LED passenger car lighting

WELL, now what John ?     OLD  NEWBIE just bought out the toilet paper.... I mean the LED kits.

                                                                           I still have one more passenger car to do from the 3 double module kits.   With everybody supposed to stay home now there is a lot of good things to work on in the layout.                                                                                                       Actually I was wondering what would be the best way  to do two red markers and some low light insideof all these cabooses using LEDs 

ALSO will the LED lighting module kits be available again soon ?   I thought I would take your advice on the less expensive one and do some soldering.  I don't know what the lighting strip would be called though after looking on the different internet sites.

I'm going to drop more kits off at Henning's tomorrow.

As for the regulators and a source for the warm white LED reels...

5 Meter Warm White LED Strip, $2.39/ea

John  , if I used the regulators for all the cabooses  would I be OK  just cutting the LED strips ?   I'd have to experiment .     If I  would use only about seven, for example, of the LEDs would that be a problem ? 

Thanks for the info on the light strips. 🙄

You have to cut the strips in groups of three LEDs. You can always black out unneeded ones or even fold them over.

Like John says, groups of three.  You can also cut several groups of three and just wire them together, I've done that in some cabooses to spread the light around.

John H ,                                                                                                                Good idea John.   I wasn't sure if you would cause problems by cutting the strips or painting over the LED's.     

I did have a baggage car with a couple handlers inside moving baggage around .  I wanted to have a low light inside and rolled up a strip away from the windows .  I didn't  want to waste any by cutting .

Thanks John.

HEY  GRJ ,                                                                                                Went to the site for the light strip.     Delivery guaranteed by May 24 !!!                                                                                    

I may wait for Hennings to show " in stock " for your kits.

Hopefully, that will be today, I have to call and see if they're going to be there.

Yes ,  they have even shut down the local Mall for at least two weeks?

All kinds of refinements needed  done on rolling stock , track, scenery,  etc. ,  that I've put off anyway.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Like John says, groups of three.  You can also cut several groups of three and just wire them together, I've done that in some cabooses to spread the light around.

Does that mean you can have strips in 3, 6, 9, 12, etc lengths, or you have to cut them into groups of three and solder them together to get longer lengths?  I'm pretty sure it is the former but just want to make sure.

CAPPilot posted:

Does that mean you can have strips in 3, 6, 9, 12, etc lengths, or you have to cut them into groups of three and solder them together to get longer lengths?  I'm pretty sure it is the former but just want to make sure.

You can do either.  You can use any combo of three, 3,6,9, etc.  You can also cut six of them, run some wires to another strip of nine of them, and light them all.  This allows you to distribute the light where you need it.

Each 3 LED/1 resistor section stands alone.

GRJ ,

I went to the site as shown for the 5 meter warm white LED light strip.      Do you have a problem with their site when ordering ? 

I  gave them my name for the card and I keep getting that I have to use English for my name.  ?????

When I try to use  the spot to confirm the buy , I am told i have to use the PROMO code..........can't find a PROMO code on any page of theirs showing a promo code.   ?????

PS.  I've been able so far to get 10 more pieces of rolling stock lit with those LED regulators.   Thanks

I order lots of stuff from AliExpress, I don't have any issues with language or ordering.  Not sure what you're seeing.  You can also find lots of those on eBay, I just find it easier to get them at AliExpress nowadays.

Maybe it's the name Dallas that is throwing them? 

When you are finally ready to confirm your order do you know what PROMO code they might be looking for ? 

I'll have to try again at AliExpress .   

Did you register an account?

Dallas Joseph posted:

Maybe it's the name Dallas that is throwing them? 

When you are finally ready to confirm your order do you know what PROMO code they might be looking for ? 

I'll have to try again at AliExpress .   

Dallas, when I ordered for the first time a couple of weeks ago, AE had a promo $2 coupon for first time AE customers.  Do you see anything like that when you try to place your order?

Can you take a screenshot of what your sticking point is without showing any private information?

GRJ ,

I didn't register but I did get through with the order.

My card company tells I  have to give them a call to verify this purchase as it is the first time charge out of state on this site.   Everything should work out .     Thanks😁

Kingman,  

The little redball check seemed to get things rolling.  I hadn't figured that out earlier.      Thanks 😁

GUYS , 

I had sent them an email about the " ENGLISH "  issue for my name and the " PROTO  CODE. "    I had no such requests this time.

As always , the guys on the forum have my back  🙃

FWIW, I've had issues at times where the AliExpress site suddenly reverts to a different language, don't know why that happens.

Looks like a lot of different languages involved there John.  😒

HEY  GRJ ,

Hennings didn't have 6 pair of the 20110 boards for me. 😣

I have TOO many more cabooses and passenger cars to light up......... also it appears TOO much time on my hands . 🚂

Try again, they just got 25 sets.

Used 3 LEDs for each caboose with clear Tamiya Orange painted on each to tone down interior light.

Passenger cars had full strip from the kits with no paint .  Half of the strip facing down and half facing the ceiling area.

Not exactly lifelike or purist in nature but I've been very pleased with the effect given all the different building and signal light temperatures.  

Thanks for keeping me away from all the other regular things this railroad has to have done John.  This LED lighting thing is new and interestingesides beneficial .

 I'm trying to figure how to use the 25 sets for stars over the layout John.  😂🤣😁

We can fix you up with 50 sets if that's not enough.

Your modules will do two cars. Do you sell the connectors from car to car

Thanks, Tstark

HEY JOHN ,

I might be in trouble here. 

Judy is great about the model railroad stuff but I never know if that would change.🤔

PS. She did just mention  that she expects her Polar Express to be well lit at Christmas time. 😁

tstark posted:

Your modules will do two cars. Do you sell the connectors from car to car

Thanks, Tstark

You get two modules per kit, one for each car.

John H nailed it, they're really intended to do one car.

Dallas Joseph posted:

HEY JOHN ,

I might be in trouble here. 

Judy is great about the model railroad stuff but I never know if that would change.🤔

PS. She did just mention  that she expects her Polar Express to be well lit at Christmas time. 😁

The Polar Express passenger cars (non-scale size) were the first ones I converted to LED lighting.  The same light intensity throughout the car and no more blinking made the effort well worth it.  

I've converted about 50 of my passenger cars to LED, only another 50-60 to go.  It really is worth the effort, the even, adjustable, and non-blinking lighting is great.  Add to that the fact that no more circuit breakers tripping when two long passenger hit the same power district, and the picture is complete.   Another bonus is less roller erosion due to current, very little current flowing through them now.

That is a very interesting thing about the less current erosion John.  The use of these LEDs is becoming more of a benefit than first imagined.

The lower power consumption is one of the major reasons many folks switch to LED lighting.  Personally, I like it for all the other positive attributes.  Typically, an 18" passenger car will draw from 1/4A to 1/3A of power, double deck cars can easily exceed 1/2A.  An LED equipped 18" passenger car draws from 20ma to 45ma if you go really bright.  Most of my 18" cars are set between 20 and 25 milliamps, or less than 10% of the original power draw using the factory incandescent bulbs.  You'll also never melt your shell with LED lighting.

HEY  GREG ,

From a couple years ago when she got her Polar Express. Judy made the buildings with yarn from an old pattern book. We worked together to make our house in the forground .

The spot lighting in the photos were individual LEDs.  

Since the expansion has been going on ,the LED strip lighting was an idea for the snow areas .   I never thought about your idea of lighting the passenger cars with the LEDs.   (  now you have me thinking about how to install LEDs to that little Lionel hand truck with the elves )THANKS 😀...........now John's getting 50 more units out if we need them doesn't sound so far fetched !!!😁

John , on the 18 inch cars ,how many of the LEDs on the strip do you typically use ?

Either 21 or 24, whatever fits.  Sometimes the available roof area won't quite fit 24.

Dallas Joseph posted:

...   Actually I was wondering what would be the best way  to do two red markers and some low light insideof all these cabooses using LEDs ... 

Not clear if the issue of red LED markers was resolved.  If not, refer to this OGR thread which shows how to add 2 Red LEDs to a 12V white LED strip.  Following photo hijacked from earlier thread.  But you may need to save up your pennies as it will cost about 5 cents per car! 

Good point Stan.  I'm actually thinking of adding some text to my lighting products to show people how to add markers, drumheads, or rear facing lights on observation cars.  It's pretty simple, but I find I have to "tune" the resistor to get the proper balance of brightness in the added lighting.

Stan , is there any specific type of LED BULB that has to be used .  🤔  I'm  not very trained in these areas .                              I did a rudimentary marker set up in a couple of RK Pennsy E8 s'  by drilling small holes and installing grain of wheat bulbs with the wires cut off.  After getting started with John's LEDs I replaced the poor lighting with a single LED behind each marker  "  bulb  ".

John , you go guy  , keep this science going.

Stan, many years ago you posted a “how to” on markers lights using the 3 strip leds, cut apart, then soldered together for each red and the EOT light.  I have performed that mod, by reading and looking at your photos, but the link to the post(jcstudios, inc.) no longer works.  Do you still have those photos?  If so, could you post them so we can save them for our future use?  Thx in advance.