4-6-0 front lamp / front truck draw bar

[faraway]

I've got two high boiler 4-6-0. Both have a yellow and bright front lamp.
My first low boiler arrived today.

1. The front lamp is ice cold blue and very dim. It is so dim it is close to useless.
Can I do something (except disassembling the whole engine and install a better LED)?

2. The draw bar of the front truck is too thick. The front truck is forced too low and the engine rides on the front truck and the last axis only. I had to build a custom draw bar that respects the reduced space of the low boiler version and lets the front truck swing further up.

There is a second low boiler on order. I will see if my first unit is an exception.

ps. I have not quality problems with the other 4-6-0, 4-4-0 and 2-8-0 of Bachmann Spectrum.

[Joe Satnik]

Dear Far,

I'm gonna guess this is a DCC ready engine running on a DC power pack.

Does it have a socket in the tender?

Try putting it on a layout with a DCC controller (analog channel) to see if it is bright enough.

There is a resistor somewhere in your engine or tender that limits the current through your LED.  The resistor may have to have its value lowered to be bright enough at normal speeds on a DC power pack.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik   

[richG]

I have the low boiler version. The headlight resistor is a SMT resistor on the PC board in the tender.
I use DCC and the light works fine. Possibly if you use DC, the light will be dim at lower voltages. Just a guess. I have never run with DC.
The only difference between the high boiler and low boiler is the size of the drivers from what I can see.
I have not bought the high boiler yet so only a guess. If you ever want to pull the loco apart, I have photos of how it is done and what it looks like inside the boiler. Be advised, there are quite a few "pipes" on the boiler you should be aware of.

Rich

[faraway]

I'm sorry not to write some more details.

The engine came as the DC version. The head light was very dim. I did install a Loksound 3.5 decoder and used a 1kOhm resistor for the head lamp. It is still very dim. I did remove the PCB.

I hesitate to reduce the resistor as the head lamp was also so dim with DC. May be I will give it a try with 680Ohm but no less. Are the specs of the used LED known? In that case I could calculate the resistor.
btw. the LED has "old white" color. The looks very bad in an old steam engine. My high boilers have a yellow LED. I would prefere gold white but that is better than cold blue.

[faraway]

If you ever want to pull the loco apart, I have photos of how it is done and what it looks like inside the boiler. Be advised, there are quite a few "pipes" on the boiler you should be aware of.

Rich,
I would be glad to get the photos.

[richG]

I have used 680 ohm resistors for LEDs with no issues. The LED shines into a prism which defects the light beam straight up and a second prism defects the light forward.

LED on 4-6-0 photos




Rich

[richG]

If you ever want to pull the loco apart, I have photos of how it is done and what it looks like inside the boiler. Be advised, there are quite a few "pipes" on the boiler you should be aware of.

Rich,
I would be glad to get the photos.

Go look at      Topic: Need help with 4-6-0 wiring in this forum.

the link will take you to another forum that you can read without joining.

Rich

[faraway]

the link will take you to another forum that you can read without joining.

Rich, thank you.
Is there a specific reason why the cab has been removed from the boiler? I plan to remove the boiler with the cab as one unit. On the pictures the cab is not shown.

[richG]

My loco came with a steel cab and there waas an extra cab, wood cab in the box. I am installing the wood cab.

Rich

[faraway]

Ok, I disassembled the boiler and cab. Replaced the dim blue LED with a bright warm white one and assembled the engine.
Looks much better

Thank you!

[richG]

Glad to hear that. What is the style/brand of LED for future reference? Someone will ask the question in some group. Thanks.

Rich

[faraway]

What is the style/brand of LED for future reference?

I used a "standard" LED I had "on stock". There is lots of space to install most common used LEDs. Your pictures demonstrate that very good. It is more important to use a LED that has a warm white color.

[faraway]

I did receive my second 4-6-0 low boiler engine today.
The same problems. The very dim lamp but and worse a draw bar of the front truck that lifts the engine up and limits traction to the last axis.