I installed constant lighting kits I purchased at York into two k line heavyweight cars. One lights steadily, the other flickers as the incandescent bulbs did. Does anyone have any thoughts on a solution?
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In my large scale passenger cars I installed LED strip lights and powered them using a 9 volt battery. Under the car i installed a miniature toggle switch. I don't see why it couldn't be done in "O" scale.
Tom - who's kits?
I have led lighting strips in many Kline Heavyweights and all are fine. Run both conventional and DCS.
I use the LED controller from Henning's Trains.
bruce
These are both from Henning's. Both have the controller and are wired identically.Therein lies my quandary
GRJ designed these and are flicker free. He will help you. Jennings website has an email address for him if he doesn’t respond here.
If you have an issue with the controller, we'll be happy to replace it. Flickering would indicate the capacitor perhaps is loose on one leg, that's about the only thing that would do that.
Send me an email to my profile email address.
If you suddenly/instantly kill power to the track (with both cars lit up), does the flickering car dim at the same rate as the good one?
If they dim/decay at the same rate, then I'd say you have a wiring or intermittent connection (dirty wheels, rollers, whatever) issue.
If the flickering-car dims instantly (much faster than the good car), you may have a defective board such as a bad on-board capacitor or connection to that capacitor.
In any event rest assured your problem will be resolved.
Good idea on killing power, if one pickup wasn't connected, you will get some flickering at times, just too much for the little cap to handle.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll experiment tomorrow and let you know.
If you have one, a cap. with more uf (same volts) would extend the "on time" if you tend to avoid track/wheel cleaning. I did some for a pal and they stay lit for nearly 2 min without power applied.
It's certainly possible to keep the LED lighting on almost indefinitely, Lionel did that with their new cars. OTOH, I don't really see the point of going to all the extra expense. As long as I can keep the lighting from flickering while moving, I'm a happy camper. When I turn off track power, I have no problem with the lights going out as well.
Thanks for all the imput,men. Went at the wheels with a Dremel and wire brush.Bottom line: clean wheels=no flickering.
Glad to hear it, they must have been REAL dirty.