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Light on...Light off...

bcnPete

Entry posted by bcnPete in General

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Happy Christmas all,

 

A quick update on the Brake Van kit started previously. Prior to painting I wanted to explore installing a working tail lamp. After various searches I found one by ModelYard and after a few helpful email exchanges with Rob, he sent me a kit and a wiring diagram. The intention was to power the lamp from the track using wipers on the wheels fashioned from a kit previously bought at a show.

 

The lamp was set up and various wires fed through to the underside of the chassis to link up with the pickup arrangement. This then proved to be troublesome as I found it difficult to get the spring action of the wire against the inside of the wheels. The lamp was on when on the track but upon moving the BV they slipped off and the lamp flickered...but not in a good flicker way! So a quick reorganisation the day after with the wires trailing on the top of the wheels...again, the same result :angry:

 

So after another conversation with Rob, I decided to go old School and run it off a small battery but with a small inline switch that Rob provided. For this to happen I had to modify the roof to make it removable to access. This needed to be done anyway as the sides were bowing inwards. A few experiments with various layers of plasticard enables the roof to now slot in and out, whilst realigning the sides. 
 

I also took advantage to remove the curved rain strips to the roof which was subject to comments on the last post. So now it can move to the paint shop.
 

Rob of ModelYard was very helpful and should I require more lamps I won’t hesitate to go back to him.

 

As always, comments welcome...

 

Pete

 

38B0CA36-CEB9-4C25-9170-B371E07095DD.jpeg.07fd39163fc83780400acef58fce9d16.jpeg

Roof removed - the bowed sides can be seen...

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The crude inserts which enable the roof to sit properly...

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Light off...

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Light on...

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Kris
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Looks good Pete. I like the simple fix to the bowing problem. 

 

As an alternative to the inline switch could you have a used a push on push off switch? If so a "prodder" fashioned to fit down the chimney could have turned it on and off without the need to remove the roof. 

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bcnPete
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12 hours ago, Kris said:

Looks good Pete. I like the simple fix to the bowing problem. 

 

As an alternative to the inline switch could you have a used a push on push off switch? If so a "prodder" fashioned to fit down the chimney could have turned it on and off without the need to remove the roof. 


Thanks Kris - good idea, never thought of that! I guess the only thing is you would still need to remove the roof to change the battery...unless the battery was housed under the chassis.

 

Come to think of it, the battery and switch could have been housed under the chassis so no need to remove the roof :rolleyes: :D

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Mikkel
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That's a nice glow in the lamp. I think I'd prefer the battery solution even without wiper issues, as it doesn't interfere with running (although if you've got a number of brake vans on a large layout it would be a bit cumbersome, but that's not your situation I think).

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bcnPete
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2 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

That's a nice glow in the lamp. I think I'd prefer the battery solution even without wiper issues, as it doesn't interfere with running (although if you've got a number of brake vans on a large layout it would be a bit cumbersome, but that's not your situation I think).


Thanks Mikkel - yes some flickering I could live with as that is how I remember them...however this was just outright irritating as it was sparodic. Yes, there is only one BV as you say...it’s a 2032 battery I recall so quite common so it will be good to see how long it lasts...

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richbrummitt

Good to see you making some progress again Pete. The battery solution seems like a good one. I think it should last quite well powering a single LED and can always be revisited. Always one to overcomplicate things I wondered if the switch could be arranged to operate on a push button switch accessed by shoving something in the stove pipe. Probably much easier to have something under the floor - there must be loads of space in 7mm.

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bcnPete
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On 04/01/2021 at 11:09, richbrummitt said:

Good to see you making some progress again Pete. The battery solution seems like a good one. I think it should last quite well powering a single LED and can always be revisited. Always one to overcomplicate things I wondered if the switch could be arranged to operate on a push button switch accessed by shoving something in the stove pipe. Probably much easier to have something under the floor - there must be loads of space in 7mm.


Thanks Rich.
 

Ha! I always try and keep things simple myself.
 

Yes, Kris mentioned above using the stove pipe to prod something down...or as he suggested it ‘the chimney’...but he might have been in full on Christmas mode then on the 27th awaiting delivery of a few railway presents down his... :D

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MinerChris
On 28/12/2020 at 08:15, bcnPete said:


Thanks Kris - good idea, never thought of that! I guess the only thing is you would still need to remove the roof to change the battery...unless the battery was housed under the chassis.

 

Come to think of it, the battery and switch could have been housed under the chassis so no need to remove the roof :rolleyes: :D

Hi Pete,

 

Not sure about this, but could you use a bank of capacitors instead of a battery, with your track pickups? *(Edit - With Diodes to protect against reverse polarity) That way, no flickering and no switches to turn the LED off. If you really loaded up the capacitance then I suspect that it would stay lit for quite a while and as this is 7mm I suspect you could fit more than in the 2mm equivalent... :lol:

 

Best Regards,

 

Chris.

Edited by MinerChris
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bcnPete
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7 hours ago, MinerChris said:

Hi Pete,

 

Not sure about this, but could you use a bank of capacitors instead of a battery, with your track pickups? *(Edit - With Diodes to protect against reverse polarity) That way, no flickering and no switches to turn the LED off. If you really loaded up the capacitance then I suspect that it would stay lit for quite a while and as this is 7mm I suspect you could fit more than in the 2mm equivalent... :lol:

 

Best Regards,

 

Chris.


Hi Chris - Thanks for this.

 

That sounds way more than my electrical prowess :no:

The main problem I had was actually trying to get the track pick ups/wipers to sit right against the wheels without interrupting running qualities...

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