LEDs for Williams Passenger Cars?

They have some LED bulbs here, I don't know what's in Williams passenger cars as I don't have any.

 

TrainAidsA

 

Someone also posted another site for LED bulbs recently, (last few days I think) but I can't remember the thread or the name of the place, sorry.

On the 'Bay, there are several sellers that have led's for sale. One is hongkongsuperseller.  You need to know what size you need, and most of these bulbs are rated for 12 volts.  There are various diameters, listed sizes, and mounting types (single bayonet, screw and so on.  Good luck.

 

 

contact gunrunnerjohn and get his kit.

chipset,

 

The Williams cars have incandescent bayonet bulbs.  I tried replacing them with White LED bayonet bulbs but, they just do not give enough illumination.  Especially, if the cars have silhouette inserts.

 

George 

If you do try the LED bulbs, make sure you get them rated for 18 volts if you run command control. The link I provided above has the 18 volt rated bulbs. I don't know about the brightness that GNK mentions as I don't have any passenger cars.

 

As others have said, gunrunnerjohn has designed a very nice kit for incandescent bulb replacement in passenger cars. I believe he will be getting them soon and selling them through Henning's Trains. He has all the bases covered in the kits he is offering and knowing him I'm sure it will work quite well.  

Most Williams I have seen have simple bayonet style bulbs that GNK also stated. If you want to keep it simple, I would just get 18v bayonet led bulbs if you run command control. If you run conventional and desire more brightness, go with 12 volt. Then again, the lights will only be as bright as the power they're getting, then again, again, how fast does a Williams engine run on 12 volts?........Probably way too fast!

 

Gunrunner, has a great product as well.

I just pulled the roof off of one of the passenger cars..yep simple bayonet bulbs.

I cannot think of any reason why a kit would be needed?

Will be using these more cost effective and better looking Williams cars with my Lionel Legacy and TMCC diesels.

You can get bayonet-style bulbs with LED's in them.

 

The issue is that since LED's emit most of their light straight ahead rather than in all directions like incandescents, the brightest light will be up in the ceiling of the cars and comparatively little will be visible through the windows.

 

LED strip solutions like those of GRJ's and the ones I wrote about shine down into the carbody and are thus brighter...but the effect works  better if you have an interior rather than frosted window strips:

 

---PCJ

Yep frosted here....anything is better than using the old bulbs that can melt the cars under C&C

I still use incandescent, albeit on conventional mode.   My standard operating procedure is to add additional heatshields with foil tape.  This also helps to reflect the light.    I've even covered the entire ceilings in some cars. 

Let us know what you end up using.

If you live in Houston, Ace Electronics on Antione Drive just south of 34th.  I run my TX SP cars with my Williams Katy UP Heritage, and those bulbs work well!

This thread got me thinking about my K-Line scale 6 car heavy weight passenger car set. (K-44802). I use a Williams scale GG1 to pull them. I just upgraded the GG1 to TMCC. So now I run with 18V on the track. The passenger cars use the K-line StreamLighting system for illumination. The cars do not seem to be overly bright, but what voltage were those lighting strip designed for?

 

Does anyone know?

 

Thanks in advance.

The Williams passenger cars before Bachmann have two floor mounted incandescent light bulbs, some have a wire between the two light sockets for a more constant lighting effect.

I have not used any Williams passenger cars with command control, just run them in conventional setting.

 

Make sure that your light bulb can take the voltage of command control.

 

One thing that happened to me with a Lionel lighted caboose on DCS is the truck assembly shorted out, the center rail roller pickup melted the plastic on the truck assembly. So be sure any lighted cars can take command control voltages or the paperwork with your passenger cars says it is safe to use with command control; Legacy, DCS or TMCC. Most command control systems want you to supply about 18 volts to the track.

 

Lee Fritz

One thing they don't tell you about TMCC.  If you place less than 18 volts on the track, say the usual 14, you might get better engine control.  The system can have finner control because it has as many "stops" over a lower voltage.  This is a variation of "blended" use.  Not very many people use it, but it is good to know.  Try it, you might like it.

If you are using command control, make sure you get 18 volt bulbs. Trainaidsa.com has them, as I'm sure many other places do as well and on ebay also. However, the Trainaidsa bulbs are the only ones I have used and not in passenger cars as I don't have any of those yet. So I don't know about the directional dispersal of the light with them.

 

Multi directional residential LED bulbs are now becoming readily available. They disperse the light in all directions like an incandescent bulb. Don't know about our train bulbs, whether they have this capability or if it is even possible to build that into the small train bulbs?

 

To add, if you don't like the light with the bukbs, gunrunnerjohn's kits will probably be much better for even distribution of light. And from what I understand about them, he has made kits with everything needed for the installation and also made the installation pretty easy for those that don't want to solder anything.

 

 I only use std incandescent bulbs as I like the softer glow that is closer to the prototypical interior look of the passenger cars of the 1940's, 50's and 60's. What I don't like is the change of luminescence that goes with the varying speeds/voltage.   LED's while they use far less power are highly focused, usually very bright, need good filtered DC (for longevity) and are unidirectional. I guess that some of the disadvantages can be overcome with an LED strip but why spend $10-20 for interior illumination that can be had for a quarter??

 

In my case it was mostly for power draw. My Superliners were consuming upwards of a half-amp each, which proved to be a problem (even with a Z4000) for my 22-car facsimile of the Auto Train.

 

Although I didn't calculate the cost per car, with the 300-light strip itself costing about $12, and the power-supply components amounting to around a dollar and change additional, I'd say my cost was nowhere near $10 per double-decker car, and I eliminate excess heat from ceiling-mounted lighting to boot.

 

---PCJ

I like the LED strips for many reasons.  First off, the warm white running at a fraction of the full rated current give you a nice soft glow that equals incandescent bulbs.  The lighting is even throughout the car, not with ugly looking hot spots like most incandescent lighting.  Finally, I run the whole car on 20-30 milliamps instead of about 1/3 to 1/2 an amp for each car.  If you're running multiple passenger trains and they end up in one power district, standard incandescent lighting will frequently trip the breaker.

 

Yep, trainaidsa.com, is where I bought these from - L3: Round Top LEDs Bayonet:

http://www.trainaidsa.com/cata...&products_id=237

 

I have had good service there. Looks like the price has gone up on the LED bulbs though. I was thinking they were about $1-1.25 each in pairs, but it's been quite a while since I ordered any and I still have some left. Their website has a LOT more info too, used to be nice and simple.

I guess that the convincing argument is the power of LEDs vs bulbs. I run my passenger trains at 7 and 8 cars respectively and one is pulled by a scale 1990 Hudson while the other is being pulled by a Williams F7. That's 14-16 #53 bulbs on each consist.  Don't see any power shortage running on an old ZW so far. Those things put out so much wattage you can weld with them! 

We run the modular layout with PowerHouse 180's.  We have 10A on each loop, and if we get two large passenger trains on the same loop, we have unscheduled stops at times.

 

Need passenger car lighting, caboose lighting etc.     

Check out Royz Trains.  I just talked with him at the York Show...

http://www.royztrains.com/ 

 

I also have known him for several years and would recommend him for your lighting needs..........

 

That's not good, fortunately I have not had to contact them for anything. Will remember this next time I am ordering though. Good luck getting it all straightened out.