kjd
Go make something!
I spent much of the day putting DCC and a headlite into an older brass NP A5 4-8-4. The casting is not flush with the smoke box so I couldn't put a bulb in the smokebox and have it look right. N-gineering makes 2x3mm LEDs for projects such as these. I drilled #77 holes in the bottom of the headlite casting and the smokebox front. I wired the LED with N-gineering's magnet wire. The wire is .004" dia. My hair is .003".
Here you can see the LED in the housing and a very small hole for the wire to go through.
Here is the backside. I superglued a resistor in place and soldered the positive wire to it. I soldered a heavier gauge wire to the other leg. It will go up through the boiler to the decoder. The other wire also got soldered to a heavier piece of wire to pass through the boiler. I heat shrinked everything and stuck it in place with a piece of foam tape.
Now does it work?
It does and it is quite bright!
Here is a side view of the headlight. The wires are invisible.
There are much smaller LEDs available for smaller housings. The smallest are about .030"x .060".
I also removed some paint from the pilot and rear truck to help with pickup and now the locomotive runs as well as it looks.
Here you can see the LED in the housing and a very small hole for the wire to go through.
Here is the backside. I superglued a resistor in place and soldered the positive wire to it. I soldered a heavier gauge wire to the other leg. It will go up through the boiler to the decoder. The other wire also got soldered to a heavier piece of wire to pass through the boiler. I heat shrinked everything and stuck it in place with a piece of foam tape.
Now does it work?
It does and it is quite bright!
Here is a side view of the headlight. The wires are invisible.
There are much smaller LEDs available for smaller housings. The smallest are about .030"x .060".
I also removed some paint from the pilot and rear truck to help with pickup and now the locomotive runs as well as it looks.
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