Passenger Car Lighting

I just make my own strips and glue it to the roof and just run 2 wires up in a discreet place. I think you can just remove the plastic parts and not use them.

there are several posts on LED lighting ,at least how I do it here. The circuit you use depends upon preference and if you run command or conventional or both. The caboose lighting post has the best pictures and used 2 different circuits.

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/Bl...tegoryMain?catId=426

Dale H

There are a number of LED lighting kits on the market.  I created my own that was made as a plug & play for MTH passenger cars.  If you are interested, email me at royztrains@aol.com

In general you can also reuse the existing wiring provided by MTH, remove the supplied lighting strip and add a 12 VDC supply to feed the strip.  Then add 12 VDC LEDS and reinstall.  The downside of this is bright LEDS that may be too bright for your car without any easy way to adjust the light level.  In addition, most of the LEDs at 12VDC are not wide angle thus potentially leaving darker areas in the car.  I spent the time to create a kit that overcomes these problems.

Happy railroading!

OK, so i just got my significant order from mouser, but i FORGOT TO ORDER WIRE for the led's in the cars.  what guage wire should i find locally  #30  ??    

I use 22 to 26 stranded wire.  You can also order this wire from AllElectronics.

I use #32 wire-wrap wire for my car lighting projects.  Since they're LED's, the smaller the better, there is no concern about current handling.  The smaller wire is easier to hide.

" The downside of this is bright LEDS that may be too bright for your car without any easy way to adjust the light level.  In addition, most of the LEDs at 12VDC are not wide angle thus potentially leaving darker areas in the car.  I spent the time to create a kit that overcomes these problems."

There are numerous ways to dim LEDs if they are too bright. Simplest way is to use a larger resistor. But they can be series wired also.They can also be wired to a CL2-N3 current regulator. 20 ma can drive 1,2 or more LEDs in parallel. Each LED will become dimmer as each one is added. See also the caboose lighting circuit,in one I installed a pot for dimming.

The LEDs in my post linked previously are warm white and have 140 degree view angles. 6 of these will light a 21 inch car with no dark spots. The light dispersion is better than bulbs as no reflector is needed. These LEDs cost 35 cents each. DYI a car can be done for $3 or less depending on component requirements.

Dale H

 

FWIW, I've had no trouble getting even lighting with the LED strips, and you can make the intensity whatever you like just by regulating the current.