Large Scale Central

Aristocraft RS-3 Lights

Currently in the process of converting one to battery power and so far so good, now into the lights and trying to figure out what voltage the bulbs are, the part # ART-29502 seems to be the correct # for the head lights but I have been unable to locate voltage of the circuit, also there are side marker lights that I believe is of a lower voltage, which I have been unable to find anything about so any help in this endeavor would be appreciated. Yes I know that if i switched to LED’s it would take less voltage and draw less current but trying to make conversion a simple as possible, Thanks Bill

Bill Barnwell said:

Currently in the process of converting one to battery power and so far so good, now into the lights and trying to figure out what voltage the bulbs are, the part # ART-29502 seems to be the correct # for the head lights but I have been unable to locate voltage of the circuit, also there are side marker lights that I believe is of a lower voltage, which I have been unable to find anything about so any help in this endeavor would be appreciated. Yes I know that if i switched to LED’s it would take less voltage and draw less current but trying to make conversion a simple as possible, Thanks Bill

I honestly don’t understand why it matters?

You put the battery in and convert it ?

Rooster, just trying to figure what voltage to supply to the bulbs, I have the engine converted to battery just don’t want to be burning out bulbs all the time because of too high voltage, Thanks Bill

Did you leave in the factory electronics, or are you wiring direct? With the factory electronics, I powered mine with an 18V battery controlled by track-side TE in a gondola behind. I used the MU plug Aristo provided for power. No issue at all with the lights.

If wiring direct, you may need to get the answer you seek, which I don’t have. I also don’t know if the factory electronics included any voltage regulating components. I’m going to guess it didn’t. I no longer have mine to look at.

Bill,

You said you are converting to battery power. Can you give us some more information on that? Is the battery connected to a receiver/decoder of some kind? How is that wired?

Hi Guys, I have three RS-3 on the bench for conversion. Most have LEDs headlights and 5 V bulb for the cab and number boards. The first generation had 18V bulbs. Some RS-3 already have the resistor on the front and rear headlight board. You can see it to confirm.

Bill a quick test is use your power supply and set it to 3 v. Now test the front headlights. If they light then flip the direction switch. If they go out they are LEDs. LEDs are polarity sensitive. Next you might need to add dropping resistors to each end for the LEDs. For 14.8V use 390 ohm and 18.5V use 690 ohm. You can use 1000 ohm but the LEDs might not be bright enough.

If you need more info please contact me directly at [email protected]

Don

Thanks Don, I have tested the headlights and they are regular bulbs but controlled by diodes just like the LGB Stanza. Still looking for the head light board as this engine has been tinkered with before and is missing stuff. Thanks for the heads up on resistor suggestions, Bill