Simple engine LED question to the professionals here, I hope

[riff99]

I have a DASH-40CW that seems to have its reversing light out, unlike it's counterpart here which does have its rear light working fine.  I know it's somewhat insignificant to some, but to me I hate having this be the case. I have looked up the light as being something like LEDXX-10091, and have removed the shell to see where the bulb sits.  In plain view which is a good thing.  However it is connected to the board, as I assumed.  I hoped it would just be a simple removal from the board, but it seems a touch more complicated than that.  I may be stuck here.  I can't seem to find any reference to removing a bulb from this engine (and I guess it's used in the SD-45 as well).  Am I hooped here?  I do see that you can get a replacement bulb for $3.00 here, but installing it may be out of my league.  Quite bummed.  Just looking for a bit of help if any one has done such a switch of this type of LED bulb.

Thanks for viewing

Bruce
riff99

[richg]

You have a LED. No such thing as a LED light bulb. If it is defective, you will need a soldering iron most probably.
I looked at the loco diagram and have to assume the LED is soldered in place.
Are you sure the lighting CV's are configured correctly?

Rich

[Jim Banner]

Mostly I agree with Rich.  I would start off by doing a decoder reset to see if that gets things working again.  Remember that after the reset you will normally have to operate on address 3 or 03 to test.  If that does not help, install the new Light Emitting Diode (LED).  These devices are polarity sensitive so check for any marks that distinguish one lead from the other on the old LED and install the new LED the same way round.  I do not have one of these locomotives but from the diagram, it looks like the manufacturer has used extension wires on the LED leads,  If so, unsoldering them from the old LED and soldering them onto the new LED should not be too hard to do.  Just make sure they stay insulated from one another.  If there are no marking to tell the LED leads apart, go ahead and install it one way around.  If it does not work, try reversing the leads to reverse the polarity.

I suppose my only major disagreement with Rich is that there are indeed LED light bulbs.  But they are large, contain multiple LED's and would in no way fit in your locomotive.  LED light bulbs are of interest because of their long life, low power requirements, and most can be used with traditional light dimmers and other solid state (relayless) lamp controls.

http://ledlightingforless.com/store/?gclid=CJHW547n16sCFW8EQAodOVfURg

Jim

[CNE Runner]

Jim is correct regarding LED-containing lightbulbs (when have you known him to be wrong?). We recently changed all the 12v bulbs in our motor home to LEDs (less power drain, last virtually forever, run cool). If you are interested in LED bulbs for your layout be advised that they are extremely pricey. Non-dimmable LED bulbs can be had 'fairly' cheaply (please note the 'fairly'). Most of us like the ability to dim the lighting on the layout - requiring dimmable bulbs. LED bulbs that can be dimmed are very expensive! For that reason the Monks' Island Railway still uses [hot] halogen units. Another consideration is the chromatic 'temperature' of the bulbs (type of light they produce) as most LED bulbs tend to run toward the 'cool' end of the color spectrum.

'Not trying to hijack the thread...but I thought this was related to the general topic,

Ray

[jward]

one thing about soldering and led's that should be mentioned is that led's are heat sensitive. you should use a heat sink of some sort on the leads when soldering them, or risk damaging the led. i believe radio shack still sells clip on heat sinks for soldering work. if not, either an alligator clip or one of those surgical clamps with locking jaws will work. the metal of these items will help prevent heat buildup in the led itself while you are soldering.