Headlights

[Doug.Oaks]

There have been a couple of references on this board to leds and bulbs for lights, so excuse me if this has been previously answered. I'm looking for led's, or bulbs, for headlights. I don't really care for the light in the Annie, as I believe it is too yellow. Nor do I like the super-bright lamp in the 45-tonner. The lamp in the pre-Annie 10-wheelers was close, as was the one in the first Shay.
Thanks,

Doug

[glennk28]

In the K-27 there are two sizes of LED's for lighting that we might change.  3mm and 5mm.  The 3mm's are in the classification lamps. 5mm's go in the headlights and the cab light.  I tried LED's from two sources.  The 3mm's I got from TCS--they are still a bit on the yellowish side.  I got 5mm's from Miniatronics. These are a bit whiter than I expected, but acceptable.  We had another thread going regarding the lights, but in summary--the headlight can be pried upward off the shelf bracket.  Drill a 1/8" hole in the back to push the innards out. test fit the LED before getting all the wires in the way.

Cab roof comes off with four screws, under the overhang front and rear. Pry up the light holder. The small Backup light on on 453 pulls up easily.  The larger backup light probably comes apart like the headlight.

As I said, I prefer the miniatronics "Yelo Glo" LED's.  When you get them, also get a package of 3/64" and 1/16" shrink tubing to insulate the connections.

You will probably have to open up some of the holes and bevel the class light bases to get everything back together again.  I found it easier to unsolder the LED wires from the board inside the smokebox to make it easier to work.  Red wires go to the long lead on the LED's--I lost track of the color with the headlight wires, trial and error gets it right.   

gj

[jpipkin]

I have been using golden white LEDs from Richmond Controls.  I find them more like incandescent lamps in color that the Miniatronics LEDs.

Jim

[glennk28]

They may well be--I'm in a rather culturally deprived part of the country and depend on the ads I see--gj