Tomar O-809L Adlake Marker Lights Power Requirements

You will blow the LEDs with that kind of power. I installed them in my Milwaukee Road open air observation. I installed a battery hidden inside the car with an on/off switch on the bottom of the car. The battery will last a very long time. click to enlarge....Don

He won’t blow the led if he installs one of the resistors provided. Assuming the led draws 20ma and forward voltage of 3V with 18v power to track, a resistor value of 750 ohms would reduce voltage to led to 3V. To be save use a 1000ohm resistor. This will reduce voltage to led slightly and dim led only a bit.

Mack

Thanks Mack. I know what the rectifier is for,  but I wasn't sure about the voltage drop from the resistors.

• Are the resistors labeled with their ohm value? If they included 1000ohm resistors use those. In the event your voltage to track should ever get up to, say, 21V, the 1000ohm will still protect the LEDs.
• at 21V and an led with forward voltage of 3V and drawing 20 milliamperes, you would need a 900 ohm resistor:  ( 21v-3V= 18v). Then divide 18v by .02 amps= 900 ohms. 
  so 1000 ohm resistor should be more than safe for you

of course, if the LEDs draw say 30 milliamperes, then at 21v you could get away with a 600 ohm resistor. I always use a lower amp draw to be conservative. If 1000 ohm results in led being too dim, try a lower value resistor

hope this helps!

I installed Tomar lights with the power supply and resistor provided.  Seems to work well with Higher command voltages. 

Two kits installed one was the adlights, another was a lighted drum head. 

Remember 18VAC at the track is RMS voltage. Peak voltage is 1.4 times that or 25V.

Best start out with the largest resistor Tomar provides and work down. LED brightness is not linear so running it at half its rated current with not be half as bright but may be 75% of full brightness.

Pete

The Tomar drum head kits I've bought have come with a resistor and bridge rectifier for the LED. Been using the kit components and running on 20V for command operations without issue. 

These are my favorite marker lights for cabeese, especially the kit-built ones....Ambroid, Gloor, Mullet Creek, etc.! 

Like Scale Rail, I installed an on-board battery and switch which eliminated the need for the resistors.   Since I sometimes must use a O2R set of trucks to get the proper style for the car and accommodate mounting the O3R couplers separate from the trucks, I don't have to worry about a center rail pickup.

I use this item from Evan Designs...

https://evandesigns.com/produc...=aa7fe703b&_ss=r

The flashing red LED that comes in the kit is replaced with the two 809L marker lights LEDs....no problem.  The 2032 disc battery (3v) is common and inexpensive.  But, as Scale Rail has found, I'm still using the original battery for the amount of operation/display I put the caboose through!  BTW, in the ED product picture, the white item is the push-on-push-off button switch....I simply find a spot inside the car floor to mount the switch, extending the button through a hole for easy finger access....quite unobstrusive.  And, the price is certainly right!!!

Here's my Ambroid ATSF caboose so equipped...

...the removable side held to the car with six (6) 1/8" neodymium magnets (super grip!!)

Of course, adding this lighting to a production car usually only requires removing 2-4 screws to gain access to the interior.

Just one option.  And, BTW, I still have a "FRED" on the end of the car......he's waving to everyone.

KD (Lucas Gudinov)