WeHonest Crossing Signals

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KB I have been playing with sensors; HO scale. Getting greater than 2.5" emitter to detector is tough to do and that is your track center to center. Add at least another 1 1/2". On top of that, the across the rails Emitter/Detectors need a place to hide and you need to deal with ambient IR. Either across the rails ( break the beam ) or reflective, you to turn on the Emitter with a very short pulse at a relative high current to keep the Emitter in spec and cool. Or you can use a huge Emitter with a very tight steradian ( that is the cone of energy that illuminates the detector): tighter the steradian, the less current needed. Seems they can not build a small Emitter with narrow steradian without a ton of $$$.

In this case, reflective sensors the to/from distance is shorter and the ambient IR is less, hence less power and smaller devices; although you still need a somewhat higher current pulse as distance top of the tie to bottom of car/engine is around 3/4"; 1.5" ish round trip. And guess what? Bottoms of just about any rolling stock is black - absorbs energy of which needs to be overcome.

The ones I am playing with have 7 degree steradian and will do 750mA for 200uS with a 1/2 second cool down. Emitter driver needs a heatsink, and a honking resistor for power dissipation and to set the current. Oh, those are T1 1/4 and a bigger diameter than the tie to tie distance. Still playing, just trying to get stuff in the ballpark.

Oh, I do wonder what the WeHonest Emitter recovery is? Might have to get a couple to play with.

L8r
 
I went with these. Plug n Play basic fiber optics and included crossing bell. The first unit had non functioning LEDs, but the bell worked. Trainz sent out a replacement and everything worked as advertised. I'm not sure if the bell unit is still part of the kit.

www.trainz.com

Dwarvin Lighting System Products For Sale

Fiber optic model railroad lighting systems from Dwarvin by Trainz designed for realistic scenery illumination without soldering, heat, or complex wiring.
www.trainz.com www.trainz.com
 


To the OP (HOScaledWill)... I'm a bit confused, as you seem to be strongly recommending WeHonest signals but it seems you use the Evemodel signals exclusively. The WeHonest signals can be equipped with sound whereas the Evemodel cannot. Price is pretty much a wash. I am considering these in n scale even though they may look a tad ungainly as they add more to my layout than they detract IMHO. I won't use sensors or crossing gates, just signals with lights and bells, and toggle them on/off as required. My garage n scale layout is rather large (18x18) with only 2 urban areas that employ crossings so great fun for my grandkids. I wonder if anyone makes a momentary single throw toggle with a timer? Like on a camera. That would be cool.
 
Sadly, WeHonest seems to have stopped communicating after my first order was delivered, and with 2 defective sensors to boot. When there products work they work well, especially for the price. My recent order has failed to ship after 7 days, 7 emails to David's hotmail account and a couple more to his ebay account have failed to elicit a reply. Sadly I filed a PayPal refund request this morning. This will either shake things loose or I will be done with WeHonest once and for all. Too bad...
 
Well, it shook things loose. David went on holiday, never posted same on his website that there would be potential delays (the website and ebay sites kept accepting orders as normal with no shipping delays indicated), and his staff ignored his instructions to assemble and ship all the existing inhouse orders. As a result a complete meltdown (CF). I am assured now my order shipped on his return on Friday with some bonus items so the PP complaint has been rescinded. Still never going to use PayPal anymore as it is not buyer friendly.
 
freescopesdad said:
not buyer friendly.
Click to expand...
I found their security questionable. They are based out of Singapore. Had me submit a picture of my driver's license, immigrant registration card and a pic by phone app just to tell me that they wouldn't give release the restriction I had on my account since I change address to being overseas. When I asked about all that stuff I sent them, they didn't even respond about having received it, so I told asked if I was phished. No answer. So I told them that they don't understand anything about personal private information, that they were scammers and to close my account. I think I did file a report against them.
 
That's really too bad. I bought quite a few of their signals a few years back using eBay and they were well scaled and built. I never purchased any circuitry from them as I tend to build that kind of stuff myself because I was a E E before I retired but the signals were every bit as good as Atlas, etc.
 
Just to clear up any misunderstanding here. I have no current complaint with WeHonest. David contacted me, explained his situation, I received my order, and all his well. My security issue is (was) only with PayPal, and I have closed that account. I will continue to purchase from WeHonest, but only through their eBay portal. Ron
 


RhB Michael said:
Is it worth the cost savings to have to keep replacing burned up LEDs and the frustration of trying to keep the LEDs attached to the arms?

WeHonest also offers European signals and crossing gates and gets favorable reviews from the European railroad community. They are a good value compared with the majors like Viessmann, Busch, and others.
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I'm not at all familiar with any of these signals, how often would you need to replace leds?
 
At this point it is unclear to me what the OP (is that HOScaledWill?) did, what products he actually used (looks like a mix of EveModel, WeHonest, and Other?), or how he wired everything together, so it is really impossible to tell why he burned out some or all of the LED's in his crossing gates. He did seem to mix and match the terms EveModel and WeHonest liberally with pictures of the other company's products quite often. I do know that now that I have my supply chain and communication issues sorted with David at WeHonest I have had zero issues installing and operating his product. I do not use the crossing arms, but I do use the signals, speakers and sensors embedded in the rails in an n scale setting and everything works. The one issue I did have had to do with the underside of many of my freight cars and locos, which are painted black and not often reflect the infrared signals. A bit of white or blue painter's tape cures that issue nicely.

nscaler454 has posted on his YT channel the classic video relating his experience with the WeHonest n scale crossing signals without gates.
 
I'm back and I read your responses and I guess like Lucy I got some 'splaining to do! And I'm sorry it took so long to respond, I'm not very active here and will not be.

First, I didn't mean to sound like an ad for WeHonest. I was only recommending their signals to you since NJ International and Tomar do not seem to make signals anymore, well, I know NJ International is inactive right now, I'm not entirely sure about Tomar. Plus I recently learned MTH went out of business for HO scale, which explains why I couldn't find their products for sale and I think I tried to contact them once but never got a response. I didn't know WeHonest was going to cause trouble for you guys!

I didn't have very many problems with David though once I did contact him and he was away for Chinese New Year but I'm sorry if you guys did.

I've heard some negative things about PayPal, there was even a website called PayPal Sucks or something. I heard about that from the now late Mike Hickok, the founder of Mike's Railroad Crossing Website https://www.rxrsignals.com/ (and I'm trying to get my own pictures added there) was against PayPal back when he used to make and sell videos, and I still have most of his DVDs! So far I haven't had any problems with PayPal although I hardly order anything online these days being I'm low-income and on SSI!

As for my choice of using Evemodel flasher units with WeHonest signals, well I did have two WeHonest flasher units but one of the screws was stuck in the first one, so I got a free replacement. That one worked but I accidentally broke the piece that controls the flash speed and it ended up being stuck flashing the signal lights so fast! So I gave up using WeHonest flasher units for now although I'm planning to go back to using one for my four-signal system as you can again see displayed here IMG_20240628_055251617.jpg

Turns out it's not a good idea to use Evemodel flasher units for this many signals and the wires get easily tangled and it's frustrating to have to untangle. So when I get a chance I'm going to order a WeHonest flasher unit for something like this.

I've also been using the Evemodel flasher units because they're less expensive and you can even get a two-pack, or two in one pack for a relatively low price. I was also using Circuitron flasher units, though I was using those for incandescent lights but after burning out some flasher units and what seemed to be a dispute with him, Steve Worack stopped contacting me and hasn't responded to my most recent emails. I think he got annoyed with me and probably blocked me and I wasn't trying to do anything wrong but he wouldn't listen to me no matter what. So I'm not using Circuitron anymore, especially if Steve doesn't want to hear from me again. I was trying to light up signal lights with gate lights when I did incandescent lights and I was using grain of wheat light bulbs. But when I tried to wire eight incandescent lights to Circuitron FL-2 flashers and one upgraded to a FL-2HD the flasher units stopped working right, flashing only half the lights and leaving the other half of the lights solid! Steve said it wasn't his fault and I didn't imply it was but he blamed me. He said I must be overloading the boards or letting bare wires touch, creating a short..., which I guess I did do without knowing. And he said this

"Our first repair is generally free, but when the same problem recurs, it is obviously not our fault and something is going wrong at your end. The cost of the repair with the heavy duty transistors would be $10.00 which would include the shipping back to you. But you would still have the expense of getting it to us. In all, it will likely approach the cost of a new board.
Steve"

Either way I'm done with Circuitron and I'm done with incandescent lights!

Another reason I'm using Evemodel flasher units is because they make the LEDs fade in and fade out like classic incandescent lights do instead of just making the lights turn on and turn off quickly and it's more interesting to see the signals fade in and fade out as they flash. Here are some of my videos of my WeHonest signals flashed with Evemodel flasher units

Two gate-less signals plus Amtrak train https://www.deviantart.com/willm3lu...l-Amtrak-Train-and-Rail-Crossing-1-1235012071

A single gated signal with gate lights https://www.deviantart.com/willm3luvtrains/art/WeHonest-Crossing-Gate-Signal-Video-1-1092990919

Two gated signals with gate lights https://www.deviantart.com/willm3luvtrains/art/We-Honest-Crossing-Signals-Video-5-1092967945

Two gated signals with gate lights and two gate-less signals. Note, the gated signals are on a separate flasher unit than the gate-less signals https://www.deviantart.com/willm3luvtrains/art/We-Honest-Crossing-Signals-Video-6-1092975729

However, the Evemodel flasher units don't always make the LEDs fade as they flash and I'm not sure why.

A single gated signal with no gate lights and later two other gated signals with gate lights. https://www.deviantart.com/willm3luvtrains/art/WeHonest-HO-Scale-Crossing-Gate-Display-1155077793 The lights on the signal without gate lights fades as they flash. You can even see my hand lower and raise the gate. When I show the other two gated signals, the one on the left fades in and fades out but the one on the right doesn't fade in and fade out, or barely fades, acting more like real-life signal LEDs, and both signals share the same flasher unit. I'm not sure if the lights on the gate on the signal to my right are fading or not.

Two gated signals with gate lights plus Amtrak train. Here the gate lights fade in and fade out but not the signal lights even with the Evemodel flasher unit https://www.deviantart.com/willm3lu...l-Amtrak-Train-and-Rail-Crossing-2-1235065167

The signal LEDs and the gate LEDs can all fade out as they flash even when there are two gated signals on one flasher unit but I can't always get them to work like that and I'm not going to try to mess with them now, I'm just going to let them work as they do.

As regards to the gate lights, although WeHonest now does make gates with lights on them, I chose to buy my gates without gate lights and add gate lights myself though it can be hard and frustrating to keep them together. My most preferred LEDs for crossing gates are pre wired 0402 or 0603 red SMD LEDs with resistors https://ebay.io/m/EW5a66 or something like this https://ebay.io/m/klEusA I use super glue to keep the gates in place.

I have no plans for adding bells to my signals, I just like to light them up and I usually keep my gates in the lowered position even in the absence of train.


But I'm sorry things didn't go very well with you guys and WeHonest. It's just with NJ International not making signals anymore, plus they're too expensive for me anyway, and who knows what happened with Tomar, and MTH no longer making HO scale signals, I thought I'd recommend WeHonest signals though it can take weeks for your items to come once you order from them but you should be able to get them within a month. But you don't have to get WeHonest signals if you don't want. There's also this https://www.detailsplusshop.com/product3.html Details Plus crossing gate signals. They're much more expensive though if you get the ones with working lights. I think the lights only work on the signals, the gate lights are fake and don't work. I never tried those and I don't plan to at this time, I prefer the WeHonest signals as my go-to HO scale crossing signals. They also do N scale gate-less signals and gates signals and they do non-lighted signals, which are a little less expensive than their lighted counterparts. https://www.detailsplusshop.com/n-signals.html Home page https://www.detailsplusshop.com/index.html

But I am sorry if I was any trouble and I never meant for false advertising. I think from now on I'll think twice before recommending signals!
 
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Will, you were never any trouble and I know you never meant to falsely advertise, your posts were just somewhat confusing. Your recent post unraveled some of that spaghetti, so we can finally put this issue to rest. I have 6 double crossings equipped with WeHonest signals and sound all operating admirably, I have a few spares for expansion, so I'm happy. I'll let the n scale lawyers deal with any issues arising from the lack of crossing gates. :rolleyes:
 
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