FVM SD70ACe Lights?

[jereising]

Amidst all the other info, can anyone who has these tell me how are the lights?  Specifically ditchlights?

The GEVOs could sometimes be brought into better alignment and the GP60s were impossible.

But how about the ACes?  Has Matt found the formula yet?

[wmcbride]

Jim,

They are white and bright (unlike my sad GP60s).

[jereising]

Thanks, Bill!

I was hoping for that answer.  Now I can replace most of my Katos.

Still need to do something with the 60s, need to know how many LEDs the light board will support and where to connect them...no stranger to LED additions but monkeying with a tight board bothers me a tad...
 

[wmcbride]

Jim,

I used your work as a model for replacing the yellow LEDs on the FVM GEVOs.

I really like my GP60s but the ditchlights are just a drag. I've tried to adjust things but it's no better. I guess adding SMDs might be the answer but my fingers are too fat! We'll see. I don't need to do them all, just maybe two units.

Bill

[jereising]

Stay tuned...I think I've gotta do something with 'em

[wmcbride]

Stay tuned...I think I've gotta do something with 'em

Jim,

Any more on the GP60 ditch light solution?

Bill McBride

[jereising]

Still thinking it through, Bill. 

Largest hurdle in my mind is the board and where to get power for 2 more LEDs.  That will likely be trial and error, and take time which I don't have at the moment.

Other than that, my thoughts are to simply use the smaller LEDs directly in the ditchlights - they oughta fit fairly easily, and routing the wires should be easy once the clear light channel is disposed of.

I may end up getting another 60 to be used as a sacrificial lamb while I experiment.

But I don't see being able to get to it until mid-December at the earliest, just too much stuff going on right now.  This is the kind of thing that needs time, and more than just a half hour/forty five minutes at a time I can now manage.

[mcjaco]

There was a gentleman at the High Wheeler show last March that came over and showed us, and Matt, his hardwired SMDs in his GP60.  So it can be done. 

He had it programmed to alternate flash from side to side when the horn function was selected.....which was wrong for the ATSF.  D'oh.

[wmcbride]

Still thinking it through, Bill. 

Largest hurdle in my mind is the board and where to get power for 2 more LEDs.  That will likely be trial and error, and take time which I don't have at the moment.

Other than that, my thoughts are to simply use the smaller LEDs directly in the ditchlights - they oughta fit fairly easily, and routing the wires should be easy once the clear light channel is disposed of.

I may end up getting another 60 to be used as a sacrificial lamb while I experiment.

But I don't see being able to get to it until mid-December at the earliest, just too much stuff going on right now.  This is the kind of thing that needs time, and more than just a half hour/forty five minutes at a time I can now manage.

I had originally thought of using fiber optics and running that to the ditchlights after trimming the light bars. My skill in heating and forming fiber optic cable needs a lot of development.

I have some SMDs but then it became  a function issue, like you said, as to where to attach them. I'll have to look at the LokSound plug-in decoders for these to see if they might be the answer.

[jereising]

There was a gentleman at the High Wheeler show last March that came over and showed us, and Matt, his hardwired SMDs in his GP60.  So it can be done. 

He had it programmed to alternate flash from side to side when the horn function was selected.....which was wrong for the ATSF.  D'oh.

Quite.  Wish I knew where he attached the wires.  Although in all probability he took a straight feed to a flashing module, what I'd have done...

Bill, I've gotten away from Fiber with the advent of the really small SMT LEDs.  MUCH easier to work with, IMO.

[wmcbride]

Jim,

I received an EL heritage unit today and I will tell you the ditch lights are bright. The rear ditch light housings, which are yellow, glow like they are holding a sun inside. Things are better on units with darker ditch light housings like the regular fleet NS units.

I know, either too dim or way too bright (on some)... 

[jereising]

Too bright is an easy fix.  Story of my life.

[wmcbride]

Ha! I put that SD70ACe next to a GP60M to see if any of that extra light might migrate but no joy.

The FVM SD70ACe run very smoothly and quietly - quite a bit quieter than the GP60Ms.

When looked at from the side, the FVM SD70ACe is a bit of a high-water engine. The side sill is not as deep as on the Kato units - it looks almost half the height. The Kato unit doesn't have daylight showing above the trucks but the FVM engines do. Usually not a big deal for N since many folks look at their trains from above, I think.

[wmcbride]

Jim,

On the ditch lights in the GP60M:

How about the Loksound Micro 4.0 with the 6-pin connection. If I am reading the manual correctly it has three solder pads for  2 AUX outputs and 1 common.

Maybe that might do the trick. If I remember correctly, Loksound decoders (at least the Select Direct in HO) have resistors built in for LEDs.

Bill

[jereising]

That's going a LONG way for ditchlight pads...

Be nice if there were a replacement DCC board for FVM...with function pads...I'm assuming all FVMs (except the Hiawatha use the same board...