Know what annoys me? SUPER bright LEDs...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I dropped a new NCE decoder into a recently acquired Atlas B23-7 and you know what? The new LEDs are WAY too bright. They light up the entire cab area like there's a movie shoot going on inside, and blow the number boards all the way out.

Anyone have any suggestions (short of unsoldering them) for darkening these things up in a controllable way?

[tom mann]

Paint most of the surface area black.

[wm3798]

Either that or move the black LED condom from the Atlas light board over to the new ones.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ah yes, I hadn't thought of that... thanks.

[kiwi_al]

author=wm3798 link=topic=23602.msg228683#msg228683 date=1300852871]
Either that or move the black LED condom from the Atlas light board over to the new ones.

It's called heat shrink tubing and you should be able to get it from your local electronics store. Cut off an appropriate length, slip it over the led and use a hot air gun to shrink it.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Either that or move the black LED condom from the Atlas light board over to the new ones.

I thought you weren't supposed to reuse condoms.

[Puddington]

I thought you weren't supposed to reuse condoms.

If this becomes a "safe Conrail sex" thread I'm out of here................

[sizemore]

Heat shrink tubing, you can get an "assortment" box from Baynesville Electronics right down the street from where you live, I've been going there since my grandfather took me there when I was a wee-lad.

If this becomes a "safe Conrail sex" thread I'm out of here................

Conrail never did that anyway they were always to drunk to figure out how to get it on.

 
The S.

[bbussey]

Isn't there a way to reduce the intensity of the LEDs via programming one of the CVs?
 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Bryan, that's actually what I was hoping to find, but did the condom thing instead. I used electrical tape because it was sitting right in front of me. Worked like a charm.

Now, I also need to make the comment here about condoms, and the fact that there used to be two active tunnels in Gallitzin... but as time went on one of them was no longer used...

[JDouglasFisher]

WOW, has this thread gone down the crapper. HAHA

Seriously, since everyone models in scale, isn't light intensity, also scalable?

Wouldn't be prototypical to have an HO Scale and N scale models that shine a beam a light the same distance.

Just wondering what the general consensus of the community was on this. My first impression is that in some cases, the lights in locomotives need to be dimmed a bit.

Thoughts?

J....

[sizemore]

Isn't there a way to reduce the intensity of the LEDs via programming one of the CVs?

IIRC there is "Rule 17" lighting in some decoders, when the train is at "stop/neutral" the headlight dims, the Athearn Challenger (2nd Run Tsunami's) has this feature. I think digitrax also supports "Rule 17" lighting, can't remember without looking at a manual. Fx3 does the other items like strobes & beacons.

The S.

[tehachapifan]

WOW, has this thread gone down the crapper. HAHA

Seriously, since everyone models in scale, isn't light intensity, also scalable?

Wouldn't be prototypical to have an HO Scale and N scale models that shine a beam a light the same distance.

Just wondering what the general consensus of the community was on this. My first impression is that in some cases, the lights in locomotives need to be dimmed a bit.

Thoughts?

J....

My vote is a NO on dimming lights. Prototypical headlights are FAR brighter than any model I've seen so far and most models are way too dull as it is.

Russ

[Mark5]

They light up the entire cab area like there's a movie shoot going on inside, and blow the number boards all the way out.

Like a poltergeist or the like, eh?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

IIRC there is "Rule 17" lighting in some decoders, when the train is at "stop/neutral" the headlight dims, the Athearn Challenger (2nd Run Tsunami's) has this feature. I think digitrax also supports "Rule 17" lighting, can't remember without looking at a manual. Fx3 does the other items like strobes & beacons.

The S.

A bunch of decoders do that, or something similar. For example, on the B23-7, I have it setup to dim the front headlight when running in reverse, but to turn the rear one off completely when running forward.

I feel like this is a good practice for a locomotive that will primarily be doing switching. As much as I'd love to follow prototype practice completely, the light being lit in the correct direction is an important "touch" when knowing what you're doing (and it's even more important if you're part of a two man crew).

In the decoders I had looked at, it was possible to set the level for the "dim" light, but I had no luck setting the baseline one.