anti flicker lighting passenger cars

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
21

A small update.

The reconfigured supply was working well, but seemed too hot. I stuck my meter on it and it was in hte 15V range - too high for long term use, if it didn’t melt the car. Shut it down and called it a day.

Woke up early - one of many joys of being old.

Remembered some tiny regulator boards I’d bought for an aurduino project and sure enough, I had a few left.

Added one at the output of the bridge/cap combo and hung my meter to it.

Turned down the voltage to a safe level and hooked the LED strip back up. Then turned the adjustment on the regulator until I liked the light level on the LEDs.

I’m letting it cook for a while to make sure there’s no more suprises before I put it in the car.

So far, the bridge is the only part of the kit I’m still using and the total assembly is smaller than the kit as received.

Turned into the project I was trying to avoid by buying the kit. Will probably be happier with the end result.

I’ll see what I can do about setting up a picture host and drop some photos of the stages as I do the next cars.

Don

22

Sorry it’s taken so long. My back surgery keeps me from sitting at the bench for more than 10 or 15 min at a time.

I’ve gotten through the four cars. Ended up with the bridge rectifier coming off the pickups, a 1000uf Cap across the output feeding a tiny (1/2 X 5/8) voltage regular circuit board left over from another project, going to four sections of three LEDs from a Warmish white LED strip.

The regulator adjusts and I turned it down to an intensity that I liked. Measured out to 8.4 volts, if anybody cares. Gives a nice even, subdued light the full length of the car.

I normally do detail projects in stages. Next for these cars are some interior painting, some populating with some LLP, a few shades and maybe a little weathering - but that will wait a while.

Took pictures along the way and will look into a hosting service to give some before and after shots.

Don