MTH O Scale Floodlight Towers (30-11039) question

Do you have a conventional transformer with a variable voltage output?

Wire the tower to the output and start at 6 volts, working your way up, slowly, to the point where they are bright enough, but not too bright. Use a digital voltmeter in parallel with the tower, as you do this, so that you can watch and monitor what voltage you are applying. Most lighting accessories can be run at a lower voltage than the factory rating. This method prolongs the life of the lamps, and produces less heat.

quote:

Originally posted by Arthur P. Bloom:
Do you have a conventional transformer with a variable voltage output?

Good idea. Had to think about the answer. Yes, I have an old LW and a voltmeter.

Odd though, isn't it? Not to list the voltage required anywhere?

Thanks.

George

I'm not familiar with the tower, but if it has conventional (tungsten) lamps, they probably have an industry model number on them. Using the model number, we can cross-reference the voltage.

That said, I would hazard a wild guess of 12-14 volts.

I have those lights and they run on 12-14 volts as Arthur said.

Rod

Arthur, Rod:

Thanks gentlemen. Appreciate the info.

George

The original floodlight towers 30-11039 were designed for 18 to 20 volts.
I had bought 3 of them and when I hooked them up to my 14v lighting connection, I thought I had a short or something as they were not bright. I then started to play with the voltage, hooked them up to seperate circuit @ 18volts no problem. Later towers were changed to 14 v type , as I bought 6 more.

Thanks Jerry. Is there any way (except hooking them up) to tell? Some packaging change or indication?

George

Sorry I cant answer that question, as the first 3 I bought did not have boxes.

Has anyone had these thing apart to replace light bulbs or convert to LEDs?

 

We installed some and a couple of the bulbs burnt out after turning them on for only the 2nd time.

 

I was thinking of converting them with LEDs as GRJ suggested above. Are they series or parallel wired? I know the faces screw off, but that's about it.

Good morning

 

I think all MTH acc. are 14 volts. 

When I bench tested them, 14 volts barely lit these things, so I assumed they were the older versions which take 18-20 volts. They look much better at 20 volts, but now 2 of the 4 bulbs are out.

 

Either way, the bulbs are coming out for LEDs, but they lights are installed on the layout already and not easy to get to or work on.

 

You can see the 2 lights out in this shot...

 

I'm in the process of converting a pair of MTH Floodlight Towers (30-11039) to LEDs.  They are mint but I have had them for years.  It took 20 VAC for the towers to throw any decent light.  The two top lights are wired in series.  The two bottom lights are also wired in series.  The top and bottom rows are wired in parallel to base feeder wires.  The parallel connections to the base feeder wires for the top and bottom rows were not symmetrical.   I used wide angle LEDs which plugged into the sockets with some effort.  The LEDs are V(f) = 3.4 v, I(f) = 20 ma, mcd @ 20 ma = 15000.  $4 for 100 on ebay.  I'm using one ballast resistor to support all four LEDs, not the best solution but easy.  My supply to the tower is 12 VDC.  The LED tower brightness is a signifcannt improvement over the original.

Here is how I convert Marx towers to LED lighting, I use 100ma 5 chip LEDs,they are very bright

 

LINK

 

Dale H