Charlie B Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Hi, I've recently bought the Heljan Western Firebrand and fitted the sound chip from South West Digital. All seems well bar the red tail lamp. The LED light is shared thouht a wide filter to both lamps. With the body removed I have tried to adjust the LED to make it brighter but cannot chage its power. Have you had a similar snag, I've tried the relevant CVs but I'm still stuck. Regards Charlie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Mine is an older production model and has incandescent bulbs rather than LEDs. The lights are dim but I don't mind this at all as the real ones really weren't very bright either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted March 30, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 30, 2011 I can't help with the Heljan ones but I can agree with Jeff in that the real thing, which were incandescent, were often very dim indeed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Trevellan Posted March 30, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 30, 2011 I also recall the tail lights as being rather dim. The irony is that I've had the opposite problem with many of my DCC-fitted diesels - trying to mute the over-bright LEDs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie B Posted March 30, 2011 Author Share Posted March 30, 2011 Thanks for your comments guys. Yes you're right, I think it is an incandescent lamp which suffers from poor design. However, it must have a CV to control its output. Charlie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Hiya Pretty sure Westerns didnt actually have tail lights. They had a single red and a single white shunting light (which would be both on when shunting) but if the loco ran light it would carry an oil lap at the back. By the time they were blue they might have run with a single red tail lamp but as others have said if its bright enough to see it on the model in anything other than pitch black its too bright. Be careful about worrying too much about something that actually makes the model look less realistic not more. Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Mr.S.corn78 Posted March 30, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 30, 2011 Yes you're right, I think it is an incandescent lamp which suffers from poor design. However, it must have a CV to control its output. Charlie Hi, unfortunatly if you are using the original Heljan pcb board then i'm guessing that the resistors that are in the lighting tracks on the board will be limiting the power getting to the lights. I have the same problem with my Heljan 26 & 27's. the lighting is rubbish due to the design but they are prototipical in look. It might be worth emailing Caroline and Steve at South west and asking what the light CV settings are and if they can be changed. If i get chance later i will dig out my loksound manuel and have a look. what chip do you have V3.5 or a V4?? it should say on the crib sheet they sent you. cheers Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted March 30, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 30, 2011 Hiya Pretty sure Westerns didnt actually have tail lights. They had a single red and a single white shunting light (which would be both on when shunting) but if the loco ran light it would carry an oil lap at the back. By the time they were blue they might have run with a single red tail lamp but as others have said if its bright enough to see it on the model in anything other than pitch black its too bright. Be careful about worrying too much about something that actually makes the model look less realistic not more. Cheers Jim Exactly so Jim - they had white and red marker lights, not electric tail lights. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie B Posted March 30, 2011 Author Share Posted March 30, 2011 Well guys I guess we are all right, even Heljan. If you adjust down CV 113, the head code at one end and the red marker lights at the other, dim together. The same for the other end for CV 114. Once you have turned the headcode down to a realistic level, the marker lights are dam near off. It's a technical issue, it was built that way. Thanks for you help. Charlie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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