# Putting lights in passenger car



## nemo

Has anyone tried putting lights in a passenger car? If you have I would appreciate on how you accomplished this task


----------



## tjcruiser

Lots of guys here go this route. LED's are the popular approach. Do a Search on "passenger LED" and the like, and you'll likely find some examples.

TJ


----------



## jzrouterman

nemo said:


> Has anyone tried putting lights in a passenger car? If you have I would appreciate on how you accomplished this task


A number of ways. Here's a linc to a list of different types of passenger car lighting kits from the very simple to the very complex. From the battery type to the wiring type. http://hobbylinc.com/cgi-bin/s8.cgi...=0&gsc.q=ho passenger car lighting&gsc.page=1

I once had a lighted Amtrax passenger train. It came with a vey simple type lighting system built in. It used the track power to light the car interiors by way of little pick'ups against the metal wheels. The cars were independantly lighted. Each car had white frosted windows with black painted silouettes of people. It looked pretty cool especially at night. I can't remember exactly, but I believe the train was made by either Model Power or Lifelike. I remember the kids loved it especially. It was simple, but nice.

Routerman


----------



## Southern

great link thanks for posting


----------



## T-Man

THis was my spin to the project before LEDs.


----------



## BionicJcs

I just went through this big time, and now Im well versed on the products. DO NOT buy Rapido easy peasy. Hardly any light out of it at all, and green to boot! Two tiny leds is all they use, and they try to shine them through an acrylic strip mimicking a fibre optic cable. doesnt work.

Do go to Ebay and buy led strips from gps_97. His name is Pete and his light strips are perfect for any application, as long as you get your power from the track. These are bright white leds, and they can be adjusted for brightness. They are 11 inches long, but you can snip off as much as you want to shorten. Ive never seen such a perfect deal.

If you need to use the battery powered strips, only one to use is by Fox Valley. Same as above but they use watch batteries.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

Actually, the LED's that gps_97 is selling seem very overpriced. I bought a spool of 300 warm white LED's for a fraction of those prices on Amazon. eBay is not the only game in town. 

5 Meter Reel Warm White 2700k Flexible LED Ribbon 300 Leds


----------



## BionicJcs

Youve got to be kidding. He is selling them for 6.00 and free shipping. And I looked all over at the other games in town. there arent any like this. The ones that are available including the useless easy peasy are all around 11 or 12 bucks and more, PLUS shipping. I agree that Ebay generally bites, but this one guy is really decent on these.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

Well, since you obviously didn't look at the link I posted for 300 LED's for $13.49, I have to take your pricing analysis with a grain of salt. If you enjoy paying those prices for the LED strips, who am I to argue with you. 

Yes, he puts a bridge rectifier on the strips, but that's only useful if you need it. I choose to have my strips be any size I need and if they need a rectifier, I will put one in.


----------



## NIMT

BionicJcs said:


> These are bright white leds, and they can be adjusted for brightness.


How are you going to do that with track power?
Even If you were to have a fixed, lets say 12V, how to propose your going to adjust the LED's brightness?
What are you going to use?


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

Sean, he has a long screwdriver and he drills a hole in the bottom of the car. 

I adjust the intensity when I install the lights, I don't have to do it again.


----------



## BionicJcs

Thats the beauty of it, its all self contained on a tiny 1/4 inch wide or so strip. Rectifier adjustment screw and 10 or more leds about 11 inches long. Wired also. Can be cut to any length. All for 6.00 ea. with free shipping. (4.00 for a 6 incher, which can also be cut) Not much of a "grain of salt" or rocket science here. I guess one could build one if he is so inclined and skilled, but including the time and all, I dont think it could be done this cheap and certainly not this easy. Yes, I did check the link , but are those the correct and small enough leds, and if so cool, then you have all the parts and work. As for myself, Im a hobby guy, not a circuit board builder, and Im sure Im not alone. I sound like a salesman, but Ive researched everywhere, and this product is amazing! For the price of buying two cars, you can light up ten.


----------



## BionicJcs

NIMT: there is a tiny adjustment screw right on the board. full bright is almost too bright, and it can be turned down anywhere you want. cant be beat


----------



## BionicJcs

By the way, on that link for the 300 leds, it looks to me like they are for homes and autos, making me think the strips are kind of big. I didnt see any dimensions. I dont know, they might work if youre a real do it yourself-er, but downside on them is they are dc only. The ready to go ones are either.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

Well, since I've used the strips in a bunch of passenger cars, I can attest they work fine. The strip is about... 1/4" wide, sound familiar?  DC only isn't an issue, at least for most of us. If you need AC, you add a 30 cent bridge rectifier into the mix. As for intensity, that's just resistor selection. However, I use something like the CL-2 constant current source so I get the same light output over a varying voltage input.


----------



## raleets

grJohn,
Surely you must realize all of us are NOT blessed with an EE degree, I for one.
If I can buy something "ready to use" at a reasonable price I'm inclined to always go that route. Being "creative" is cool, but not when you don't have the slightest clue about what you're doing, like me.
Bob


----------



## BionicJcs

And that is what I am saying. Same if not better result with no work for a great price!


----------



## New Berlin RR

GRJohn pics of these strips, and how they look in the cars? I may be in the mood to suddenly acquire some of these strips for a few train passenger cars that I will be acquiring soon  and would love to have an entirely self contained unit...powered by track power of course...prefered....


----------



## BionicJcs

*Love your stuff, heres my temporary.*

finishing up my 12 x 24 shed to do a big layout. Will get my pool table back


----------



## [email protected]

Hobbylinc has everything.


----------



## BionicJcs

Not my favorite place. they are always out of stock, and I just checked for traffic lights. Out of stock till april or even June for some.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

[email protected] said:


> Hobbylinc has everything.


But not always at the price you're willing to pay.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

New Berlin RR said:


> GRJohn pics of these strips, and how they look in the cars? I may be in the mood to suddenly acquire some of these strips for a few train passenger cars that I will be acquiring soon  and would love to have an entirely self contained unit...powered by track power of course...prefered....


In later installations, I take the lights closer to the ends of the cars to make the lighting even more even all across the car. These looked good, the later ones look better. 

*Here's the installation of the lighting in a 12" O-scale passenger car.*












*Here's a comparison of the before and after results. Keep in mind that the power for the lighting also dropped about 95% from 300ma to around 10ma.

BEFORE*











*AFTER*


----------



## [email protected]il.com

True, but they are a good reference for checking ballpark prices. It is almost always cheaper for me to go to a local store and buy or order what I want.


----------



## New Berlin RR

where can I get the strips at? Radio shack or some place like that?


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

Trips? What are they?


----------



## New Berlin RR

the strips I meant, fixed...


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

Here you go, buy two for $13 and change and shipping is free, what a deal! 

5 Meter Reel Warm White LED's


----------



## New Berlin RR

well that might be worth it


----------



## old464

Hey John, what is that blue thing at the end? a capacitor? I want to do the same thing with my crescent limited cars also. do you have details of this installation. its hard to see the wiring there. 



gunrunnerjohn said:


> In later installations, I take the lights closer to the ends of the cars to make the lighting even more even all across the car. These looked good, the later ones look better.
> 
> *Here's the installation of the lighting in a 12" O-scale passenger car.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Here's a comparison of the before and after results. Keep in mind that the power for the lighting also dropped about 95% from 300ma to around 10ma.
> 
> BEFORE*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *AFTER*


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

There are three components there. A bridge rectifier from track power, a hefty capacitor to limit flickering, and a CL2 constant current regulator. I supply the string of LED's with 20ma total, more than enough light at that drive level.

I now have strips with the LED's spaced a bit closer, and I run them to closer to the end of the cars.


----------



## oldSmokey

Hi gunrunnerjohn,

Where can I pick up some CL2 drivers in the TO92 package, I checked with Mouser and it was $47 for 100 and the postage was $39, so not worth it to me,
maybe you could point me in some direction, here in Australia they cost 90c each.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

Given you're "down under", maybe a more common part will do the trick. You can do the same thing with an LM317 and a single resistor. You can also make the .1uf cap much larger for flicker resistance as I mentioned, the .1 is just for stability of the voltage regulator. This circuit is adjustable from a few milli-amps to about 50-60 ma before the TO92 regulator starts to overheat. For more current, you can substitute the LM317T in the TO220 package.


----------



## oldSmokey

Hi gunrunnerjohn,

I don't want them for coach lighting, I was looking earlier in the week for them and as you mentioned them I thought that I would ask. I've made up some PCB's and they don't have room for extra components, I know about the 317 etc. many thanks.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

I don't know the parts availability down under, so I can't help with sources there. I haven't had occasion to order parts from your neck of the woods.


----------



## sbeck80

Boy have I learned a ton following this one. I had the same issues with a Rivarossi passenger car flickering on track power. Replaced the guts with leds and resistors and the flickering was really getting annoying. Added a bridge rectifier and a large capacitor into the mix and problem solved. I also found this page which may be of use to some people:

http://www.sumidacrossing.org/ModelTrains/ModelTrainDCC/CarInteriorLighting/CarLightBoard/


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

I recommend a regulator instead of a resistor, it provided constant voltage lighting.

The circuit above will do that, and by changing the small capacitor, you get flicker-free constant voltage lighting. The regulator is about 38 cents in quantity 10 at Digikey and their shipping for small orders is only a couple of bucks. IMO, a much better solution.


----------



## NIMT

If you’re doing a DCC run layout the resistor works perfectly fine (Track is at the same voltage all the time).
I use a potentiometer to have the ability to dim the lights too.
You can also control the Lights with a decoder if you want to.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

Sean, that's subject to how good the track pickups are on the passenger cars, right, not to mention voltage drops over a long run if you don't have sufficient drops on the track.


----------



## Prospect193

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Sean, that's subject to how good the track pickups are on the passenger cars, right, not to mention voltage drops over a long run if you don't have sufficient drops on the track.


I would agree!! Although if you were going to go to all the trouble with the lighting chances are you have done the smart thing and installed sufficient pickups and enough drops to make it all run well!! 


Pat


----------



## gunrunnerjohn

Well, we all know about the road to hell, it's paved with good intentions.


----------



## jjb727

jzrouterman said:


> A number of ways. Here's a linc to a list of different types of passenger car lighting kits from the very simple to the very complex. From the battery type to the wiring type. http://hobbylinc.com/cgi-bin/s8.cgi...=0&gsc.q=ho passenger car lighting&gsc.page=1
> 
> I once had a lighted Amtrax passenger train. It came with a vey simple type lighting system built in. It used the track power to light the car interiors by way of little pick'ups against the metal wheels. The cars were independantly lighted. Each car had white frosted windows with black painted silouettes of people. It looked pretty cool especially at night. I can't remember exactly, but I believe the train was made by either Model Power or Lifelike. I remember the kids loved it especially. It was simple, but nice.
> 
> Routerman


they're only one size for HO, though, right? These probably would only work for passenger cars that run on 18" radius. What about passenger cars that are larger?


----------

