kbkchooch
"retired" conductor
I've just finished a total rehabbing of a friends brass GP15. One of his pet peeves,(and mine too) is the look of a nuclear reaction in the cab of a loco (think Athearn Blue Box headlight) . One of the easiest ways around it is to install an LED inside of a tube inside the roof of the cab pointed directly at the rear of the headlight casting. That way light come out the lens, not everywhere else. This leads to another issue. Maintenance. The only way to do any required maintenance or repairs is to leave the wires long enough to put the shell out of the way, or install a connector. leaving the wires long has its own issues, with wires rubbing on the driveline, so the connector becomes the safer alternative. If you have bought one lately, the Miniatronics connectors can get expensive if you have to do a fleet, but if you have done as many installs as I have, you may be sitting on a cheap solution.
I don't care much for factory motherboards, either lighting changes, clearance issues when installing sound,or just poor design has left me with a bunch of these.
Yes, the 8 pin plug. I have collected a bunch of them over the last 20 years . I threw away a lot of them too. Cut them in half with a razor saw, and you have a 4 pin. Lob on off the end, a 3 pin, all you need for fore and aft headlights. With this particular one, I used a 3 pin, wiring the blue (hot) lead to the center pin, with the white (front) to one side and the rear (yellow) to the other. This way if it every gets installed backwards, the worst it can happen is the wrong light will come on.
The female side of the connector is 2 sided taped to the top of the bracket that holds the front truck.
The male end with new wiring soldered on, and connected to the LED/light tubes. I did tubes front and rear on this one because of the rear grillwork on the GP15 is see through.
So there you have it, a use for what others may call a piece of trash!
I don't care much for factory motherboards, either lighting changes, clearance issues when installing sound,or just poor design has left me with a bunch of these.
Yes, the 8 pin plug. I have collected a bunch of them over the last 20 years . I threw away a lot of them too. Cut them in half with a razor saw, and you have a 4 pin. Lob on off the end, a 3 pin, all you need for fore and aft headlights. With this particular one, I used a 3 pin, wiring the blue (hot) lead to the center pin, with the white (front) to one side and the rear (yellow) to the other. This way if it every gets installed backwards, the worst it can happen is the wrong light will come on.
The female side of the connector is 2 sided taped to the top of the bracket that holds the front truck.
The male end with new wiring soldered on, and connected to the LED/light tubes. I did tubes front and rear on this one because of the rear grillwork on the GP15 is see through.
So there you have it, a use for what others may call a piece of trash!
