Over the last 12 months or so, I have acquired a variety of passenger coaches, a mix of styles and brands - Rivarossi, AHM, Bachman... some have internal details, others are yet to be detailed. I also plan to upgrade the couplers on all of them to Kadee couplers, and fit metal wheels in place of the plastic wheels. But the main thing I would like to do is install internal lighting. What is the consensus on the best way to do this? I assume using some form of LED lighting strip, with power pickup from the wheels. They will run on a DCC layout, but I hope would also work on DC. Does anyone have recommendations on off the shelf kits? How much of a pain in the rear end are they to install? What is the most reliable form of electrical pickup from the wheels? What LED light colour (daylight, soft white, yellow, ...) looks the most realistic. Thanks in advance for sharing your wisdom. Ken
Hi Keith has done a couple of tutorials fitting LED’s A quick look found this one Link http://www.platform1mrc.com/view_topic.php?id=652&forum_id=15 There are others have a look around the forum
Hi Maclir. LED colour would depend on what era the coaches are from. If they would have had incandescent lighting, then go for "Warm White", later units with fluorescent lighting, go for "White", as the White LED's have a slight blue tinge when lit that resembles the blue of Mercury vapour lamps or "Daylight" coloured Fluorescent tubes. (Trying not to sound technical, but I'm a retired Electrician!). As Chris says, I did a "How-to" on this a while ago, together with the circuit for building a small board to go in each coach which will give you a degree of 'Stay-alive' over track joints or dirt. Anything else you need to know, just ask and we'll be happy to help. Don't bother with any coach lighting kits, just buy the components, as you can do about a dozen coaches for the cost of one kit (At least, here in the UK!). Keith.
Thanks Keith; I looked at your "how to" - I didn't think it would be too hard to knock up a circuit - bridge rectifier, decent filter cap, dropper resistor... I can still remember that stuff from Elec Eng back in the mid '70's. At least Ohm's law hasn't changed in all that time. The fun part will be getting pick ups on the wheels, but I should be able to jury rig something. When I get off my backside and do something, I'll make sure I take a video or lots of picks, and put up and article.
Looking forward to seeing how you end up doing it Ken. I have a few coach kits that will need lighting as well once I get around to building them so I'll follow your lead with interest. Cheers Toto
Hi Ken Just saw your post on lighting. The wheel pickups can be solved quite simply. DCC concepts in Perth WA market small coil springs that fit neatly over the wagon axles and have a small takoff sprig at the end. Virtually no drag and an easy solder to get going. You need to be able to remove one wheel to fit the spring but that is just a twist and hope exercise. If you are fitting to bogie wagons, I have achieved best results by fitting them to all four axles. Hope this helps. Cheers and happy modelling. Richard