passenger car light kits

[j morton]

I bought a mckinley explorer train set for my son, then bought an additional car. However the additional car came with a lighted interior and the four cars in the set are not.  I would like to make the other four cars lit or disable the new one, preforably the first. It does not appear that Bachmann sells a kit.  Any ideas thanks.
         
j. morton

[Jim Banner]

Rapido's Easy Peasy lighting kits are simple and run on batteries for flicker free, constant lighting.  They can be turned on and off with a magnetic wand that comes with them.  Check them out at:
http://www.rapidotrains.com/light_ho.html

Jim

[pdlethbridge]

Jim, I tried your link and got a mail account. Try this one
http://www.modeltrainwarehouse.com/Rapido-Trains-HO-Scale-Easy-Peasy-Passenger-Car-Light-Kit_p_22-2444.html

[ABC]

It does not appear that Bachmann sells a kit.  Any ideas thanks.

Yeah, Bachmann doesn't make any lighting kits.The Rapido lighting kits are good like Jim said. Alternatively, it is pretty easy to make your own. If the wheel sets are metal and appropriately insulated, you can use an Athearn lighting kit, it only costs like $2 (at least that's what it cost at my LHS). It includes a light bulb, 2 metal strips, all you need to do is soldier 2 wires.

http://www.rapidotrains.com/light_ho.html - I wonder why mine works and Jim's doesn't

[pdlethbridge]

Maybe they don't like Jim!

[Jim Banner]

Darn Computer!  It is supposed to know that when I mistakenly hit the email button instead of the URL button that I really meant to hit the URL button.  The mind reader circuits must be on the fritz.

Jim

[pdlethbridge]

 

[Doneldon]

ABC is right; it's easy to do your own lights.  However, the incandescent lights use a lot of current which won't be available for your locos.  They also make a lot of undesirable heat.  Try LEDs.  They use very little current and generate almost no heat.  You can get the parts from ebay and instructions on the web.  All you need is the LEDs, some resistors and a magnetic reed switch.  You can even use batteries if you want.  I don't like the battery unit (like Easy-Peasey) because the batteries are expensive.  I suppose you could use AA or AAA batteries instead of the button batteries the E-Ps use.

[Jim Banner]

If the Athearn lighting kits ABC is buying are like the ones I have in several Athearn passenger cars, you will have to change out the wheel sets for ones with a conductive wheel on one end of the axle and an insulating wheel on the other.  Personally, I don't much care for track powered lighting unless the trains are running on DCC, and then I prefer to use LED's to save on the "expensive" power.  My problem is that I like night scenes with a lighted passenger train stopped at the station, a scene that I have enjoyed many times from both inside and outside the train in real life.

If batteries for the Easy Peasy lighting are too expensive, check out the battery display at your local dollar store.  At ours, they have the same type as the original at 5 on a card for $1.

Jim

[ABC]

If the wheel sets are metal and appropriately insulated, you can use an Athearn lighting kit...

If the Athearn lighting kits ABC is buying are like the ones I have in several Athearn passenger cars, you will have to change out the wheel sets for ones with a conductive wheel on one end of the axle and an insulating wheel on the other. 

I wouldn't consider last bought about 10 years ago to be "is buying", but we both mentioned that the wheel sets need insulated on one side, so I expect we have the same Athearn lighting kits, but you don't have to use the bulb in the lighting kit, you can replace it with a more efficient light source (i.e. light-emitting diodes).