Atlas GP30 Question

[spookshow]

I just purchased one of the new DCC-Sound Atlas GP30's and was kind of surprised to find that the forward LED lights up the entire cab (as opposed to just the headlights and number boards). Have they always been like this? I don't own any from the previous runs, so I can't check myself.

Thanks!
-Mark

[central.vermont]

Mark,
The older runs from 1992 up to the DCC friendly frames of 2006 had minimal light bleed into the cab. The 92 versions LED wasn't
very bright and barely lit the headlight and number boards. in the 06 change the LED's were brighter but they put shrink tubing
onto the LED. Also both versions had a black plastic light block that clipped onto the frame and around the LED. There was an
indentation on each frame halves to clip to.

I have not seen the chassis on the new sound version so am not sure what they did to block the light.

Jon

[samusi01]

Agree with Jon.

I looked at a trio, an Atlas/Kato, Atlas China, and DCC ready with non-OEM decoder (Digitrax in this case). The former two have CN-GP installed and a lot of light leakage due to the board and (possibly, don't recall) having to cut down the light shield to fit the decoders. The DCC ready is better, some leakage on the front, very slight leakage on the sides.

Sam

[spookshow]

The new ones still have the light block -



However, it doesn't seem to be blocking much -



-Mark

(edited to include better photo)

[central.vermont]

Just the engine maintainer doing some welding in the cab!!

With that said that definitely isn't good. I wonder if you can put some electrical tape on the top of the SMD if it would help?

Jon

[MK]

It's those damn SMD LEDs getting light everywhere!

[wcfn100]

That wouldn't happen with a scale width shell, corrected fans and sill mounted handrails.


Jason

[peteski]

That wouldn't happen with a scale width shell, corrected fans and sill mounted handrails.
Jason

Wouldn't that require a brand new smaller (narrower) motor?  That is a major redesign, as the current motor and chassis are already as narrow as possible.

[C855B]

That wouldn't happen with a scale width shell, corrected fans and sill mounted handrails.

Nyuk nyuk. Sarcasm. I'll find out how bad it is when my MBK order arrives next week, although I ordered the non-sound version to add DCC on my own.

I think the core issue here is the advance in LED technology. Even the cheapest LEDs in small (SMD) sizes now are eye-popping bright, a far cry from the birthday-candle glow of even just 10 years ago. We may have to start trading in "how-tos" to identify which resistor to replace to tone it down a little... or a lot, as seems to be the case.

[wcfn100]

Wouldn't that require a brand new smaller (narrower) motor?  That is a major redesign, as the current motor and chassis are already as narrow as possible.

Sounds great!

Jason

[Ike the BN Freak]

That wouldn't happen with a scale width shell, corrected fans and sill mounted handrails.


Jason

I've never measured them myself, but how much are the shells too wide by?

[samusi01]

As it appears to be an ESU board, one should be able to set LED brightness.

[tehachapifan]

So, did these come and go already? I see they were very recently listed at MBK and are now at zero.

[spookshow]

Sure, you can dim the light. But that doesn't really address the basic problem. Bright or dim, the cab windows still light up, which I think looks weird.

Just for grins, I tried an old GP35 shell on the new chassis and there's a hot spot on top where the light actually shows through the cab roof 

-Mark

[peteski]

The SMD LEDs soldered on the top of those decoders emit light at a wide angle (all around them).  The older (3mm LEDs with lead) were much more directional, and with the added black heat shrink, the light was nicely directed just to the front.

As mentioned, piece of electrical tape placed on top of the LED, should cut down on the nuclear glow.

I'm surprised that someone at the factory did not object to the light leakage and done something about it.  I remember in the past models, inside of the shell being painted silver, then black, to block the light from shining through the shell. That would also absorb light that bouncesfrom the light-colored shell, reducing the amount of light glowing through the cab windows.