II am looking for a comprehensive guide so I can add lights in a HO caboose it doesn’t matter which maker. I need a lot of pictures if possible and what parts to get. I have checked the forms and youtube videos but I haven’t had any luck. If someone knows a place to get this type of guide it would be great it doesn’t have to be free it just needs to keep the guess work to a minimum.
Kev
I think you’re asking for the impossible, because there would be so many variables that would have to be taken into consideration.
Primarily, the first step would be finding replacement caboose-style trucks with electrical pickup wipers.
After that, would come other factors such as whether you want to use LEDs or incandescent bulbs; the need for additional circuitry to incorporate flicker-free operation; voltage regulation if intended for a DC layout; and other considerations.
Caboose and passenger car lighting is being done by many. Even an action figure by a figure in the caboose operated by a tiny motor and decoder.
Go join the Yahoo SoundTraxx DCC group. A fellow from down under is very active in this issue.
You better have electrical and mechanical experience. Forget, plug and play.
There are many circuits online for building your own lighting. Commercial stuff for flicker free is being sold.
Google is your best friend. I have found quite a few lighting circuits. Your PC is a powerful device and you can build an very good Favorites folder in your PC with useful links.
Rich
As was said, there are many different ways to do this. Below are some examples.
Do you want to use 12 volt bulbs, 1.5 volt bulbs, LED’s. Some LED’s are 5mm, 3mm, some SMD, etc.
Rich
Caboose Lighting with Digital Command Control, Mike Polsgrove, DCC Corner article, Model Railroader, November 2012.
Thanks everyone this will help greatly. I have a lot of experience working with electronics and so wiring and understanding what goes where is not a problem I just needed a starting point. I will go with LED lighting for all.
Thanks again,
Kev
More links.
Laurie McLean does a lot with LED’s, micro motor, DCC animation, speakers for DCC sound, etc. Search Google and You Tube for him.
Rich
x2
You’ll learn from anything Laurie puts out. He’s very good at walking through the basics for you and showing people how to do for themselves.
Laurie is a great chap who is as glad to help the beginner as he is to help a “name” you might be familiar with. Right now he’s digging into his first production WOW installs after being a beta tester for TCS with those. keep an eye on new video on those to pop up shortly.
I’m glad to call him a friend and fellow narrowgauger. He has some great caboose installs.
BTW, is there something specific you’re looking for ideas about. There are so many things that you can stuff into a caboose these days it helps to narrow the topic down.
Kev,
Athearn Genesis has released a series of cabooses with digitally-controlled lighting. Rather pricey, but check their offerings as they may have some in the road name(s) you want.
http://www.athearn.com/Search/Default.aspx?SearchTerm=bwgencaboose+ATHG&CatID=THRF
Laurie has some great lessons on how to do this I will give it a go this weekend. I just want basic lighting in the cabooses. O gauge has spoiled me in this aspect. You cannot put a value on these forums I appreciate all the help.
Kev
Thanks for the lead, these are very nice and MTS has them for 69.99 instead of 99.00 after all how many cabooses do you need. I may get one or two of these until I find a way for me to do it myself.
Kev
No one’s gotten real specific about things yet, but track power was mentioned, the need for wipers, etc. That’s one way to do it.
Another possibility is to consider onboard battery power. Rapido has done a lot of this with their passenger cars, but I think it was incorporated in their caboose also. They may have useful parts for sale, I don’t know, but the battery holder and the magnetic(?) on-off switch could definitely come in handy for a DIY project if battery power turned out to be a good idea for you. Biggest thing is to put the battery where it can be changed without tearing up the car of course.
I looked into the Rapido lights and I prefer something that doesn’t have to depend on a battery. I have everything I need for lighting any car but I don’t have the knowledge of how to get power from the rails to the car. The Rapido I believe uses watch or hearing aid type batteries. I picked up a roll of strip LED’s for 12.00 off Ebay, it took two weeks to get them from China but I don’t have to worry about LED’s for passenger cars for a couple of years.
Kev
Kev,
Just thought I’d mention the battery system as an alternative. One issue cabooses have is getting enough weight on the tracks for reliable operation of the wipers. So the battery is one way around that issue, which is a bigger deal in narrowgauge than in standard.
Laurie goes over building your own wipers on locos in some of those videos. I’m thinking he used the built-in wipers on the Blackstone cabooses as they are pretty sweet. But all you need is some PC tie material to act as a mount, some phospor-bronze wire (Tichy), solder them together with a wire lead to wherever you need the power. You just need to figure out a spot on the truck to mount it so the wiper hits the correct wheels.
One great tip Laurie gave me was to strip the wire out of the cords of dead mice – the computer kind. Very thin and flexible and you may just have it around when the hobby shop is closed or a thousand miles away. It’s ideal for the flexy stuff you need to hook up wipers to trucks can rotate freely.
Here is a kit that you may find useful.
Kev,
I have used the Bowser caboose lighting kit, mainly for the pickups on the trucks. I used a very dim amber LED in the interior since I have never seen a caboose that was very brightly lighted, it would ruin night vision, just a small shaded lamp over the captain’s desk. Mainly I wanted lighted markers and the setup works fine for me.
Take a look at this old thread for some more ideas.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/t/83476.aspx?sort=DESC&pi314=1
The Bowser part number is 74060. I see that Ring engineering has pick-up trucks as well but seem to be a bit more costly than the Bowser.
Have fun…
Go here
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/magazine/back-issues
Go to the Sept 2013 issue (download or view online)
On page 21 is a great article by Bruce Petrarca on ways to light cars.
Its free, so go ahead and download it so you can refer back to it.
The Athearn Genesis “generator” trucks have electrical pickups built in.
This was very helpful except once again not one person covered how to get power from the trucks to the lighting system. I understand how they get power from the trucks on all my lighted passenger cars but I don’t know if you can buy wheel sets that you can use to get power to the lights, I can make my own copper wipers but they are no good unless I can figure out how to get power to them. I have built a couple of lighting circuits that they suggested and put them in a couple of O gauge cars and the work great especially to remove flickering. Any help figuring this out would be great.
Kev
Well now, Pilgrim, that is not correct. I posted above a reference to an MR article about caboose lighting. In that article the author referenced a company called Streamlined Backshop Services (www.sb4dcc) that offered an assortment of axle wipers, plus some hints about the types of wheels required.
I see PHARMD98233 also posted a link to the same website.
And I see gmpullman posted a reference to the caboose wiring sets available from Bowser.
I’m not certain what else can be done to help you with your project.