Legacy Y6B Light Problems

I've noticed that some of these weathered engines are disassembled for the repaint and may not be put back together properly. Once we got in a weathered Lionel UP 4-12-2 in the store and the whistle steam smoke unit was wired in with the main stack smoke unit. When it chuffed the smoke would come out of the whistle and when you blew the whistle the smoke would come out of the exhaust stack.

Id pop it open and check all the wires and plugs to make sure they are seated properly.

Now I don't remember if you have control over the doghouse light. I think its wired in through track power.

I have the plain (non-weathered) Legacy Y6B, the doghouse light appears to be on all the time, there is no control.

Bruk and John,

Thank you for your responses.

Bruk, you were right.  It was a reassembly problem.  When I removed the boiler shell, I found that the positive wire (grey) was completely severed and the ground wire (black) was partially severed.  They wires got trapped in a screw hole and damaged by the screw on reassembly.  I repaired the wires, but the light still did not work.  I found that I was getting 3V from the board and then found that that the LED was bad when I applied 3V DC from my bench power supply.

I couldn't help myself, so I took the next step to get the headlight fixed.  I figured it was a "standard" 2mm LED, but found it was and SMD type (I think) LED on a tiny board.  The headlight housing was big enough to fit a 2mm LED, so I made a temporary fix to satisfy my need to see the headlight shine....   The 2mm warm white LED I used drew 24 milliamps on my bench power supply.  Do you guys know if if this is going to be too much current draw for the RCMC board?

I could send the loco back to Lionel, but it seemed like a waste of effort for a fix I enjoyed making myself.  Lionel sells headlight housings, but the specific one for this loco isn't available.

I've never tried to solder SMD components and need to do some research to figure out which one to buy to fix the light per the factory original form.  The pitch on the pads on the tiny circuit board was 1.5 mm and the SMD LED is .85mm wide.  Below is a picture of the LED on the tiny circuit board.

The most disappointing bit was that when I touch the headlight housing, the lettering on the number board wiped off...and revealed 2171.  Lionel didn't even do a proper job of replacing the number boards on the headlight housing.  It might have been a water slide decal that rubbed off, but didn't even seem that substantial.  It seemed more like ink that never really cured / hardened.  I guess now I have the opportunity to learn how to make my own number boards.

If you want to try the decal route, Micro-Scale made a set of N&W Steam decals that has number board decals. If you can't find them on ebay, send me an email. I might have some extra numbers.

Thanks, Jim!

A quick ebay search yield Microscale part #48-78 Norfolk & Western Steam Locomotives (1919-1961). 

I haven't attempted a water slide decal since I was 10 years old assembling model airplanes.  I did a poor job then - definitely going to be a tougher job now.  

I'll also need to figure out how to get rid of the "2171" on the number board and leave a smooth enough surface for the decal to stick.

NBGT posted:

Thanks, Jim!

A quick ebay search yield Microscale part #48-78 Norfolk & Western Steam Locomotives (1919-1961). 

I haven't attempted a water slide decal since I was 10 years old assembling model airplanes.  I did a poor job then - definitely going to be a tougher job now.  

I'll also need to figure out how to get rid of the "2171" on the number board and leave a smooth enough surface for the decal to stick.

Glad I could be of help, 91% rubbing Alcohol will work. The RCMC board can handle up to 40ma through each output (I am guessing). I have seen them double up two LED's (20ma each) before on one output.

See replies embedded.

NBGT posted:

I couldn't help myself, so I took the next step to get the headlight fixed.  I figured it was a "standard" 2mm LED, but found it was and SMD type (I think) LED on a tiny board.  The headlight housing was big enough to fit a 2mm LED, so I made a temporary fix to satisfy my need to see the headlight shine....   The 2mm warm white LED I used drew 24 milliamps on my bench power supply.  Do you guys know if if this is going to be too much current draw for the RCMC board?

 

The output of the RCMC is current limited, so any standard LED will work fine.  However, I'd probably want to fix the original SMT board to get proper lighting on the number boards.

 

I've never tried to solder SMD components and need to do some research to figure out which one to buy to fix the light per the factory original form.  The pitch on the pads on the tiny circuit board was 1.5 mm and the SMD LED is .85mm wide.  Below is a picture of the LED on the tiny circuit board.

 

The picture didn't come through, however that sounds like it's probably something like a 0604 size LED.  They can be hand soldered, but you do need the correct tools and use a low temperature iron, around 500F at the tip.

The most disappointing bit was that when I touch the headlight housing, the lettering on the number board wiped off...and revealed 2171.  Lionel didn't even do a proper job of replacing the number boards on the headlight housing.  It might have been a water slide decal that rubbed off, but didn't even seem that substantial.  It seemed more like ink that never really cured / hardened.  I guess now I have the opportunity to learn how to make my own number boards.

I have repaired a number of number boards.  I print the numbers in the correct size reverse white on black using your favorite word processor.  Cut out the paper to fit the top of the clear number board and glue it using something like Tester's Clear Parts Cement.  You can then put a clearcoat on top of the paper to seal it.  Many times, I like my result better than the originals.

John,

Thanks for your tips!!  I've tried posting the photo again.  The resolution isn't great, but I wanted to share.  I'll have to order a few of the LEDs you mention to see if I can fix the board.

Also, does anyone recognize / know the manufacturer and part # on the connector shown in the photo below.  It's the headlight connector for the Legacy Y6b.  I'd like to make up a couple to help troubleshooting down the road.

I recognize the connector, but it's obsolete, you can't get them anymore.

Note that you have to get the polarity of the LED right on the cable or it won't light.

Thanks! 

I try to be careful about LED polarity, but I definitely slip every once in a while

I figured out what the connector is - its a Molex 51006-0200.  Digikey and Mouser have them (about $2 per full connector - housing and pins).  I've noticed that Lionel uses these connectors for some of their headlight connections (well, at least two of my models).  GRJ's find of the Engineer brand PA-09 tool is a good tool for making the crimps with these connectors.