Lionel Lionchief Plus A5 - tender light

Yep, no firebox flicker either. I am going to wait out the warranty time before messing with it.  I would not attempt to led it without finding a detailed and experienced modeler with a good video on how to upgrade it.  I have years of experience doing lighting and still look at videos for different ideas.

I have the same loco.  Love it, but was alittle disappointed about the tender light also.  But it runs great.

Installing a light is no big deal, having it come on only in reverse is another matter, the signals to do that aren't in the tender.   I wished that the LC+ stuff had working backup lights, the Camelback is the same way, the only LC+ that I own.

I don't need to wait for the video, but the only way I can see it working is to run tether from the locomotive to the tender from the rear light output on the LC+ board.

Thanks for the post. I was going to do a post asking if it was supposed to light or not.

I did use the app on my iPhone and it was interesting being able to adjust whistle and bell tones.

Also, this whistle seems to be the same as the whistle on the J1, which I also have (see current posts on the J1 whistle).

It is definitely a switcher whistle (PRR) and not a J1 whistle.

I have the 577 Pennsylvania a5, the Lionel.com site  said it had a flickering firebox in the features list. It’s does not. I called them and I was advise it was a decision made not to include it and the description was not updated.  So John, adding a fire box with a flicking led and resister should be easy to do, any tips?

The flickering LEDs need filtered DC, so you'll want to use a diode, cap, and then a dropping resistor for current limiting to light it. You can power that off track power.

So now there are two features that are listed on page-89 that Lionel has decided not to provide: Firebox Flicker and Rear Light. How many other features are they falsely advertising that are not being provided? Many people make purchasing decisions based on the catalog, is Lionel going to refund their money for missing features? I bet not! Lionel should add a Notice to their catalog link on their website describing everything that is incorrect in the catalog!

AtomicAnt posted:

Yep, no firebox flicker either. I am going to wait out the warranty time before messing with it.  I would not attempt to led it without finding a detailed and experienced modeler with a good video on how to upgrade it.  I have years of experience doing lighting and still look at videos for different ideas.

Thanks so much!

I just had the A5's tender apart and plan to put a white LED in the backup light fixture. It's fine with me if it is always on...better than being always off, LOL! I considered putting in a red LED, but so far decided white will make more sense.

No easy way to make the light directional on the tender, no wiring available.  You could run a tiny tether back if you were really wanting directional lighting.

John: Thanks for the tether suggestion and part reference!

My inclination (without any real knowledge) is that in "real" life, the rear backup light might have been always "on" since the little locomotive is a switcher therefore moving up and back often, that the light may as well be "on" all of the time.

Anyone interested, please chime in as this idea of mine is still in the idea stage. I ordered the white LED and it will be a week or so until it arrives.

All suggestions invited and welcome!

Stan

Stan, your RR, your rules.

@stangtrain posted:

John: Thanks for the tether suggestion and part reference!

My inclination (without any real knowledge) is that in "real" life, the rear backup light might have been always "on" since the little locomotive is a switcher therefore moving up and back often, that the light may as well be "on" all of the time.

Anyone interested, please chime in as this idea of mine is still in the idea stage. I ordered the white LED and it will be a week or so until it arrives.

All suggestions invited and welcome!

Stan

I like the concept so much I plan to wire a dummy diesel this way, not really as elegant as a Neat switcher but....

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Stan, your RR, your rules.

I installed an LED in the backup light housing today and am quite pleased with the results:

Here it is before installing the bulb:

I spliced into track power and used a warm white universal 3mm LED from Evan Designs together with one of their sets of wired connectors. I used silicone glue to secure the LED in place. The 3mm LED just slipped into the opening for the light in the tender shell:

Very impressive.

I do not recall the when it was done but Carl Tuveson had done a backup light on a Flyer chief locomotive a few years back without a tether. Maybe Ed Goldin could chime in on this and resurrect the thread, Ed are you listening?

Ray

There are a number of way's to do it, but all of them are a lot more complicated than just connecting an LED to track power.

I did find Carl's configuration but it is part of the TMCC conversion of his Berkshire. I didn't remember that.

This will take you to the TMCC conversion with the tender backup light, I don't know if this might also work with the Lionchief or Flyerchief boards, maybe John could tell us. I bring very little electronic knowledge to the discussion.  Carl's schematics are low on the page.

   http://www.tuveson.com/Berk/burk.html

Ray

Did this on a plain LC tender.  LC has no backup light circuit so an Evans Design infrared remote had to be used in addition to drilling out a cavity in the light housing and adding a pickup roller.  See here:

https://ogrforum.com/...back-up-light?page=1

John

Given that I'm an automation kind of guy, I'd put a transmitter in the locomotive and receiver in the tender and trigger it with the board's backup light output.  Pretty sure the LC+ boards all have an active backup light output.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Given that I'm an automation kind of guy, I'd put a transmitter in the locomotive and receiver in the tender and trigger it with the board's backup light output.  Pretty sure the LC+ boards all have an active backup light output.

Yes you posted it in that thread I linked John

https://ogrforum.com/...8#157406524916338178

John

Thanks for doing it.

I was surprised to find the lack of a backup tender light when these engines came out. Even Lionel's traditional 0-4-0 steamers have directional tender backup lights. It's a very cool feature.

I was a bit surprised there was no reverse light, the LC+ I had for a spell had a dummy light as well.  I always wanted to fix that, but I converted it to battery power, then someone came along and wanted it more than I did, so I sold it.  All my TMCC/Legacy/DCS stuff has working reverse lights, so I'm set.

Since only three of the four circuits are used in the drawbar (that’s the case with my LionChief 0-8-0), is there a way of powering that LED off the board or are two wires required?

You could just send track power over the available wire and use the tender wheel ground to the other wire.  Note that some of the tenders have plastic bearings, then you'd have to add axle wipers to pickup the wheel power.