I have several Lionel searchlight cars and they all seem to have weak/bllinking lights. My tubular track is clean as well as the rollers and they are not worn out. Most of these cars have plastic trucks. It would be nice to have a steady and brighter light. Hoping I won’t have to change trucks on all of them. Anyone have some suggestions?
What are the numbers on the searchlight cars?
Virtually all lighted cars flicker to some degree; but there is a fix for that. Unfortunately, it involves adding a capacitor about the size of a C-cell to the car. For a searchlight car, you would have to disguise it as some sort of plausible equipment or load.
The circuit is simple. Get a small bridge rectifier, like this 1.4-ampere unit from Radio Shack: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062581&filterName=Type&filterValue=Rectifiers Connect one of the ~ terminals to the wheels and the other ~ terminal to the pickup. Then connect a capacitor like this one http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102508&filterName=Type&filterValue=Electrolytic+capacitors to the + and - terminals of the bridge rectifier, with the - terminal of the capacitor to the - terminal of the rectifier. Then reconnect your searchlight lamp to the same terminals, of the rectifier or the capacitor.
This will stop the flickering while the train is moving. However, it can only keep the light on for the brief times when the pickup is not making contact; so, when you stop, the light might go out.
Disguise it as a motor/generator set. We used to power our old carbon arc 60" Sperry lights with a Dodge flathead mated with a DC generator.
If you have plastic trucks that is most likely to blame. Your not getting a good, consistent ground. Converting over to all metal trucks isn’t as tough as you might suspect or expensive. There are lots of used trucks around. My post war search light cars have lights that stay on all the time. As for you wanting brighter lights there are two solutions that I can think of. One- change the bulbs out to a lower voltage bulb.Two- add on more cars so the transformer will have to be turned up more resulting in more volts at the cars.
Roger
16667 Conrail Searchlight car, 16601 CN version, and I have a C & O one packed away, that came in a diesel starter set from a few years ago. I like the bridge rectifier and capacitor idea blended with lower wattage bulbs. I’m thinking it will be a big improvement. Thanks for the help.
Try it first with the lamps you’ve got–the rectifier-capacitor circuit will boost the voltage somewhat, in addition to filling in the gaps.
… or you can simply replace the current trucks (using them elsewhere) with a pair of matching (die cast) powered trucks (ie MTH or PW parts dealer), rewire for parallel input, thus cutting the flickering at least in half.
Ohman, as Bob already said, there is always some unavoidable flicker even with die-cast trucks. Now if you like Bob’s idea, go ahead with that.
The old postwar Lionel metal trucks had a center rail roller only, with the ground going though the truck assembly itself through the sheetmetal frame of the car, being attached with a C-clip via the metal stud that comes up from the truck into the frame. And still, these cars are just as prone to light flicker as those with plastic trucks.
The cars you have use a snap-in pickup assembly consisting of the center roller and two copper strips that rub against the axles of the wheel sets.
First, make sure the pressure of these copper strips against the axles isn’t so tight, that the wheels do not freely spin. Next, a dap of model train grease at these two points will help the wheels turn better while maintaining electrical contact.
Next, clean the wheels. The fast angle wheel sets are a mixed bag depending on where and when they were made. I have bought them from all sorts of parts dealers and have found sometimes the blackening process can reduce electric flow, as well as build up on wheels that have been run. I use 91% isopropyl alchohol and also since I have a Dremel, I also ultilize the Dremel along with a wire brush. So I get the wheel surface that comes in contact with the track, nice and clean.
Also, make sure the center rail roller pickup turns freely and is clean.
Of course, dirty track can contribute to flickering lights, but so can dirty contacts on the pickups and dirty wheels on the car itself.
Lastly you could add a little weight to the car. I’m not as big an advocate of adding weight to cars - especially to decrease derailments. The problem there is almost always the loose connection of the truck to the