LED for 41 and 51 switchers

White LED's run on 3V DC, and must be current limited, so it's no surprise they died.

For a PW switcher, you can wire them so they're directional wiring them between the motor armature leads and to the center roller.  You'll have to add a diode to protect them from reverse voltage and a resistor to provide current limiting.  I'd start with a resistor value of around 470 and see how they look  With two sets of these, one wired to each armature connection, you'll have one lit going forward, the other lit going backwards, aka directional lights.

If you're wondering why this works, the E-Unit is swapping the connections to the armature, and in each direction, one side of the armature is connected to track center roller voltage, the other side is connected to the field coil.  When the E-Unit cycles, the opposite side of the armature is connected to the center roller and the opposite one to the field coil.  Since the other side of the LED is connected to the center roller, when that armature connection is connected through the E-Unit to the roller, there is no voltage across the LED.

Gunrunnerjohn...

thank you for the info...can you add a schematic???  I think I know what goes where just need to be sure I get it right...

spaceghost...

Here you go, hope that's sufficient.

thanks gunrunner john...this will be this weeks project...

spaceghost...

You're welcome.  Let us know how it works out.   I recommended this to someone else, and they got it working, so I know I'm at least on the right page.

gunrunnerjohn...

who do you use for your online source for such components...my local shop has closed...

spaceghost...

I get them from a variety of sources, many times I grab them off eBay.

I buy in quantity when I buy them, that way I don't have to look for them for each project.

Jeff,

Could you post some pictures when you've got it wired.  I would like to see how you connected to the motor armature.

Joe

Here is another attempt at loading the photos...I did wrap the resistors and diodes with shrink tubing to prevent shorts...