Hello everyone, on my kato sd40-2 the headlights and ditch lights are very yellow. Does anyone know how to change this/has one of these locomotives? It is mid production, and my first kato. I do not want to chop up the board either. Also, on kadee’s web site it says to use their number 23 and 28 couplers for this locomotive. Could I use the 153 and 158 scale head wisker couplers? Sorry for all the Questions.
Samuel
I can’t help much with your questions, other then to make the obvious statement that you need to change the bulbs for whiter versions, or change the bulbs to bright white LEDs. Perhaps easier said than done, but it is quite doable. Hopefully others can offer more specific advise.
I would make one comment on your post - you do not need to apologize for asking questions on the forums. That is what the forums are for so ask all the questions you want! And, should someone chastize you for asking a question that has been asked many times before, just ignore them! There is a search engine on the right side of this page about half way down, but it doesn’t always produce great results. Give it a try if you want, but please don’t hesitate to ask your questions up front.
Dave
I just checked the Kato website and it seems they changed to surface mount LEDs on the circuit board from the regular LEDs in the “early” production SD40-2, Both are yellow LEDs. The early ones are easy to change to white LEDs with basic soldering skills. Suface mount LEDs (aka smd) require a bit more soldering skill to avoid burning them up while soldering. If you don’t have the skill yet, find someone who does, they shouldn’t have any trouble doing it.
thanks for the replies, is a light coat of paint I could put on them to change thier color?
Kato’s ‘mid-production’ SD40-2 has SMD’s on the light board, with ‘light pipes’ directing the light to the ditch lights and headlights. Soldering on that circuit board will be difficult. Actually, I do not think they look too bad - I would like ‘white’ lights, but I will ‘suffer’ with these. That light board also has all the logic to ‘flash’ the ditch lights.
I would love to see Walthers/Atlas/Intermountain go this route and build working ditch lights(and wiring/circuitry) into their current era engines. The Athearn Genesis engines have use small incondescent bulbs that have a habit of burning out with great regularity!
Jim
I agree that the flashing lights are a great feature,first time i have seen them in a dc only loco. The yellow is not that bad, I just want to tone it down a little.
You can of course change out the board and add sound for example and then of course you could use whatever you want to light the loco. I tied the light pipes with heat shrink tubing to upgraded LEDs–golden white.
BTW, easier to go from clear to yellow by adding film then to go the other way with for example paint.
I use Kadee #5 on my SD40-2 Kato.
Richard
Sorry for taking so long, there must be SOMETHING I can do!
Does anyone know how deep the speaker enclosre is? Will it fit a soundtraxx 1" mega-bass speaker?
No, I do not think that one will fit, (unless they have a super thin one).
I have some of the MegaBass Speakers & they are Very Deep, perfect for Steam Tenders & Pill Bottle installs.
On my Kato’s only the thin format speakers will fit into the Tank Mounting area, even if one were to mill it out, the Motor will be right there, & there is not enough room for the Mega Bass Speaker.
I too am living with the Lights on some of my units, although I am capable of changing them, some of them are OK, & others may be converted to DCC someday. It’s very hard to tint an LED, as they put out a color wavelength, & most attempts at tinting will only darken it.
Okay, a no on the speaker and LEDs, thanks for the info.
Indeed,the speaker enclosure isn’t deep enough for a bass speaker.I understand you want sound…the Soundtraxx Tsunami decoder for the SD40-2 is the TSU-KT1000 (EMD 645) board replacement part no.828063.It needs LED’s installed for the headlight and ditch lights (a modified SD45 decoder),so that would take care of the yellow light problem too.
I have the exact same loco and this what I have chosen to do.I haven’t done it yet as the decoder is still on order.
Just bought one of these new, so I will have to save awhile… BUT the soundtraxx is the route I am going to take.
I think I read somewhere if you sand the nose of the LED very lightly with very fine sandpaper it will change the color, if your going to change it it might be worth a try, Jim.
They are SMD’s(surface mount LEDs) so very tiny, and I would not want to sand something that small. Thank’s for the suggestion, though.
Hi sakel!
I would recommend purchasing HO DCC Installs Volume 1: Easy to Moderate by TSG Multimedia at www.tsgmultimedia.com. In the video you can follow along as he installs a Soundtraxx decoder in a Kato SD40-2 along with 11 other locomotive types. Some installs are simple plug and play and others require some skill with a soldering iron. He also deals with lighting, resistors and speaker placement. And also touches on programming. You can see some of his work online at youtube under TSGMultimedia. I have this DVD and one he did on weathering models and am very pleased with both purchases.
Tim