I live more then 80 miles to the closes hobby shop ,where would be best online store to buy Ditch lights for an Atlas GP-38 and Athearn SD40-2 that are both DC . I would need some kind of kit I guess . Thanks in advance
Not sure I can help with the housings, but for the LEDs, many people use these SMD LEDs from Ulrich/Richmond Controls:
http://www.ulrichmodels.biz/servlet/the-350/Miniature-Surface-Mount-LEDs/Detail
There’s some kits and various lighting info on their site worth looking over. They have great customer service based on my own experience.
I’ll second Mike’s recommendation. In my case they had a kit for Athearn’s SD70Ace.
Derek
For the ditch light housings, there’s a variety of online retailers you could order from, including:
and the old standby: www.walthers.com
Also, check eBay. Browse to “Toys and Hobbies” → “Model Trains” → “HO Scale” then do a search for “ditch light” and see what’s available. There’s a couple of hobby shops that sell stuff through eBay that I’ve bought detail parts from before with good experiences. Reasonable prices and decent shipping costs. This is a good option if you don’t have a lot of other stuff to buy from the regular online retailers and don’t want to pay a flat $10 shipping fee for a $3 item [xx(]
(PS - MB Klein, www.modeltrainstuff.com, is a great online retailer for most other model railroading stuff, but unfortunatley they don’t really carry detail parts [:(] )
As others have said, you can get the actual LED lights from Richmond Controls (www.richmondcontrols.com) or Ulrich Models. Not sure if either one carries an extensive line of ditch light housing detail parts - I think Ulrich carries some, but you’d have to check with them to be sure.
I use DCC - not sure of any special considerations you’d need for DC, other than to make sure you use the correct resistors to limit current draw. Also, you may want to use a standard diode in series with the LEDs just as an extra precautionary measure against damaging the LEDs with reverse polarity when travelling backwards. Either that, or use a diode bridge so they will stay on in both directions.
Another online source for surface mount LEDs that are pre-wired with a 1k ohm resistor is Streamlined Backshop Services, sbs4dcc.com.
regards, Peter
Thanks For info
I buy LEDS from http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/. High quality, reasonable prices, stands behind what he sells, and they come in all sizes and for all power sources.
Dan
I will third Mike’s recommendation for the surface mount LEDs available at Ulrich Models.
http://www.ulrichmodels.biz/servlet/the-350/Miniature-Surface-Mount-LEDs/Detail
These surface mount LEDs, made by Richmond Controls, are excellent and the customer service at Ulrich Models is excellent as well.
Rich
I’ve heard that Details West makes great housings for ditchlights. Lights… I can’t say.
You can get some as spare parts for Athearn Genesis SD units, such as SD70. I’ve done it several times through Athearn parts. They’re prewired with housing and look pretty good.
Richard