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Model Railroading > P2K Lighting QuestionDate: 09/02/19 06:53 P2K Lighting Question Author: BNModeler I have a P2K GP30 and want to replace the big single bulb for the front with 2 Athearn Genesis bulbs.
Not sure of voltages or anything, looking for educated help. Thanks Date: 09/02/19 07:06 Re: P2K Lighting Question Author: nathan314 Assuming it's stock, those Proto units come with 12V bulbs while the Athearns are 1.5V, so some resistors are in order. Some of those Proto units can be a disaster electrically, so I'd certainly recommend gutting the electrical and hardwiring, especially if you're going to DCC.
Nathan Beauheim Loveland, CO Date: 09/02/19 08:50 Re: P2K Lighting Question Author: railstiesballast If you want to stay with DC, you might contact Richmond Controls in Texas.
Jim Hinds has been selling kits for lighting for many years and I am a happy customer. You can get a module that takes DC power and regulates it for the number of lights you want (say two in front and two in the rear, or two steady and two gyralight front), the DC track polarity will make them front or rear headlights. Jim started out with lamps but has been using pre-wired SMD LEDs for several years now. They come encapsulated in epoxy of the correct diameter of the light opening of your body shell (if you tell him what model it will go into). They slip into the holes without requiring any cutting of the body. He also sells the LEDs for wiring into DCC decoders using suitable resistors. When I converted from DC to DCC I found that the 12 volt lighting output from the decoder would operate the DC lamp module just fine so if you do change to DCC later you will have your lights all set up quite nicely. As to P2K and others with big lamps or LEDs and light bars, I really am disappointed with the intensity of their headlights. Sometimes I just live with them but for my better models I have to remove the clear plastic "light tube" and put SMDs in the headlights. |