DIY Coach Lighting with Stay Alive

[@bobdtaylor1989]

I've had that thread bookmarked and all the required materials sitting in a box for the past year! Didn't have the confidence to give it a go but you've certainly helped with that...love this channel

[@LittleWicketRailway]

Give it a go, what's the worst that could happen 🙂

[@Railwayscenics]

Hi, we recently stumbled upon your rather helpful tutorial video, and we couldn't resist sharing it with our customers in our weekly newsletter. We hope it's alright with you! A big thank you for putting together such a helpful video for railway modellers. Keep up the fantastic work!

[@LittleWicketRailway]

Thanks 👍 appreciate the share.

[@roberthamer8111]

Worked an absolute treat Rob, thank you so much for your great video. My only problem was I snapped the bridge rectifier leg the first attempt, it doesn’t like being bent too many times. I hid the components underneath the seats in my HST mk3 coach

[@TATICMOOR]

Thanks, Rob, for lighting the way in this project. A great amount of time with the stay alive. I need to copy those components down and draw a schematic diagram for the wiring. Cheers, my friend, you're awesome with these small project shorts.

[@LittleWicketRailway]

Thanks Taticmoor. I think there's a circuit diagram on the rmweb page you might be able to use.

[@TATICMOOR]

Yes, Rob, I saw that. Thanks. John

[@philipslater5015]

The bridge rectifer is only needed with the AC track supply (DCC). For DC track supply it can be omitted Without trying one it might work just as well left in place.

[@GrahamBruceAllathan]

you are really GREAT at producing easy to understand/digest videos - please keep going ;-)

[@EsotericArctos]

This is a great idea. I just will give one small bit of advice. When dead bugging a circuit like this, try not to put stress on the component legs. I noticed when you were twisting the resistor to the capacitor, it seemed to put a lot of stress on the capacitor lead as it was twisted very close to the body of the capacitor. Just something to be aware of. This is a great little tutorial on making a basic stay alive and should work reasonably well on both DCC and DC, though on DC the brightness will vary a bit with speed. IF you use a 3 or 5 volt LED strip and a regulator, you can can get more even lighting on DC

[@LittleWicketRailway]

Haha, I was hoping nobody would notice I'd soldered the resistor on at a wonky angle and had to do some corrective bending 🙃 Good shout on the lower voltage LEDS for DC.

[@jonharbour9166]

Nice tutorial Rob. Great opportunity to populate the coach with some passengers at the same time. Even those garishly dressed Chinese figures make a big difference when lighting a coach!

[@pacificcoastminiatures]

Awesome tutorial! Will need to scale this down to N scale for my passenger cars. Probably can go with a smaller capacitor as I really just need it to keep the LEDs lit for a few seconds at a time.

[@diedertspijkerboer]

You can use different types of leds for coaches of different eras: from yellow for (early) steam via warm white to white for the most modern ones.

[@LittleWicketRailway]

Great idea 👍

[@neilharbott8394]

@@LittleWicketRailway You can also experiment with Tamiya Clear Acrylics - Orange or Yellow can suitably cool the light. Richard from Everard Junction, uses it for his housing interior lights.

[@robbiewales3007]

I'm interested in doing this as the club I'm in is going to run both dc and dcc

[@ChadwickModelRailway]

Great stuff Rob. Hopefully we’ll have a chat at GETS. Regards, Charlie

[@LittleWicketRailway]

Thanks Charlie. I'm not able to make GETS this year, hopefully catch you at Warley or maybe the Great British Model Railway Show? Good luck in the awards 🍀

[@diedertspijkerboer]

I'm familiar with a similar method that picks up current by wrapping stripped electrical wire around a metal wheel axle. The wire is probably thicker than the one you used. The channel displaying this method a lot on KZbin is a German channel named hd springer and the vids have titles with "flackerfreie Beleuchtung" in them.

[@SprattyHeath]

What's the diammeter of the thin wire you're using? Also great video.

[@SpongeBobOldPants]

Hi, i may be asking a silly question but i have ordered everything but the bridge recifier at the moment as i noticed you say you need a DB104 but the link is to a DB107 is this ok to use? the one in the link isn't available but i have seen others. Thanks so much for the video it was so easy to understand. I can't wait to get the light done for christmas :D

[@LittleWicketRailway]

I think the only difference is the voltage rating 400V Vs 1000V. DB104 should be fine.

[@SpongeBobOldPants]

@@LittleWicketRailway thanks so much :) i have just had my first attempt and it work ok but i am going to added a larger resistor as you say in the video because i only want a hint of lighting. But, this works great already, a little flicker on some parts of my track but it acceptable and even adds to the realism .... thanks again for your video they really help

[@bicates]

Thanks for this tutorial... As a newbie to the hobby, what Wheel track size should you order for standard 00 Hornby track? (DCC Concepts has several listed)

[@LittleWicketRailway]

For 00 Hornby track you'll want the 16.5mm wheels. Then you'll need to select the diameter (10.5mm, 12mm or 14mm) based on what you plan to fit them to. I'm using 12mm diameter for these coaches.

[@StormmyStormmy]

Hi, great video, what happened to the Zero 1 video you promised? There is a KZbinr called zero 1 guy who’s converted his zero 1 system to dcc, thanks for sharing.

[@LittleWicketRailway]

Hi StormmyStormmy 🙂 Zero1 is still in the list. It'll be a longer video and needs loads of research which takes ages. Finding any footage of the Zero 1 being used in the early 80s is really difficult. I'd also heard that the Zero 1 has featured on the BBC Tomorrow's World programme in 1978 or 1979 and really wanted to get that footage, but the BBC has no record of this. I've got two Zero 1 units and it did cross my mind to convert one to DCC.

[@StormmyStormmy]

@@LittleWicketRailway Check out the Zero 1 guy’s channel, he’s done a great job updating what was the first dcc type system. Did you ever see the Maplin’s digital train control system kit back in the day? I have a huge amount of Zero 1 items, 90% of it is brand new in their boxes, it was a very good system released too early to the public with no back up, typical Hornby stunt that still persists today, I’m a big dcc fan now, I’m a ESU fan although I’ve invested in a Hornby class 08 loco which has a TTS sound decoder fitted, to be fair I bought the loco for its livery, I’ve been made to believe that the TTS decoders are ok, the class 08 and the HST class 43 are regarded as Hornby’s best, if the sound is as good as is portrayed then I will keep it, if not I will remove and fit a better sound file.

[@mrjjjj]

Hello, thanks a lot, next step DCC triggering? 🙂

[@KampeiPR]

Yes. First Comment! LOVE THIS CHANNEL!

[@LittleWicketRailway]

Thanks 🙂