Incandescent Light Bulb Replacement

The issue with some of the direct replacement LEDs is their light distribution is not uniform like an incandescent bulb. Some are focused out the top rather than the sides. Many vendors don't get into the detailed specs of the bulbs and so it is hard to know what you are getting. You can always try another vendor and cross your fingers.

A lot like to use LED strips. @gunrunnerjohn has a great kit fit for purpose: https://hennings-trains.shopli...ed-lighting-kit.html

I agree. The distribution is the key. I found out the hard way.

The incandescent bulbs illuminate well and the light is nice and warm. They look good with the opaque windows. I thought the LED bulbs would be an easy and smart alternative, but I was wrong. The LED bulbs did not disperse the light like the incandescent bulbs, even at full power. They barely looked lit even in a darker room. I took the LED bulbs out and put the incandescent bulbs back in the cars. If I cannot find a better LED bulb that disperses the light like the incandescent bulbs, I will use the LED bulbs for lighting scenery and keep the incandescent bulbs in the cars.

LED's naturally shine mostly straight ahead like a flashlight. What you're looking for is a bulb that casts light in all directions. Some LED bulbs are built this way--by using multiple LED's within the larger bulb, pointing sideways. I'm not certain that LED bulbs of the size used in traditional passenger cars are available this way. There may be some who have addressed this characteristic in other ways,

---PCJ

@RailRide Exactly. It is the dispersion. I noticed that right away when I put the LED bulbs in and powered them up. They worked almost like a flashlight and shot straight up towards the ceiling of the cars. To tell you the truth, I am OK with the incandescent bulbs. They look super when they light up. I just thought I would try the LED bulbs. I'll use them for scenery illumination in the future. No loss in the end. Thanks!

I can assure you the LED's I use in the Passenger Car LED Lighting Kit

don't have that problem, they provide a very even lighting of the car.  You'll find it far superior to the stock incandescent lighting, and the intensity is adjustable as well.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I can assure you the LED's I use in the Passenger Car LED Lighting Kit

don't have that problem, they provide a very even lighting of the car.  You'll find it far superior to the stock incandescent lighting, and the intensity is adjustable as well.

How easy are they to replace? My cars were produced in 2008, so replacing the bulbs takes 5 seconds via a round metal plate underneath. The cars I have take 2 bulbs each. What is involved in using the kit that you reference?

Obviously, you have to take the car apart to install the kit, so if you're looking for the five second solution, you need to keep looking.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Obviously, you have to take the car apart to install the kit, so if you're looking for the five second solution, you need to keep looking.

I am going to stay with the incandescent bulbs that are in the cars. They look great when illuminated with the opaque windows. I was just curious about LEDs, but I don't want to take the cars apart. It is not that important an issue to me, but thanks for responding. I appreciate everyone's time.

I use the LED lighting because of all it's other positive attributes.

• Even lighting as the light comes from many wide angle LED's instead of two or three pinpoint sources of light.
• Low power, about 5-10% of the power consumption of incandescent lighting.
• Flicker-free lighting.
• Intensity adjustment for the perfect level of interior light.
• The ability to select any color temperature to suit the exact lighting/vintage situation.

Wow. Now you are tempting me...

@DILLI posted:

Wow. Now you are tempting me...

I was wondering how green or blue LED light strips would look with silhouettes?  I know the green window strips on the later runs of Weaver passenger cars look pretty good!  If anyone has tried this please post some pictures.   

all of these Pennsylvania Tuscan cars use led strips from gunnerjohn  the others are Lionel factory.  The factory bulbs do not given even light whereas the led strips are near perfect with a realistic appearance  

@DILLI posted:

Wow. Now you are tempting me...

One of our club members brought a set of C&O heavyweight passenger cars to run on our traveling layout on the the Saturday before Christmas.  Truly handsome cars in blue and yellow.  But I could hardly watch them go around the layout with their hot spot, incandescent lighting: two spots per car and 12 in the six car set since becoming accustomed to the even lighting of LED strip lighting.  I regret not getting photos of them; they'd be the best advertisement for converting to LED strip lighting.

Having converted my silhouette passenger cars several years ago, I've come to really appreciate the even lighting more than anything else.  But if I ran 7 to 10 car passenger trains, the reduction in current draw would be more important.

Here's a comparison photo of a club member's GN Empire Builder observation car with Town and Country LED replacement screw type LED bulbs,  with my LED strip lighting equipped GM&O car.  Both are PW LIONEL style silhouette cars.  The screw-type LED's seem to reduce, but not eliminate, the hot spot effect.  (I prefer a brighter effect than most.)

And here's a couple of photos:  a before and after comparison of LIONEL's incandescent bulbs and LED strip lights in a full dome car I recently did for a club member.  These aren't the standard, PW style silhouette inserts; they're more translucent.  But the hot spots of the incandescent bulbs v. the even lighting of the LED strip lights remains.

@gunrunnerjohn's kits make the installation of strip lights very easy for anyone who can uses a screwdriver.

(Click on the images to view full size.)

I used the same lighting option from Hennings Trains that gunrunnerjohn mentioned. Have 4 long passenger trains and run 3 on one of my mains at a time. After converting the lighting in all cars to these LEDS, power consumption was greatly reduced with little to no flickering.

I have done about 14 cars so far using GUNRUNNERJOHNs lighting strips in my passenger fleet without any problems.  Also is a fun and easy project.  Thanks GUNS for this innovation.  

They look great, guys! GRJ's system looks awesome.

Thing is - I have no experience doing this. I am interested in learning - just really nervous about attempting it myself.

@DILLI posted:

Thing is - I have no experience doing this. I am interested in learning - just really nervous about attempting it myself.

Experience is not really necessary.  You get experience by trying something new!  If you can solder, you're home free.  The lighting module has two track power inputs and DC outputs for the LED strip.

I hasten to add, if you're using the full upgrade kit and not just the modules, there is no soldering needed, the full kit was designed to be solderless.

Passenger Car LED Lighting Kit