v rectifiers, should give you that yellow glow. Stepping down helps with the constant on and running faster with out bulb burnout.
John
Warm white LEDs can look good. I used a 3 volt Christmas bulb with a regulator set to about 2 volts, maybe a bit less, and that gives a nice orangeish glow.
There are all sorts of different white LED “colors” or “warmth” and by using resistors one can knock down the voltage supplied to give them the right intensity. Light is measured in Kelvins which is a measure of its “whiteness” or temperature if you will.
By finding and LED in the 3500 to 4000 kelvin range and messing with the voltage input (underpowering it)with resirors you are able to achieve different effects. The beauty of LEDs is the very low power consumption and long life and low heat output (especially under powered). So while I can argue with using incandescent bulbs, i wouldn’t rule out LEDs
Todd,
I buy “ready to use” Leds from Model Train Software. The color is just right for the warmth that your looking for. See my video below. The Led headlight is connected directly to DCC track power 24v. The motor is controlled by Digitrax decoder separate from the light.
A nice looking railtruck you have there and the perfect music for the video.
That looks like a good site Dan. I like the idea that the lights are ready to go. By the time I track down all the bits and solder them together the price of $3.25 doesn’t sound too bad. I think I will get the warm white 3 mm ones but I need to check the size first. Thanks.
If you can get what you want in 3mm that would be good. I bought 5mm for my build and it is big and I fear will be too bright. I was not patient enough to order a proper 3mm and made do with the 5 so I could get done. I think 3mm must be about the size of the Bachmann incandescent.
Wish i would have had that link a week ago. Those are a nice color and intensity and already prewired for our voltage. Nice.
Devon, the 5mm ones fit perfectly in the RS3 housing, and in the Bachmann Shay and Climax light fixtures. But I also need to gets me a few 3mm ones.
The 5mm ones also fit in most USA Trains diesels.
I now prefer the ones without flanges so I can set the lens in the headlight housings to look realistic.
I use the insulation from 22 AWG wire as leggings to set the height.
The leggings also provide a visual polarity check.
The bottoms can be glued to the perf board, so the LEDs do fall out when the board is turned over for soldering.
so the LED do fall out???
Oh, one of them jobs that requires 3 hands. Oh, ok, I get it.
Todd, you could tint the led with finger nail polish.
I did find some amber leds years ago and these work great.
Tamiya also make series of clear colours, and most hobby shops carry them. I have used the clear yellow to tint white LEDs.
Their Clear also can be used to reduce the appearance of a scratch in a locomotive or car window.
Check out http://lighthouseleds.com/#home. They have all sorts of LED sizes and colors. The 3000-3500 K warm white I would think would be great. One thing to ponder is what is the 1:1 light source. On that Garrett it has electric lights, so what type of bulb would it have used and what would have been a natural color. I would think more white than amber where an older kerosene burning lamp would have given a softer more amber glow I would think. Though I really don’t know what type of bulb would been used.
Modernize the Garret and put in ultra bright blueish white and say it has xenon headlights
If it has a generator I believe they burned 32v bulbs in front of a polished reflector.
Yellow to white.
John
Thanks for the link Dan. I ordered some LED’s from them.
You’re welcome Jerry. I’m a firm believer in the “KISS” method of engineering. All in one Leds make the whole process very easy. Todd stick to the warm white Leds they’re more “period” appropriate for the Garrett. As you can see in my video they look like a warm tungsten bulb that would have been used in the Garrett.
Try http://www.richmondcontrols.com/ for the golden white 3mm and 5 mm leds, and even surface mount.
Looks like you have to call for prices!!
I ordered 5 of the warm white 3mm ones from the Modeltrainsoftware site that Dan DeVoto recommended and they arrived pretty quickly. Buying 5 brought the price down to $3 per and I’m sure I will use them in the future.
Once the build challenge is over I will install them and let you guys know the results.
I got 50 of the superbright warm white 3mm LEDs on the bay for $3.45, shipped. Didn’t really need 50, but at that price… I also got 50 of the superbright red (for flashers) for $2.85. Again I didn’t really need 50, but…
Of course they did take about 2 weeks to get here from China.
I did that a while back, I ordered 50 of the bright white one, and then last year in an after Christmas sale, I bought a 50 count string of warm white LED Christmas lights for cheep. I think it was $2.99, but I could be mistaken.