Seprate Rear light and rear numberboards.

[soo]

Well I am starting to install sound in some of my locos..so with that comes lighting also.

    0603 Led's were used along with the proper resistors. I need to do some refining...but here it is..

     Yes I know the grabs are on crooked and not lined up. That was a custom painter I used. Next time I know better.

     I already have the speaker wired up in a shapeways enclosure. Now I have to tackle the front.

      I am no pro..but I am working on it.
Cya,
Y-it

[tehachapifan]

Looks good!

[peteski]

Looks good. The number boards seem a bit bright though.

[milw156]

as long as you are using ESU boards, you can adjust the brightness.

[peteski]

as long as you are using ESU boards, you can adjust the brightness.

Or just use a larger value resistor.

[soo]

Thanks for the comments guys!

I know they are a little to bright..( why am I still seeing spots?? Lol)

When I get the whole project wrapped, I will then adjust the brightness.

Pete...yeah yeah..those the are the resistors I had on hand. What value do you recommend?

Cya,
Y-it

[RBrodzinsky]

For SMD LEDs, I’ve actually upped my resistance values to 1500 to 2000 ohms. The LEDs are just so bright, compared to “bulb” LEDs. Whenever I “miss” the mark, I then use the ESU brightness settings.

[peteski]

Y-it,
since you are getting seriously into LEDs, I would recommend getting a resistor kit with bunhch of values. That way you can try various values and see which one will give you the desired brightness.

A good rule of thumb with white LEDs and DCC (around 12V) is to start with 1k ohm (1000 ohm) and go up from there.   But for dimmer applications like number boards you might have to go as high as 5k or 10k (or even higher).

Resistor kits are readily available on eBay (and they are cheap).  Just search for "resistor kit 1/8W) or something similar. I would go with 0.125 Watt (or 1/8 Watt) since they are physically small.  You can get 0.25W size, but those will be physically larger.   Many of those kits will be SMD (surface-mount device) resistors.  If you are up to some precision soldering, those will give you the most compact installation. .Either mount them on a piece of a copper-clad circuit board, or solder some fine wires to them.   This is discussed in  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=43554.15

If you look through various install threads in the DCC forum you will also see examples of using a copper-clad board to hold SMD resistors.

[carlso]

I just completed installing LED's in my KATO GS4. I split the light pipe to separate the upper light from normal lower light. Intention is to make the top a good rendition of a MARS light. I used 3K resistors and IMHO they are still too bright. Steamers did not have the lights found on diesels.

Carl

[peteski]

I just completed installing LED's in my KATO GS4. I split the light pipe to separate the upper light from normal lower light. Intention is to make the top a good rendition of a MARS light. I used 3K resistors

If you were to model the restored (modern) version of this loco then it would have bright headlights.