# light for caboose



## Don Trinko (Oct 23, 2012)

I would like to put a light in the caboose but I want to power it with a battery. Any ideas?
Thanks; Don


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2012)

100% of the cabooses used on my outdoor rr are lit with batteries.
At least the markers.
Which caboose?
I can probably tell you the best spot for the switch from memory.

Markers, interior, both?
What lamps?
What batteries?

Dave


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## Don Trinko (Oct 23, 2012)

Bachmann big hauler caboose. What type of light/led did you use? Don


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I'd be considering a low current LED circuit for this. Is it a marker, strobe, or interior illumination?


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2012)

First off, unless you can specifically locate diffuse lens LEDs for your application, I would never use them in markers, unless you really didn't care if you could see them.
Stand one vertical inside a marker, with three lenses positioned around......doesn't work well.
I use incandescents.
12V, hooked in parallel, across a 9.6V NiCad or NiMH pack.
I determine where my lit cars will, be, which direction they are moving, put the on/off on the easy-to-reach side.....underneath, sticking through the floor, toggle hanging down, lever towards the lamp to light the lamp.

You didn't say where..interior or marker.

Toggle towards markers, just markers. Centre off. Towards the other end, markers AND interior.
Since Bug Mauler cabeese have no interior, you can add markers to both ends, hook them up, toggle towards the end to light, centre off.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

How well the LED will work depends on the LED. There are defused types that will work in the environment stated.


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## Don Trinko (Oct 23, 2012)

Interier lighting. Don


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Interior lighting can be easily accomplished by using a few individual LED's or the LED strips. You can get pretty decent lighting with the LED strips with not much current. I've lit O-scale passenger cars with 12V at 20ma, not a big load for a decent battery.


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2012)

Interior can be anything. There is plenty of room for any LED to disperse lighting.

"First off, unless you can specifically locate diffuse lens LEDs for your application" was a pre-emptive shot. In a marker light, when non-diffuse (and most folks don't know when ordering), there is not enough physical distance for the light from a focused beam to diffuse.

Dave


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Well, you made it sound like locating defused LED's would be difficult, which is why I replied. In any case, given that it's interior lighting, it should be easy to do.


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