I have my Aristo-Craft Heavyweight diner “opened up” at the moment… mainly to put some seated figures at the tables. While I have the roof off I thought I’d like to “upgrade” the lighting.
So the question at hand… has anyone figured a way to get the LED table lamps to glow any brighter? I haven’t dug around in the electrical aspect of the car but I’m sure there has to be a diode-resistor arrangement so the leds can illuminate regardless of track polarity. The LEDs glow but at a barely perceptable level.
The table lights look nice in an otherwise oddly configured car (vestibules and steps on a diner? The open kitchen with no partition or aisle? Large “fogged” windows in the kitchen? etc)
The LEDs require a nominal 14v to light adequately. I converted mine to battery power in the baggage car and MUd to the trailing cars. I use 14.8v to 19.2v batteries. I also converted all my roof lights to warm white Christmas tree light LEDs.
I have not pulled mine apart to investigate the circuit. You might wind up rewiring the car with different dropping resistors. Try measuring the current through the leds and see if you are getting 20 milliamperes. If not, then try recalculating the dropping resistor to get up there. That’s a safe value.
If you pull it apart and post pictures I can probably help with the circuit mods.
I will make some time—somehow—to pull apart the flooring and look for the resistors or limiting transistor. We can go from there. I see the diner has one extra contact at the roof connection. This must be somehow related to the table leds since the other cars lack this contact. Also there must be a rectifier in there if the leds light regardless of track polarity?
I’ll know more when I find out where the resistors are hidden.
There is most likely a voltage regulator, and/or current limiting resistor. There is also likely a full wave bridge rectifier. You should be able to find most of the electronics by popping the top.
I have only opened the other cars, which have the track voltage incandescent bulbs wired the the bus wires in the roof.
The electronics you seek are under the floor. Be careful when you remove the floor. Don’t break the small contact tabs [see six brass rings in floor picture] that connect the floor sections. Remove the contacts from the trucks before removing the floor. Try to be gentle.
I am using live steam. As a result I need to power my passenger cars with battery. You solution is exactly what I am looking for. Would you be willing to supply the information needed to convert to battery for car lighting?
Are you sure about this? May I suggest you take a look at the lights in a nighttime situation? which is when they would be on anyway? I think you may find that they will be too-bright, toy-like even, if you brighten them. All a matter of taste, but that’s my opinion. I’ve talked to a couple of people who actually turned them down in brightness by painting the bulbs.
If you’re planning to go to battery powered LEDs, you might just look at a LED driver. No need to calculate resistor values. All you need is a battery, the driver, and any number of LEDs. I’ve got four in my Bachmann J&S diner, and they seem plenty bright – but they’re not on the tables. They in the roof.
The lighting in REAL trains was very dim when viewed from outside as the train went by.
I grew up in southern Illinois right along the Illinois Central railroad. When a passenger train went by at night you could barely tell that there were any lights on inside the cars.
The lamps on dining car tables were probably no more than 25 Watt incandescent bulbs.
Commuter train coaches today are much brighter than what was used in long-distance passenger trains.
Dick…a little help here if you would please: I searched google for LED drivers and found electronic objects of some sort that cost about $20-$25, and technical explanations (that I don’t understand) of what drivers actually do. I don’t really want to spend more on the lighting than I spent on the car!
Can you point me more specifically in the right direction? Maybe a picture of how you wired all this stuff up?
I would also like to have a reed switch in the roof that when I pass a magnet over it, or when the car passes a disguised magnet, the lights go on (or off).
