Model Railroading > LED headlights

I know this has probably been covered so I will apologize in advance for asking again. With that said, I want to replace all my headlamps and ditch lights on my Athearn power. They are all DCC and all have factory decoders installed. I have seen a few videos on UTUBE but thought I would ask if there is a ideal size LED to use and best place to purchase them. Thanks and as always FOAM ON!

Posted from iPhone

Hello,
Haven’t done this but I am waiting to hear response cause I’d like to replace as well. Thanks for posting!
I believe a 3mm would work but not quite positive.....
Thanks
Markie

Posted from iPhone

Hi, I use 3mm on all my headlight replacements. This is pretty easy to do in Atlas and P2k locos, as they have light tubes installed. In order to replace the bulbs for Athearn, you will need to get the 3 mm LED along with some clear fiber optic cable to feed into the headlight housing. Or buy some headlight lenses. For ditch lights, you will want some SMD 0603 LEDs, as these are the tiny ones that will fit into ditch light housings.
I've also had good luck using the 1.8 mm round top LEDs as well.

There's some good tutorial videos out there on youtube that I would suggest checking out.
Hope this helps!

EDIT: I just saw you asked about where to purchase. I always get mine off ebay. You can get 3mm LEDs from china for pennies, if you are willing to wait 3 weeks or so for the shipping. I've had good luck with the seller GPS_97 if you want to buy from someone in the US. He sells the small SMDs as well.
-Caleb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/18 07:56 by mtzctrain.

What about those pre-built ones you see on e-bay? I know they are a bit more expensive, but seem to have everything you need for a 1:1 replacement.

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

Great input. Thanks all

Posted from iPhone

Thanks!!

Posted from iPhone

The first problem is Athearn and Genesis locomotives are built for 1.5v incandescent light bulbs. You are going to need to find a source of 3v or higher for the leds you will be using.

Just put a 1K ohm resister on the LED to reduce the voltage and they will work fine...

Turbine

turbine Wrote:
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> Just put a 1K ohm resister on the LED to reduce
> the voltage and they will work fine...
>
> Turbine


Actually, what fbe is stating is that there isn't enough voltage to turn on the LED. The resistors work when you need to drop down from a 12v bulb supply, Athearn is 1.5v (which slipped my mind earlier).

Depending on the decoder used, this may or may not be an issue. If you are using a board replacement decoder, you won't have a problem. However, if you are using the athearn board and plugging in a 8 or 9-pin decoder, you will need to bypass the athearn board for your light control. Just cut the white and yellow wires before they reach the board and wire your LEDs directly to those wires (with appropriate resistors).

jmj3293 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I know this has probably been covered so I will
> apologize in advance for asking again. With that
> said, I want to replace all my headlamps and ditch
> lights on my Athearn power. They are all DCC and
> all have factory decoders installed. I have seen a
> few videos on UTUBE but thought I would ask if
> there is a ideal size LED to use and best place to
> purchase them. Thanks and as always FOAM ON!
>
> Posted from iPhone

I use these to retrofit Athearn locomotives......they come with full instructions....

http://store.sbs4dcc.com/LocomotiveLightKits.aspx

Here is a link to the 1.5V Athearn replacement LED's
http://store.sbs4dcc.com/SBS4DCCHOScaleAthearnHeadlightLEDAssembly-WarmWhite.aspx

Bob



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/18 04:01 by navarch2.