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Misty morning with a new "B" set

Stringfingerling

Entry posted by Stringfingerling

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I'm very excited and mildly daunted by having a new Lionheart "B" set on my line.
Excited because it looks great, the quality A1 etc.
Daunted, because I have some scary work to do on it
a) I'm going to fit my version of Spratt and Winkle Autocouplers in the limited space twixt bogie and underframe.
b) at some point I would like to reduce the brightness of the interior lighting - I'm not sure how it works yet - I assume that if it is LED's providing the light, I can't just put a resistor in series with them? (Expert knowledge welcome here!).
c) Scariest of all , I shall weather them to have an "in service" look.

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Ian Smith

Very nice.  If you want to dim the lighting slightly could you just paint over the LEDs with perhaps a yellow or orangey glass paint?  We've done that on building lighting to change the LED from its cool or warm white colour to the type of light given off by tungsten bulbs, it also dime the light somewhat too.

Ian

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Stringfingerling

Good point Ian - thanks. I suppose LEDs don't really generate any significant heat so painting them wouldn't really hurt them?  I'm assuming they are LED's rather than grain-of-wheat bulbs; I haven't had time to take either of the coaches apart yet.  Because my layout operates on DCC, they are permanently lit quite brightly, as you can see in the photo.

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Donw
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You should be able to put a resistor in series to reduce the current through the LED the result may not be linear and it may cease to light at a level brighter than you want I would suggest a pre-set potentiometer  something you can adjust if need be. I would try a 100k pot first but if you have one to hand try that first. For real dimmable control a PWM circuit would give control to very ow light levels.

Don

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Stringfingerling

Thanks Don.  The 100k pot idea sounds nice and simple - I don't know much about electronics but I have successfully rewired electric guitars and swapped pots about.  PWM stands for Pulse Width Modulation?  Would I need to put together a circuit myself or do they exist in ready made form?

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