Lights for kato sd45

[carmelmodelrr]

I bought two Kato SD 45 locos in about 2000 or earlier.  I still have them and they run well but they have the original dull yellow headlights. There is no brighter replacement light available from Kato.  Can anyone direct me to a source for “bright white” led headlights for these DC locos?

Thank you.

Carmelmodelrr

[peteski]

I believe these boards use standard (not surface mount) 3mm diameter LEDs.  I recommend the ones from Ngineering.
https://www.ngineering.com/lightng.htm
Scroll down to "3mm  high-intensity White & Warm-white LEDs"
Warm white is what you want.
I would also replace the resistors with higher value ones (the Kato resistors are meant for the Yellow LEDs).

I would use a 1k ohm 1/4W  resistors to replace the Kato ones.  Ngineering also sells resistors on https://www.ngineering.com/resistor_usage.htm  but those are surface-mount resistors where I believe you need standard resistors with leads.

I have not had to purchase resistors for years (I have plenty), and I buy mine in large quantities from electronic suppliers like Digikey.  But I'm sure there are some hobby type vendors which sell such resistors in smaller quantities.

Actually,when you order the LEDs, you might ask if Ngneering has some of 1k ohm 1/4W standard leaded resistors available.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Are these the single "chips" or are they the body length boards?

[randgust]

I've done a couple different things.  We're talking DC here though.

My 'lead' SD45 has the light and strobe package fron Richmond Controls.   Every lead unit I've got has one of those in it now.   Constant brightness, LED's, slide-in board, and Jim is really talented on matching the flash pattern to a prototype if you tell him.

For my recent builds I've been mounting the ultra-cheap tiny golden-white LED's off of Ebay - you get a bag of like 20 for $7, with leads, and resistor.   I put them in a brass K&S tube, glue the tube to the cab roof, and seal the back end with white glue and paint black to prevent light leaks.   I swap out the resistor on the  original board with what is supplied with the LED.   I have yet to blow one up, and the results are rather spectacular. 

Have been doing the same swap out of the LED/resistor on anything with a DCC decoder, if I can fit it in, and these are so cheap that I've sometimes just soldered the leads to where the LED port was and hoped for the best.   Again, they're surprisingly tolerant of what's probably a non-recommended resistor in series.

CMR has even smaller pico-sized golden-white LED's with the proper resistors.   Those are so small I put a yellow one INSIDE a clear rotary beacon off the DCC board and it worked.

Here's the short video featuring the Kato SD45's with Richmond Controls board:

I may not be fussy about a lot of things, but to me, it's not a train without a blindingly bright headlight coming at you, proper color, and the entire cab shouldn't be lit up either.   I've gone back on a lot of my older models and done that tiny LED with resistor trick.

[carmelmodelrr]

That really looks impressive.

Thanks to all the responders.

Carmelmodelrr