N Gauge stock lighting 'standard'

[ngauger]

I hear you TDU!  Although I didn't mean to turn this into a DCC v DC slog-out!  No point in that at all.  Yes, I am a DCC evangelist, but of course it's horses for courses, plus as you say, many don't have a choice.  I started my layout as a DC layout (c 4 years ago), purely because I had not done my research, but 'luckily' for me, I was able to 'change tracks' (if you pardon the pun!) soon after my discovery of DCC, and have never looked back.  I did have two DC loco's which I attempted to convert, but it didn't go well, so I decided to start from scratch.

Ok, back on topic!  The 'flickerfree' system is compatible with DC/DCC so that is not an issue here anyhow.  It just means that DCC users would have more control options if they wished.

My only real decision is whether or not I dare open up my precious, shiny new stock!   

Andy

[red_death]

I guess that depends on your ambient room lighting.  I still think you'd see it in all but the unkindest fluorescent horror!

I meant on the real thing - I suspect in normal daylight it is actually quite difficult to tell if coaches are lit and that if you scale down the tone of the lighting to N gauge that it would need to be much more muted than some of the examples I have seen.

Cheers, Mike

[ngauger]

I guess that depends on your ambient room lighting.  I still think you'd see it in all but the unkindest fluorescent horror!

I meant on the real thing - I suspect in normal daylight it is actually quite difficult to tell if coaches are lit and that if you scale down the tone of the lighting to N gauge that it would need to be much more muted than some of the examples I have seen.

Cheers, Mike

Now you have confused me Mike! 
If you are comparing things to the real world, then I guess you would not be able to notice carriage lights on in daylight from outside the carriage.  If they were old stock, then the lights were too dim anyhow, plus I seem to remember a deal of them out of action when I travelled about in the 60's -70's!  New carriages tend to have mirrored or UV reflective glass anyhow, so if you were being totally scale, then you would see very little of anything inside the carriage in daylight. 
If you mean they would look out of scale running in daylight on your layout, you could simply turn them off, or even dim them (as you can do easily with DCC loco lights).

I think this is another 'polarised' topic, and maybe why the manufacturers have not yet taken up the mantle in a big way?  I've looked at Dapol's light bar system and 'light bar ready' coaches, and that sadly seems the only way forward, in that it is up to the individual to chose whether he or she should run them with lights or not, as long as the coach bodies are reasonably easy to remove, although with today's fine scale bodies, that's not always the easiest thing to do!

[EtchedPixels]

I just used an off the shelf 4 pin bridge rectifier rather than diodes as it makes the electronics a lot easier.

There are commercial kits (flicker fix for example) and in Japan there are upgrade kits for many vehicles including some quite pricy per carriage DCC lighting control options!

Alan

[Newportnobby]

It does beg the question that if Farish can put lights into a TPO, it can't be much more effort to put lights in passenger carriages
How much would we be prepared to pay for something like this and would this create more QC issues

[daveg]

A good point, Mick.

Dave G

[Bealman]

Shows how up-to-date I am.... lighted TPO? I didn't know about that particular model! 

Any reviews anywhere?

George

[daveg]

Shows how up-to-date I am.... lighted TPO? I didn't know about that particular model! 

Any reviews anywhere?

George

I've got 2 George (374-901A) and they look very good with the lights (on the side) looking great. Not cheap at £23.50 + shipping.

Liverpool shop says 'This item has sold out and we are unfortunately unable to obtain any additional stock of this particular product.'

There's probably a few lurking in the N gauge undergrowth/ smaller shops.

Dave G

[ngauger]

Shows how up-to-date I am.... lighted TPO? I didn't know about that particular model! 

Any reviews anywhere?

George

I've got 2 George (374-901A) and they look very good with the lights (on the side) looking great. Not cheap at £23.50 + shipping.

Liverpool shop says 'This item has sold out and we are unfortunately unable to obtain any additional stock of this particular product.'

There's probably a few lurking in the N gauge undergrowth/ smaller shops.

Dave G

Interesting, well if it has sold out, I guess it not only proves there is a market for illuminated coaching stock, but the technology side is fairly sorted out too does it not?  Not sure why they can't get more stock, but then again that's not exactly a rare occurrence in 'niche' markets to add exclusivity/rarity.
Also, @ £23.50 it's really a lot less than the additional £10 that I had 'guestimated', if you take the average n gauge carriage price at around £17 anyhow.

Looks positive.  I think I'll mail GF and see if they can 'illuminate' me!

Take care

Andy

Edit: That's a bit of a dead end it seems, Bachmann Europe don't seem to want to field product request/enquiry q's from Joe Public..??Oh well, looks like 'retrofit' then!

[daveg]

Side-stepping the DC v DCC debate, I’d really like to have at least some of my passenger coaches lit.    

As I run DC, I could just about cope with variable brightness from track pick-ups but would much prefer a battery powered system that provided a steady glow.

We already have a great range of track side and building lights using grain of rice bulbs to tiny SMDs. Other than the Dapol light bar system and the oversized (for UK) Eazy Peazy, I’ve yet to learn of any other coaching lights.

Never having taken a Dapol or GF coach apart I don’t know how hard it would be to produce fit a single or perhaps a fixed rake of coaches with the new SMDs, powered by one or several of the ‘new’ flat types of battery.

I know zero about modern electronics but I’d be surprised if there isn't an N-Gauger out there that couldn't put a design together and let us DC folk lighten our darkness.

I’d be happy to learn I've missed something and all I have to do is ask!

Dave G

[ngauger]

Side-stepping the DC v DCC debate, I’d really like to have at least some of my passenger coaches lit.    

As I run DC, I could just about cope with variable brightness from track pick-ups but would much prefer a battery powered system that provided a steady glow.

We already have a great range of track side and building lights using grain of rice bulbs to tiny SMDs. Other than the Dapol light bar system and the oversized (for UK) Eazy Peazy, I’ve yet to learn of any other coaching lights.

Never having taken a Dapol or GF coach apart I don’t know how hard it would be to produce fit a single or perhaps a fixed rake of coaches with the new SMDs, powered by one or several of the ‘new’ flat types of battery.

I know zero about modern electronics but I’d be surprised if there isn't an N-Gauger out there that couldn't put a design together and let us DC folk lighten our darkness.

I’d be happy to learn I've missed something and all I have to do is ask!

Dave G

Dave
These guys seem to have the best system for retrofitting (and works with both DC/DCC):
http://www.dccconcepts.com/index_files/DCCflickerfree.htm
The conversion process is actually quite easy, and employs a capacitor in it's circuit that is seemingly more akin to a battery in operation as it can stay on with no power for up to an hour.
If you can pluck up the courage to open up your stock carefully (I guess the body's of Farrish coaches come off much like their loco bodies maybe?) then it looks very good, and reasonably priced too.
I've been looking for Dapol lightbar ready coaches in Liverpool & Sheffield, but they are a little scarce.  Dapol say 'All their modern coaches are lightbar ready'  On the website.

N.B works out at £9.50 per coach if you buy 3 or £8.70 each if you buy 6.  That's plus postage from Oz of course.

[Caz]

I have started to use the Train Tech battery powered modules in my goods guards van to power the tail light, works extremely well and save fitting pickups to a 4 wheeled truck.

It is not obvious from there website but the units are available suitable for different size batteries, the larger CR2025 and the smaller suitable for N gauge CR1225 batteries.  You have to modify the  basic AL1 unit but the "how to do it" comes with the unit and by fitting the smaller CR1225 it fits into a guards van.  I use a similar technique as for my coach tail lights by using a piece of fibre optic to get the light to the rear of the van by replacing the supplied LED with a SMD LED mounted behind the lamp connected via a piece of fibre optic.  They have other versions of the module for different periods, if say you want a flashing version then choose accordingly.

To save money order the AL1x version as this comes without a batteries and you can then order the smaller CR1225 batteries using the BAT2 order code.  They have a motion sensor so only come on when the van is moving and the batteries seem to last a long while.

They also now do coach lighting modules and very recently have released sound modules, see http://www.train-tech.com/index.php/lighting/tail-coach-lighting

Here's the end result

[smg id=9796 type=preview align=center caption="Guards van light"]