# adding Christmas lights to caboose



## tfret (Dec 23, 2008)

I have an old AC powerd train that I'm making a Christmas caboose for. It looks great, but I'd really like to add some Christmas lights to the car. I checked a local craft store hoping to find something miniture, like for doll houses, that I could retrofit, but didn't find anything. Any suggestions?


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Just to clarify, are you saying that the caboose will have a power pickup from the track, and power the lights from the rails; or that the light will be self-powered via onboard battery or the like?

Answer will dictate what options are available, perhaps (AC vs. DC, etc.)

TJ


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## tfret (Dec 23, 2008)

The car is illuminated, so it has a pick up from the track. I'd like to install a small rectifier circuit and power up some colored LED lights if I could find some little ones on a strand or something.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

I'm not too LED savvy, but we've had a lot of recent discussions about LED's here on the forum. T-Man has written a bit on how he hooks them up in pairs to get around the AC power issue. Also, some recent discussions about sources for small LED's. Search for "LED" using the search tool, and you should find some good discussions. You may have to add a resistor in the circuit to keep the voltage/current in line with the LED requirements.

TJ


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Lemax has battery blinking lights.
Just colored lights can be done easily but when they blink you need electronics and small power supplies on board to convert and stabilize track voltage.
It depends on what you want.


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

You could try a cheap fiber optic light set. I have never tried but your idea, sounds fun and interesting. like this one


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## Glasstream15 (Dec 3, 2010)

You just gave me an idea. I have a 3XAA battery powered LED light set with 12 lights. I will figure out a setup with them, probably on the caboose, and post a picture. May be a week before i get it done, but it sounds like fun.


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