Don, your instructional videos are excellent! Photography is perfect and your narration is very professional. I thank you for taking the time to help us all in the hobby.
If you use the Japanese -214 kit, they are already slightly dimmer and warmer in tone, so you don’t have to use the diffusers at all. I also attach the boards with a dab of canopy glue on each end to the diffuser. If you try it and still want them dimmer and warmer (incandescent) a dab of canopy glue wh’re the LED is will do that too!
LGV? I'm thinking I'll put them in my TGV if that's what you are thinking of. I have additional sets on order now but it'll take another 3 to 4 weeks for them to get here. I plan to finish my California Zephyr first, then likely do the TGV. Although, I'll need to shorten them (as I did for the Pacific Daylight).
I was just at a hobby store and they wanted over C$60 for a 6 pack. However, I went online to "Plaza Japan" and paid under C$30 for a 6 pack. But, you have to pay for shipping. Sooooo, I also bought a Shinkansen, another set of lights and some decoders. Overall the "6 pack" ended up costing a fair amount :).
Thanks for this, I had no clue from the instructions with the lights, plus the writing is too small for me to read easily.. For a start it wasn't obvious that the led was in that unit and not spaced out along the strip. Mind you as retired engineer from heavy machinery I am seriously struggling with N gauge parts. I can't even get the trains onto the track easily.
Thanks Andy, I have a few of these videos of installing lights hopefully they help you out. I had to laugh at your lost comment. I am totally with you on trying to get my trains onto the track and I find it very frustrating. I use the blue Kato rerailer and find it works really well. I have 2 of them in my portable tool kit and at least one on each of my layouts plus another 1 or 2 on my work bench and I think a couple others still in their original packaging as spares. They are really cheap. The other thing that the club does is, for club modules, we often put in Atlas rerailer sections of track which help to put on trains and cars.
@@donmartin9567 I just tried putting the lights into a Kato Alegra. I failed. There seems no where to support the LED. Then the windows fell out of the body, and now the body won't go back on the chassis. I have packed up the track, and put the train back in the box. The set is free to a good home now .I have been making models of one sort or another since about age five, but nothing has been as frustrating or as impossible to work with as N gauge.
@@andyrbush Hmmmmm, I looked up the Kato Allegra set and it says that the lighting kit can be installed. Assuming they install like others then the light bar would snap into the ceiling between the windows (so a bit finicky) and if you look at the ends of the cars (with the tops off) you should see where the copper strips can go in and where the LED will go. Without having a set of these I can't really tell as some Kato passenger cars are different from others. If you want to dispose of the set you have I'd be happy to take them off your hands, you can send me an email at "dbmartin@shaw.ca". Thanks.
I have no issue with flickering lights just using the base kits provided they are installed correctly and the wheels and track are clean. If you are running on dirty track or dirty wheels then a capacitor would help to avoid flicker but I don't consider them as "required". The biggest issue I've found is dirty wheels so when I set up and run a passenger train I look for flickering and if I see any, I clean the wheels and that restores electrical contact and "no flickering".
@@donmartin9567 thanks a lot for your complete answer ... i thought it was inside the base of light bar you put on car's tail...the "square"....if not it's intersting because light is perfect. I've seen kato's train by chance ( very beautiful and cheap if you look at arnoldtrains speed train) so i took a look at installing lights...and it's strange they don't put a condensor inside because not everyone keeps tracks perfectly clean :) .... thanks a lot and Greetings from italy
Tough to do. The small prongs that attach on the LED have to have a really good contact with the vertical copper strips but those copper strips like to slide so that the prongs touch on the outside and that'll cause flicker. Over time, especially if you carry your cars around (like to shows), the vibration can cause the prongs to slip as well. If you see the lights flickering you'll need to take the top of the car off and reposition the prongs over the copper strips. I think the REAL solution would be to solder a pickup wire from the copper strip to prong. I've modified one passenger car I have to have rear red lights and those LEDs are soldered to the copper strips that run the length of the car - ZERO flicker of any kind.
![[Kato USA Tech Corner] - Installing N scale lighting kits into Bi-levels and Superliners](/img/n.gif)
Don, your instructional videos are excellent! Photography is perfect and your narration is very professional. I thank you for taking the time to help us all in the hobby.
Kato really does make their stuff user friendly
Thank you for the great tutorial.
Thanks Bill, glad you liked it.
If you use the Japanese -214 kit, they are already slightly dimmer and warmer in tone, so you don’t have to use the diffusers at all. I also attach the boards with a dab of canopy glue on each end to the diffuser. If you try it and still want them dimmer and warmer (incandescent) a dab of canopy glue wh’re the LED is will do that too!
Thanks much.
Btw, Supper is ready!
My wife does the same to my videos!
Thanks again!
Yup, get messages from time to time, plus the dogs go off every once in awhile :).
Thanks for the update Don, are you going to be showing installing the lights on the LGV, if so I'm looking forward to it.
LGV? I'm thinking I'll put them in my TGV if that's what you are thinking of. I have additional sets on order now but it'll take another 3 to 4 weeks for them to get here. I plan to finish my California Zephyr first, then likely do the TGV. Although, I'll need to shorten them (as I did for the Pacific Daylight).
I got a 6 pack for $30 new and shipped in 2 days. What is up with Canada?
I was just at a hobby store and they wanted over C$60 for a 6 pack. However, I went online to "Plaza Japan" and paid under C$30 for a 6 pack. But, you have to pay for shipping. Sooooo, I also bought a Shinkansen, another set of lights and some decoders. Overall the "6 pack" ended up costing a fair amount :).
Thanks for this, I had no clue from the instructions with the lights, plus the writing is too small for me to read easily.. For a start it wasn't obvious that the led was in that unit and not spaced out along the strip. Mind you as retired engineer from heavy machinery I am seriously struggling with N gauge parts. I can't even get the trains onto the track easily.
Thanks Andy, I have a few of these videos of installing lights hopefully they help you out.
I had to laugh at your lost comment. I am totally with you on trying to get my trains onto the track and I find it very frustrating. I use the blue Kato rerailer and find it works really well. I have 2 of them in my portable tool kit and at least one on each of my layouts plus another 1 or 2 on my work bench and I think a couple others still in their original packaging as spares. They are really cheap. The other thing that the club does is, for club modules, we often put in Atlas rerailer sections of track which help to put on trains and cars.
@@donmartin9567 I just tried putting the lights into a Kato Alegra. I failed. There seems no where to support the LED. Then the windows fell out of the body, and now the body won't go back on the chassis.
I have packed up the track, and put the train back in the box. The set is free to a good home now .I have been making models of one sort or another since about age five, but nothing has been as frustrating or as impossible to work with as N gauge.
@@andyrbush Hmmmmm, I looked up the Kato Allegra set and it says that the lighting kit can be installed. Assuming they install like others then the light bar would snap into the ceiling between the windows (so a bit finicky) and if you look at the ends of the cars (with the tops off) you should see where the copper strips can go in and where the LED will go. Without having a set of these I can't really tell as some Kato passenger cars are different from others. If you want to dispose of the set you have I'd be happy to take them off your hands, you can send me an email at "dbmartin@shaw.ca". Thanks.
@@donmartin9567 I sent you an email and can mail the train to you.
Which end of bar do you break off for the end car?
no capacitors are in there ? i think they are required,
thanks
I have no issue with flickering lights just using the base kits provided they are installed correctly and the wheels and track are clean. If you are running on dirty track or dirty wheels then a capacitor would help to avoid flicker but I don't consider them as "required". The biggest issue I've found is dirty wheels so when I set up and run a passenger train I look for flickering and if I see any, I clean the wheels and that restores electrical contact and "no flickering".
@@donmartin9567 thanks a lot for your complete answer ... i thought it was inside the base of light bar you put on car's tail...the "square"....if not it's intersting because light is perfect. I've seen kato's train by chance ( very beautiful and cheap if you look at arnoldtrains speed train) so i took a look at installing lights...and it's strange they don't put a condensor inside because not everyone keeps tracks perfectly clean :) .... thanks a lot and Greetings from italy
How do you keep the lights from flickering?
Tough to do. The small prongs that attach on the LED have to have a really good contact with the vertical copper strips but those copper strips like to slide so that the prongs touch on the outside and that'll cause flicker.
Over time, especially if you carry your cars around (like to shows), the vibration can cause the prongs to slip as well. If you see the lights flickering you'll need to take the top of the car off and reposition the prongs over the copper strips.
I think the REAL solution would be to solder a pickup wire from the copper strip to prong. I've modified one passenger car I have to have rear red lights and those LEDs are soldered to the copper strips that run the length of the car - ZERO flicker of any kind.