Dallas Joseph posted:

Stan , is there any specific type of LED BULB that has to be used .  🤔 ...

Not specific.  There are many options as shown in above photo from the linked thread.  I'd say mainly depends on mounting hole size you have or have drilled out.  In any case, costs are modest...pennies or maybe a nickel or dime for a suitable Red LED, a penny or two for a resistor.

Additional comment.  You may run across so-called "clear lens" Red LEDs.  That is, when unpowered the lens is see-through or clear.  To each his own, but for marker lights I prefer the "diffused red" lens style as is the case with all those in the above photo.  That is, when unpowered the lens is red.

TedW posted:

Stan, many years ago you posted a “how to” on markers lights using the 3 strip leds, cut apart, then soldered together for each red and the EOT light.  I have performed that mod, by reading and looking at your photos, but the link to the post(jcstudios, inc.) no longer works.  Do you still have those photos?  If so, could you post them so we can save them for our future use?  Thx in advance.

See this OGR thread.  I think this is what you're talking about.  Here's one photo from that thread that illustrates the concept of breaking apart a 3-LED segment from a strip.

While you can do that, if I'm going to that much trouble, I usually just use discrete LED's.   I've posted several times on how I use and attach them.  I have used both clear and defused red and green LED's, it depends on the application.

Dallas,  the yarn building’s are really neat, don’t believe I have seen anything quite like them previously.  A LED lighted handcar sounds interesting.  Here’s an idea, make some red LED’s blink in unison with the up and down motion.

I like that idea GREG.

This LED fun stuff on the Polar Express just might take me up to Christmas.                      I'll have a lot of Forum reading to do and a lot of work ( fun ) in the layout room before i can get started on it.  🎅

Stan, thank you.  This method works great for a number of observation cars, and other applications.  I appreciate your help.  

Ted, here are a few threads I posted with details on how to light various styles of cars, including the observation cars.

Passenger car LED lighting (Again)

LED Lighting Upgrade for MTH Full Dome Car

MTH Amtrak Superliner LED Upgrade in Pictures

Yeah, I have all those links, John.  For the specific application I have, my preference is smd, out of the rolls of strips I already have.  Bought 10 reels on a good buy a couple years back.  Thus the request to Stan.  Want very dim lighting in a  baggage car, so I use your Osh Park DIY board with a 500 ohm pot to give me that.  Works great.  I realize there are other methods to do this, but this works for me just fine.

I just found this on Amazon. May have to add a resistor but boy it looks promising.

https://www.amazon.com/Evemode...1728878137&psc=1

Unless you only want to have few of these in the car, you get MUCH better an even lighting using the typical 60 LEDS/Meter strips and this LED Lighting Regulator board.

For around $11 a car you can install lighting that's superior to those Amazon modules in a number of ways.

• Flicker free as there is a buffer capacitor on the regulator board.
• DCS compatible having a 22uh inductor on the regulator board.
• Adjustable intensity using the intensity adjustment pot on the regulator board.
• In a typical 18" car, you get about 24 LED's along the ceiling for very even light.
• Less work as you have to individually wire each of these little modules.
• The Amazon modules don't include reverse voltage protection for the LED's, running them on AC will result in a short life for the LED's.

What he said.  Presumably, we're talking passenger car lighting since that's the thread title!

In which case you typically need, say, a dozen LEDs to smoothly light a typical interior.  At 80 cents a piece that adds up quickly and all the wiring!  And then there's all the additional features in the lighting modules GRJ mentions.

Separately, I'm a bit curious about their statement of "AC or DC Compatible."  The back of the board is labeled DC 12-18V!  Kind of makes you wonder.  I realize several of the positive comments on the Amazon site mention AC operation in train applications.  But there have been many OGR threads about LEDs that claim AC operation but then have poor long-term reliability because LEDs are really DC devices and don't play well with AC.  It's a your-mileage-may-vary as different LEDs have different "tolerance" to AC but if going this route why not drop-a-dime and install a protection diode (about 10 cents).  The diode insures the LED(s) see only DC...just like marked on the board!   1 diode can support the entire passenger car.  Very cheap insurance in the absence of specific technical data (I did not see any) showing this version of LED can indeed tolerate AC.

The resistor is right there on the little board.  1000 Ohms as stated in the item description.

Unless Ohm's Law has been repealed, 9 volts across 1K does not yield 20milliamps, more like 9 milliamps, we also have the 3V drop across the LED.    For 18 volts, you are dropping 15 volts across the resistor, so you get a little closer to the rating, 15 milliamps.

However, if you actually run a dozen of these at 15 milliamps, you're using 180 milliamps of power, and the intensity of the lighting will be, shall we say, less than realistic!  My typical current draw for an 18" car with 24 LED's is around 25-30 milliamps total.  That yields a nice even and realistic amount of light.

@Dallas Joseph posted:

A dozen Railking passenger cars need  LED lighting. Two incandescent  bulbs  per car . The need for replacing these things is getting old .  I don't  run the cars all the time but when I do there is usually a need to replace one or two or to reposition a loose one.

Any way to be a little economical with the LEDs and where to get the materials needed ?

There are many kits on Amazon that have strips of leds with a wall wart. The Leds are on double sided tape and can be use direct to track power, put a resistor in to protect above 12v and you are good to go, have used many of them no issues.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...tle?ie=UTF8&th=1

Warm White LED Strip Light, Dimmable 12 Volt LED Light Strip Warm White, 3000K Super Bright LED Tape Lighting, for Bedroom, Kitchen, Closet, Under Cabinet, Vanity Mirror, Indoor Only, CT

I have 6 passenger cars that are MTH Rail King, yes they are the less expensive ones. What I did to replace the incandescent bulbs was to take, the Christmas tree lights they used and replace the bulb with a single 3V warm LED and an 870K ohm resistor, reinstalled in the factory base. They are a little dim, weak on the lumens, but with the lights off, and after my second scotch, I was pleased. However, my MTH premiere ES44AC and Rail King SD70ACe would just stop dead., at the same spot, on a straightway. I checked everything I could and nothing track wise was a problem. I took a video and gave that and the engines to a friend of mine who happens to be an authorized MTH service provider and he found nothing wrong with either engine. I made sure all the resisters were on the anode of the LED, not because that should matter but because they should be the same. The only conclusion I could reach was that somehow the LEDs I rigged up must be doing something to the track voltage, the the engines are picking up as a DCS stop. And no, I currently am not running in DCS, but a simple MTH brick and speed control unit. Seeing these on Amazon and looking at the size of the lights, I figure 3 in each car would be more than generous for lighting. No way I'm spending  $39.95 for a set of two kits do do the 3 sets of cars. So I'm taking a flyer on it.

If three of those LED's flickering as you roll and providing some hotspot illumination does the trick for you, then you're on your way.

Marky Mark, you seem to be a DIY guy.  If so, GRJ has graciously provided his board design in component form.  Order the boards from off shore or here in the US from Osh Park.($3.80 for three boards shipped).  Board components from digikey, mouser or offshore, your choice.  Around $3-$5 dollars per board, depending on where you get your parts.  

Here's the link to the OSHPark project for the lighting boards: OSHPark Constant Current Lighting Regulator Board

Here's the link to the project and description: GRJ's Original DIY Constant Current PAX Car Lighting Module Files

I hasten to add, if you source these parts from overseas and don't mind waiting a few weeks, you can build these boards really cheaply.

Each car has 2 center rail pick-up rollers so I don't get any flicker at all. I was simply sharing what I found on Amazon with these LEDs. I am a DYI guy but only because I'm  cheap. My first LED was fine if my train wouldn't have had this stupid stop thing. If after I try theses new light  the same thing happens, the lights come out and my problem is solved for zero dollars. But I just want to say thanks to you guys. I followed O Gauge for many years and learned a lot.

@Marky Mark, sounds like you have a good plan for your project.  Please share your progress and results(photos) so in the future, members can benefit from your expertise.  Good luck.

Thanks  for the kind words Ted. I received my lights and put one across my tracks and it is a very nice color and just a bit brighter then what I have made on my own. This week I'll retro a car and show it compared to what I rigged. I think I'm going to be plenty happy with the results.

How do you adjust intensity of LEDs on John's module

@Doug Jester posted:

How do you adjust intensity of LEDs on John's module

I have the one on the left.   Nothing happens when I mess with the spot arrow is pointing at.. do you turn or push that spot

It's a pot, you use a small jeweler's screwdriver to adjust the intensity.

CW increases brightness.  Don't be too aggressive turning the adjustment.  It only rotates about 3/4" of a turn. There are mechanical "stops" at each end.  If for whatever reason the adjustment rotates full-circle spinning freely, then it is busted.

FWIW

Nice video Ted.

I have forgotten how I ordered my first sets of GRJ lighting kits.  John can you refresh my memory on how an where to get these?  thanks

Thanks , I will try that spot on grj module. I enjoy learning from you guys

I bought my modules from Henning trains

Funny, put these in a while back, when I built interiors for some old Williams cars that I made interiors for and painted, but hadn't had a chance to test them until tonight...

JW&A Lighting regulator, soft white LED strips from Amazon (with enough left over to do about 14 more cars). Thought about turning down the brightness until I saw them next to an MTH car, now I'm wondering if I can turn it down instead.

https://hennings-trains.shopli...cal/john-will-assoc/

I have been buying the 24 volt rolls LED warm white, lowest brightness rating and wire them with a bridge rectifier saves a lot of extra work building a circuit for each car. They have performed fine on my layout and give a good amount of light in the cars. Have not experienced DCS interference.

@wb47 posted:

I have forgotten how I ordered my first sets of GRJ lighting kits.  John can you refresh my memory on how an where to get these?  thanks

LED Lighting Regulator and Passenger Car LED Lighting Kit

@kj356 posted:

I have been buying the 24 volt rolls LED warm white, lowest brightness rating and wire them with a bridge rectifier saves a lot of extra work building a circuit for each car. They have performed fine on my layout and give a good amount of light in the cars. Have not experienced DCS interference.

Interesting.  Do they flicker?

@kj356 posted:

I have been buying the 24 volt rolls LED warm white, lowest brightness rating and wire them with a bridge rectifier saves a lot of extra work building a circuit for each car. They have performed fine on my layout and give a good amount of light in the cars. Have not experienced DCS interference.

There are tons of ways to illuminate the passenger cars.  However, with your scheme, you do lose the flicker resistance and the intensity adjustment.  That may not be important to you, in which case there's certainly nothing wrong with your method.

All good stuff. I did get my one car done with my Amazon 20 for $15.00 LED lights. I have 5 illuminated cars so I put 4 in a car. I re-used the Christmas light sockets from the MTH to install. I k\made sure I had the polarity reverses on each side. This way I'm using all the power available. I have one switch on my layout that does make it flicker just a bit, but very little. I am pleased. The car on the left is my modified one, the one on the right is original.

OK, read through the three pages of this posting.  Not sure what 'color' folks are settling on for the LED's...and why.  What say ye?

Thinking about it, a soft white or yellow white seems to be 'incandescent'-sim.  That's probably appropriate for heavyweight passenger cars.   Yes, no?

Likewise, the bright white would seem to be more 'flourescent'-sim.    Appropriate for more modern equipment.  Yes, no?

OTOH, probably a TEHO item?

Mine were warm white.

@dkdkrd posted:

OK, read through the three pages of this posting.  Not sure what 'color' folks are settling on for the LED's...and why.  What say ye?

Thinking about it, a soft white or yellow white seems to be 'incandescent'-sim.  That's probably appropriate for heavyweight passenger cars.   Yes, no?

Likewise, the bright white would seem to be more 'flourescent'-sim.    Appropriate for more modern equipment.  Yes, no?

OTOH, probably a TEHO item?

I think the majority have gone that way. "Warm" for cars which would have had incandescents, and "Bright" for those that would have flouresents.