I use a mini full wave rectifier, a 3300uF capacitor and LED strip lighting whereby the LED's can be cut apart at every 3rd LED. There is no need for a resistor between the rectifier and the LED strip. Ballast (dropping resistors) are built into the LED strips. I've used this method to change all my incandescent lighting on coaches to LED lighting. I even made some wheel pickups out of some copper I salvaged from an old computer. I lit up an REA (Railway Express Agency) coach but my LED's were bright white. The wife said it looked to fake so I had to take it apart and using some yellow acrylic paint, I painted each of the 12 LED's yellow. That really toned down the bright white and it looks like old gas lighting from the period. I use the blue putty to hold the cap and the LED strip has adhesive backing to stick to the underside of the interior roof. My trains are DC so I don't have to worry about all that DCC crap. Cheers from W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee
Great explanation here. Question How would you apply this to the strip led lights ? I want to refit the led to older Rivarossa passenger cars that have incandescent bulbs. I have some rectifiers and capacitors like you've shown
If you are using led strips pass on the led driver. Just use a 500 to 1000 ohm resistor between the the capacitor and the led strip. The exact value will depend on how bright you want your lights to be. You may also want to include a 100 ohm resistor between the rectifier and the capacitor to reduce the inrush current. Without the 100 ohm resistor, your DCC system may think the capacitor is a short when power is first applied. This is especially true if you have a bunch of cars with this type of lighting.
I use a mini full wave rectifier, a 3300uF capacitor and LED strip lighting whereby the LED's can be cut apart at every 3rd LED. There is no need for a resistor between the rectifier and the LED strip. Ballast (dropping resistors) are built into the LED strips. I've used this method to change all my incandescent lighting on coaches to LED lighting. I even made some wheel pickups out of some copper I salvaged from an old computer. I lit up an REA (Railway Express Agency) coach but my LED's were bright white. The wife said it looked to fake so I had to take it apart and using some yellow acrylic paint, I painted each of the 12 LED's yellow. That really toned down the bright white and it looks like old gas lighting from the period. I use the blue putty to hold the cap and the LED strip has adhesive backing to stick to the underside of the interior roof. My trains are DC so I don't have to worry about all that DCC crap. Cheers from W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee
very informative, thanks cbr
What bridge rectifier are you using. I didn't see it in your description or I missed it. Thank you
Great explanation here.
Question How would you apply this to the strip led lights ? I want to refit the led to older Rivarossa passenger cars that have incandescent bulbs. I have some rectifiers and capacitors like you've shown
If you are using led strips pass on the led driver. Just use a 500 to 1000 ohm resistor between the the capacitor and the led strip. The exact value will depend on how bright you want your lights to be. You may also want to include a 100 ohm resistor between the rectifier and the capacitor to reduce the inrush current. Without the 100 ohm resistor, your DCC system may think the capacitor is a short when power is first applied. This is especially true if you have a bunch of cars with this type of lighting.
Um your coupler on ur passenger car is upside down
Very observant. Thanks