I have been enjoying my 2-8-0 with tsunami sound for a couple weeks now. My question is in regards to the headlight. It looks to be a incandescent bulb and is very dim.
My first qurestion is this protypical?
Should I change it out with a yellow-glo led?
Is there anything that I need to do special for the led with the tsunami decoder?
Thank you,
Jeff
Having installed about 15 decoders so far including two Tsunamis. I would say change it out. As far as I know an LED with the proper resistor will set you up. Theres a few guys around here who are happy with the bright white, I myself prefer the yellow glow.
I have been using the bright white in my diesels with a good look. I just think the steamers should have a more yellow look. Also my older diesels will have the yellow look too. I just received some yellow glow leds last week. I will do the switch and see how it looks.
I’m thinkin late steam had pretty bright headlight,judging from some of those famous night time photos by the famous guy who’s name escapes me now. The old time locos with those huge gaslights may have been sort of dimmish. But have you ever been around one of thosse camp lanterns that burned white gas I think, and had a mantle? Those things are really bright man, so I still don’t know how sold I am on yellow glow. I think a good straight white is OK its the bluish tinge that puts folks off. Just as a side thought. I been doing a little research on Columbia river sternwheelers and those things sported two of those huge locomotive lanterns on the first deck over the cargo deck up forward. Must have been pretty good light.
I am frequently challenged by fellow club members as to why I run the Grizzly Northern loco’s without lights on. My response is that since we don’t darken the club when running trains, it must be daytime; since the GNR is a '30’s/'40’s railway, headlights are, prototypically, not turned on during the daytime.
On a practical note, the majority of GNR motive power either has dummy or burned out headlights. However the recently acquired Spectrum 2-10-2, 2-8-0 and 2-6-6-2 have attractive golden glow headlights, which I assume are LED’s. To occasionally humour other members I’ll give a flash of the headlight with those loco’s when passing their trains. Maybe not prototypical but then when did vintage steam ever pass big six axle diesels in revenue service?
dont forget about grain-of-rice bulbs! they are plenty bright, run on the same power as LEDs and they are the proper color temp.
I agree about incandscent bulbs. just bot 100 from micro-mark. I was thinkin why complicate things by soldering in a resistor. But then a resistor will lengthen the life of the bulb. So I’m back to square one except for the proper light temp. I like that term by the way"light temp".
with the 1.5v lamps a resistor is required otherwise you will see nothing but a bright flash. 
or maybe even a small explosion.
I’ve seen the Spectrum 2-8-0 headlight discussed here before, and if I remember correctly, the light source is some distance away, and fiber optics are used to get the light to the loco headlight. The “dim bulb” is actually a limitation of the fiber optics, and again, if I’m remembering this right, there might not be an easy fix. I too am disappointed in the 2-8-0’s headlamp output and wish there was better news. Perhaps someone who was involved in the earlier discussion can shed more light on the issue.
I was also disappointed in the blueish glow from the Spectrum ten wheelers, but I was reading a book recently, that seemed to indicate older locomotives burned acetylene to produce light, and from my caving days and construction days, I remember acetylene burning with a blue flame. Not quite as blue as the tem wheelers, IIRC, but bluish anyway. In those cases, the blue LEDs amy actually be prototypical.
For newer steam, the light shoud match the method used to produce it. I am not at all familiar with headlight technology for locomotives, but I know that tungsten electrical filaments will produce a warmer light (more reds and yellows) than daylight, mercury vapor looks orange, sodium resembles the color florescent bulbs give at home, and carbon arcs resemble the flash of lightning.
I think the place to start in determining how to light model locomotives, then, would be to find out the method the prototypes used, and go from there.
I will need to pull out the exploded view tomorrow and see what it shows for the headlight. If it is fiber optics then maybe a bright led will produce more light. It looks like a bulb in the front, that is just a quick look at the locomotive itself.
I also have some grain of wheat bulbs that would work with a resistor. I was going to use them for lighting my buildings on the layout.
Lots of great information everyone, keep up the ideas.
Jeff
The blueish colorof the bright white LEDs can easily be corrected by one or more coats of diluted clear orange X26 from Tamya, either direct on the LED or on the lens. By applying coat after coat it’s easy to get just the right color.
I did remove the plastic cover and got easy access to the LED. However, it is burried deep into the two halves holding all the mechanics. I’ve not been brave enough sofar to disassemble that part.
Did you find a solution to replace the old LED?
I have this same engine and the light is indeed very very dim. At first I thought I didn’t have something configured correct and I posted for help on the Soundtraxx forum on Yahoo. Here is one of the answers about replacing the bulb.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/soundtraxx/message/14085
I haven’t been into mine and don’t know if I ever will. I understand it’s not the easiest bulb replacement job to do.
Other than that it’s a great engine with great sound!
Jarrell
Thank you. The pictures show very good how to open the mechanics. It also shows that the motor assembly is seperate from the wheels etc. That makes it much easier.