What (if any) are the drawbacks of these lights in cabeese and pass cars when used in conventional operation?
Thanks
TomB
Original Post
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Yes
They get hot and consume a lot of power. I convert all mine to LED lighting. As I remember individual bulbs were hard to replace.
Dale H
Originally Posted by Dale H:
Yes
They get hot and consume a lot of power. I convert all mine to LED lighting. As I remember individual bulbs were hard to replace.
Dale H
I seem to recall an article in either OGR or CTT which talked about replacing the bulbs in K-Line's Streamlighting. Anyone??
On the other hand, I wholly agree with the conversion to LED...for ANY passenger car lighting system. More than a year ago there was a significant thread on this issue and the power reductions for a full train of 21" cars converted from incandescent to LED was HUGE...as it certainly would be.
KD
Also, each half of the bulbs is wired in series, so one burned out bulb will take out half of the lighting. Then another one burns, and the whole car is dark.
Originally Posted by Professor Chaos:
Also, each half of the bulbs is wired in series, so one burned out bulb will take out half of the lighting. Then another one burns, and the whole car is dark.
I could be wrong,but as I remember they had built in shunts like Christmas tree strings. However K-Line recommended replacement after a few burned out because it stressed the rest of the lighted bulbs.
They are also not constant voltage and vary with throttle in intensity.
Dale H
The other thing too is with the caboose you also have smoke that will farther draw the transformer down and not to mention over heat the pickup roller springs. Switching to LEDs would definitely cut down on your draw.
I am not a big operator, but I use them in everything, and have yet to have one burn out. They are easy to replace - they just slide out, and have quick disconnects. I put them permanently in Walthers coaches, as in gluing the sides on after lights are hooked up.
