Passenger Car Lights Blink

Well none of my lighted passenger cars do this deliberately.  Sometimes the lights flicker when they do - its always dirty rollers and wheels - over time they can pick up their share of dirt, too, and because they have a very low electrical demand, sometimes they are a bit more susceptable to dirt and grime than locos.  Some manufacturers put a type of sealant on wheels and contacts when they are shipped.  You might try cleaned all of them well . . . 

But you seem to be saying yours are sort of flashing - at regular intervals?  If so that is very strange - and not a feature I have seen on NPC cars or any other.  If the blinking is irregular, though, I would first suspect the center rollers and wheels need to be cleaned, then loose wires from them.  

I have a caboose that flickers when I run it on my lionel fastrack, yet when I put the same caboose on the new layout I just made with Atlas track there is no flicker.

I purchased the Atlas Terminal track and when I removed the plate on the bottom of the terminal block, I noticed that the two outside rails are wired to the hookup post, instead of only one outside rail being wired, like I have always done. It must have something to do with the flicker, because I just move the same caboose from fastrack to tha atlas track, without cleaning anything and no flicker. Good luck.

The cure for blinking passenger lights is LED lighting and a large capacitor.  After this treatment, my passenger cars have nice steady lighting under all operating conditions.

John, can you give us some more info on the setup? Do you put a capacitor in each car? Also what size capacitor and what are the best LEDs to use? I have a similar problem with some Williams passenger cars. Your help is much appreciated.

With these two passenger cars the flashing appears to be a feature (not one listed on the box or in any advertisements).  The lights flash whether the cars are moving or stationary.  

There is a printed circuit board inside the cars that the lights are wired through.  I figured that at a minimum the PCB is there to reduce track voltage to a useable level for the lights.  

But flashing lights?

So, tell us about the "relay" in each car.  My NPC passenger cars have no relay.  They do blink randomly on occasion running on my tube track layout but that is not objectionable to me, it's part of the charm of toy trains.

Do your cars flash at regular intervals or do they blink randomly?

Pete

Oops!  Beat me to it.  Sounds like it's a flasher circuit.  Did you buy the cars new?

Cars were purchased new on Saturday and arrived via UPS yesterday afternoon.  Bo flash in an identical fashion.

Would any car require a circuit inside to reduce or control the track voltage, or can I simply wire the track pick-ups directly to the internal wiring for the lights, bypassing the PCB?

I use these LED strips and cut them to length to cover the entire car.  I then use a circuit similar to the one below to power them.  You can change the capacitor to a much larger one for blink protection, I suggest 1,000uf as a good starting point.  Also, you can use a simple diode if you run command to lower the power dissipation of the regulator.  Finally, you can use an LM317T regulator for greater power dissipation if you have lots of LED's or high track voltage.

I get it now, those are the European style cars.  Mine are the 6-30039 set of three, plus the Vixen Vista Dome.  Whether or not you can remove the board from the circuit depends on the rating of the bulbs.

Pete

That would depend entirely on the design of the lighting.  I can't imagine blinking lights in the cars by design!  Some cars have constant intensity lighting, which is what my previous post is about, but most manufacturer's offerings still just have light bulbs and wire.

As a note to the  blinking/flashing passenger cars lights, if these are the Hogswort/all hallows Eve type cars. The Hogswort Dementor car and the All Hallows Eve cars were made with a circuit installed to  make the interior lights  blink/flash. Perhaps the infamous factory wizards in China put in the wrong lighting components because they had them left over.  It would be interesting to know if all the cars were made this way or just a few to use up stock lighting parts.  Dennis M.

i like Dennis M. and his explanation that these might be parts from another set installed in the wrong series of cars.  Perhaps this makes these a collectible item...

Or perhaps it just makes for a nauseating display as the cars circle the track with the elves on board getting sick from flicker vertigo.

I think that I will bypass the PCB and see if the lights can handle the track voltage.  Can't imagine a problem, since I suspect they'd be wired directly otherwise.

Before I bypass the PCB I'd measure the voltage between the PCB and first light.

That will tell you if the bulbs are rated for Track Voltage.

If there is a Voltage reducer on the PCB and you bypass it you will blow all the bulbs.

Unless he uses conventional power and brings the voltage up slowly.

Pete

There are a few circuits I use described here

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

The caboose lighting post has the best pictures

Dale H

This evening I opened up both flashing car bodies, removed the printed circuit boards, and wired the lights directly to the leads from the pick-up rollers and ground.  cars now work properly.

Lionel customer service wrote me this evening  and offered that I could return the cars for repair.  I thanked them for their prompt reply, but declined.

OR you could place a banner/sign that says PARTY CAR

We have seen components from earlier production runs turning up in later runs for years(see K-Line power/dummy topic), but blinking interior lights must be a first. They could be collectors' items after all.

Clean the track then rollers. It will help.

Easiest cure first I was always told.

I don't think cleaning the track fixes the fact that the cars had a circuit board that created the blinking.

I had started another thread before I knew about this one but my cars that I got today did the same thing. I took out the boards that made the lights blink and spliced everything back together. Every car lights even now.

What's the thing with these blinking boards?  Who wants their lights blinking?

In the Hogwarts series they have an add on car "Dementors car I think" The lights flashed in it. I don't really know why I don't follow the Hogwarts series much. To put it in simple terms; Someone screwed up at the factory and put the board in for the blinking lights. So much for quality control! Here is a video of the car in the back.This is not my video.

Demented is the folks that assembled the set, right?   Why in the world would you want a car doing that!

I just bought it to complete the set as seen in my video posted by Chris , I think its a pretty neat set I'm hoping to upgrade it to tmcc. When people see it when visiting the layout they show interest in it I just say the ghosts are in the car and its haunted, in my opinion the set looks good on my O-54 outer loop on my newer layout. I do wish it had die cast trucks and would not flicker so fast.

I have the same issue with my new Lionel North Pole 2 pack 6-35250. The train dealer and I had a discussion with a Lionel rep on the phone and they appeared to be aware of this issue. As to jumpering the cb, I will wait till after I here from Lionel.

This "problem" may be a good thing in the future for collectors.