I’ve got two identical Life-Like diesel switchers. Then include a circuit board with what looks like 6 diodes and one of them drives the head or tail-light depending on the direction. The other doesn’t light any lights. Note that these are not DCC or DCC-ready.
Does anyone know what voltage these bulbs are? They both measured 3 ohms until I blew one by applying too much voltage. Now I need to find one replacement, and I still need to figure out why they are not lighting. I did measure the voltage at the pads on the curcuit board which drive the lights. I got about 1.2 volts for the one that was supposed to be on based on the direction, and 0 volts for the one that was supposed to be off. Where can I get these bulbs?
Switcher, like an S1 or an SW? Or road switcher like the GP-7? They pretty much all use the same bulbs. Some peopel say they are 3v, but I thinkt hey are more like 1.2-1.5 volt, because they are driven by the voltage drop across 2 diodes in most of the circuit designs - that is, the ones which have a board with a bunch of diodes and the 8-pin DCC socked on a small board with all the wires attached. The older units seem to have a resistor as well as the diodes, so who knows.
If you are installing DCC, the EASIEST thing for the larger units (doesn;t fit int he S1 without soem filing - seem my web site for pics of what I did) is to use the Digitrax DH163L0. It includes resistors to work with the stock light bulbs. ALl 3 of my GP-7’s are done this way. For the SW line, NCE makes a board replacement decoder that includes a resistor for the rear light so you don’t have to rip out the cab to get to it, and is set up to solder an LED on for the forward light.
I have a second S1 that I recently bought, for that I will probably just hardwire in one of my NCE D13SRJ’s and replace the bulbs with LEDs. I did one f the SD-7’s which didnot have the newer design circuit board, and on that one I removed the board and hard-wired the D13SRJ (note these are not COMPLETELY hard-wired, the D13SRJ has the 9-pin JST plug on it so the decoder can be removed and a dummy plug (sold by Digitrax) can be plugged in to bypass the decoder) and replaced the bulbs with golden-white LEDs and 1K resistors on each. I like the LEDs much better, it almost makes me want to redo my GP-7’s but the DH163L0 isn’t a super low cost decoder and I’d hate to waste them. The D13SRJ’s go for about $12 each in a 10-pack and are quite capable decoders. I’ve installed them in the mentioned SD-7, a Walthers Trainline FA-1, a Spectrum E33, and a Proto1000 DL109. The DL109 and FA1 got LED repalcements, the E33 was already set up to drive the existing LEDs with no additional resistors needed, but I am not happy with it, it has plain white LEDs (the kind wi
I’m gaining on it. You’re correct, the voltage to the lamps is limited by a pair of diodes, so I’m thinking they are about 2 volts. I’m hoping I can find a replacement locally. I’ve also verified that the light board is working correctly. If I clip onto it, I can drive the remaining light from either the headlight or tail-light connection. The problem seems to be mechanical. With the shell installed on the frame, the remaining lamp comes on if I squeeze the shell and the frame together. I’m going to take the twin apart and see if I can spot something out of place. These are small switchers, but I havn’t really figured out what model.