I need some help with my Lionel 6-14087 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. A photo of the bottom of a working one may be enough.
My lighthouse LEDs would not come on so after calling Lionel service and sending an email with no response in 7 days, I’ve taken the unit apart to see if I can determine the issue. The following features work correctly:
- Light in the tower is ON
- Sounds work correctly when triggered
- The motor rotates the LED beacon section
After some investigation of the wiring I have attached a sketch of my connections.
My concern is that the connection from the IC board to the top of the tower for lighting the LEDs is from the 15V supply. The rotating LED section has two pins that wipe on the collector rings to pickup to power for the LEDs. When the pins are in contact (LED circuit connected) the voltage is 1.15V DC across the collector rings. When one of the pins is isolated from the collector ring (LED circuit isolated) the voltage on the ring is 15V.
My guess is that the LEDs were incorrectly connected at the factory and should have been connected to the 2.7V DC supply instead of the motor. I fear that the LEDs are blown as a result. In any case I’m trying to confirm what the wiring should be and then decide how to proceed.
- Can anyone confirm that the motor should have been connected to the 15V DC feed and the LEDs to the 2.7V DC feed? This would be simple to see by looking at the bottom of your unit. The small gauge Red/Black pair of wires coming from the bottom of the tower is from the motor and either connects to the Grey/White, 2.7V, or the Red/Black, 15V, wires. A photo of the bottom of a correctly operating unit would confirm.
- Has anyone ever replaced the LEDs? It looks like a sealed unit but I have not tried to disassemble.
- Does anyone know where I could find a replacement LED unit? Lionel says North Lima Trainworks on their website but I’ve written them with no response yet.
Any help is appreciated.
