Wiring LEDs in your model trains.

[@johnlazarz941]

Very easy to understand video. I learned a ton. Thank you.

[@dbtech7914]

Thanks for watching. I'm glad it was helpful.

[@mattmello1070]

Hello Dave, Thank you for taking the time to make this video. It was very informative and yes, I did learn from it. Unfortunately I'm wanting to add a light to a N scale locomotive. Thanks again.

[@dbtech7914]

I had a couple people ask me about N scale. There are surface mount LEDs and smaller bridge rectifiers. I'll have to research it and try it.

[@sparky107107]

i love the DOINK you toss in there. I feel like I was just in a electronics class back 20 years ago, you explain it very well.

[@dbtech7914]

Just connect this wire to that wire, and DOINK! it works!! I'm going to make some more "tech" videos.

[@howiesnowball2437]

A very helpful and down to earth explanation of how it should be done. I'm going to try it on my locomotives.

[@dbtech7914]

Thanks for watching. I tried to make the video as simple as possible. I hope it works for you.

[@jamesdenny4734]

I learned a lot. LEDs are something I will try! Thanks for explaining! 😮

[@dbtech7914]

Cool. Glad it was helpful and thanks for watching

[@werious44]

Ive never tried to with a car ive been some on accessories. I think it would be very fun with some cars. Your video is very nice I like it a lot. To do and get started sounds intense. I'm running 0 scale but same things and maybe more room.

[@PCrailfan3790]

3:21 FOOOOL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!

[@atjoe1972]

Very cool information on using LED’s for Model Railroads 👍🚂

[@dbtech7914]

Thanks for watching, glad it was helpful.

[@lmsubman243]

ChiT's always falling! But achievers pick it up and keep going!!😂🎉 i appreciate your explanation on lighting with leds.

[@dbtech7914]

LOL, Thanks for watching. Glad it was helpful.

[@DelHudson1]

Hey Dave. I really enjoyed this video. It gave me a better understanding on how to attempt lighting projects in the future. I have a ton more questions for you, but I'll wait to ask them when I either see you in hamburg in 2 weeks or allentown next month.

[@dbtech7914]

Thanks for watching and glad it was helpful. Hit me with and easy question and email the rest to me. I'll do a followup video if it helps.

[@DelHudson1]

One of the main questions I had revolves around capacitors. My new Lionel 21 inch passenger cars have flicker free lighting because they have a capacitor to store power, so there's no power loss to the lights when going over a switch or dead spot on the track. I'd like to install a capacitor on my postwar passenger cars, but don't know how to determine which one I need, or how (location) it's wire in the circuit. Thanks in advance for any help in this, and would make a good video.

[@dbtech7914]

I would like to see how your cars are wired. If you put a capacitor after the bridge rectifier and before the LED and resistor, that will work. I would try a 500uF (micro farad) capacitor. I can do an update video to include that. I planned to do another video anyhow. Do not put a capacitor in if it is wired directly to the AC input.

[@raysrails2164]

Great video , I'm starting to experiment with the leds on the layout.

[@dbtech7914]

Good deal! There are a lot of things you can do with LEDs.

[@nathanosland1179]

Ya, that was great. I am going to try to put directional lights on my mth nw2. I had to rewire it. It no longer has ps1. I blew the bulb. It was not bright enough and hads no rear lights. You might be hearing more from me, this is the first time I have really screwed around with lighting. Thanks for all the tips.

[@dbtech7914]

Great, thanks for watching and I'm glad it was helpful. This has been one of my most popular videos. I hope your lighting project works out for you. Let me know if need any help.

[@David65Cope-kc6sm]

Dave, thanks for the insight. I was wiring LEDs into two engines this evening and ran into the issue of lights only in reverse. The explanation concerning the use of bridge rectifiers will be put into use tomorrow when they arrive. David

[@dbtech7914]

Great, glad it was helpful. You can also wire LEDs to be directional. I don't remember if I included it in that video or another one. I think I made a video on a GG-1 repair that had directional lighting. Thanks for watching.

[@anthonylperry5396]

LEDS DO NOT BURN OUT IF POLARITY IS REVERSED. they pass electricity in one direction only i cross polarize them on my layout signals all the time red and green if positive voltage is applied the green led lights if reversed the red lights. Ive been a electronics tech for 60 years. Leds go bad if too much voltage is applied

[@dbtech7914]

See my latest video. I just uploaded it.

[@Cowboy_Steve]

Howdy! Really good video. Your explanation of the formulas was easy to follow and helped my understanding quite a bit. I'm just getting started in model railroading and am jumping in to DCC with both feet lol. I want to take older DC trains, refurbish them, and upgrade to DCC. Do you need a bridge rectifier with DCC or is that covered by the DCC motherboard? I know that some boards will require a resistor for using LEDs and some do not... your breakdown of the formulas will be great for helping get the brightness I want. Well done and thanks for sharing 🤠 EDIT: Should have read through some of the other comments... *DOH*... I've subscribed and will watch some of your follow-up videos... 😁

[@dbtech7914]

Funny edit. Thanks for watching and I'm glad it helped. Some DCC boards have LED connections on them and wouldn't need a bridge rectifier. It should specify in the instructions. If the DCC board doesn't have LED connections then you would need a bridge rectifier. There is also an article in Model Railroader magazine (December) that is helpful. I did a video on it. Best of luck on your railroad. Rule #1) It's your railroad, build what you like.

[@BrianLau72]

⚡Hey Dave, thanks for the video, really enjoyed it. Somehow, I JUST happened to come across your video within its first hour of being posted. Kind of glad that I did (even though it is nearly 1am) as I actually enjoyed the LED DIY/Tutorial. Hope that you will make other videos that go over electronics and your passion of trains... Doink! Thanks again! New subscriber (#392) By the way, after you ran the red Tyco engine around the track a couple of times. Looking at the time code (21:27) to your video, you put the American Flyer Engine on the tracks. While placing the engine on the tracks. If you re-watch the video at this marker, you will see that as you place the tracks and move it back and forth a little to get the wheels aligned. You will see that the motor inside of the engine is momentarily converted into a small generator, creating just enough electrical power to (possibly) charge a capacitor or some other electronic component either within the engine of the train itself or, further back along the line of the train track rails to the power control regulator. Unless there is some other component that may have collected the small electrical charge created by the engine's movement. Though to be honest, I do not think that there is another component-type that will accept an electrical charge, that will then store it for later use later. I mean other than a battery... 🚂💫👨‍🔧⚡📎

[@dbtech7914]

Thanks for watching. I plan to make some more tech videos and I have to research that issue with the American Flyer. I am kind of puzzled by that. There is nothing in there other than a simple DC motor. Thanks for the sub!

[@daver681]

Thanks as I am going to get my past fathers 027 gauge train and I want to put some lights in the caboose and some of the cars and maybe in the engine and your information was very informative as I was wondering what I would do about the track polarity. Thanks

[@dbtech7914]

Let me know how it works out. When using the bridge rectifier, it doesn't matter which rail is hot. It will work either way. You are going to need a center rail pick up roller for 3 rail.

[@braydendonnelly8388]

thank you explained in "lay mans" terms

[@dbtech7914]

Thanks for watching and I'm glad it was easy to understand. I saw so many videos where they really didn't know what they were talking about. I have to go back and experiment with different LEDs and resistance values to get the best color of light.

[@curtklemenz4783]

Excellent presentation. (Good as Engineering School). Am upgrading a Lionel O gauge switcher and will include LED's. Can you recommend where amateur might go for component supplies?

[@dbtech7914]

Thanks for watching and I'm glad it was helpful. I started by scraping stuff from old VCRs, radios, or whatever electronics stuff I could find. Once I figured out what I was doing, I order things like bridge rectifiers and resistors in bulk on line.

[@Alexander_Sth]

Hi Dave, First of all, would like to thanks to admire your skills and this tutorial. There is a lot of professional looking videos from other people, but none of them did so perfect tutorial material with great explanation theory and practice. Also, I would like to ask you how to get rid of the LED flicker in DC mode. I use SMD 0402 with resistant 1kOm and diode 4007, but it flickering from Piko regulator and even more from old transformer. If I use LED from multimeter it doesn’t flickering. My aim is to make fast changing DC to DCC with small plugs. Seems with LED it is an issue...

[@dbtech7914]

Thank you very much. I tried to make it as simple and to the point as possible and easy to understand. I think I did a follow up video to show how to use capacitors to prevent flicker. Also, if you see my video about the Model Railroader Magazine review, there is an article about using LEDs with some good tips. (Almost like they watched my video and then did an article on it! LOL!).

[@Alexander_Sth]

@@dbtech7914 thanks a lot. I ordered capacitor and ZXLD381FHTA as well, which could start LED from 0.9 V to switch it before motor starts. Did you ever tried it? That could be a nice video.

[@mal15102]

Seems to me that AC will light an LED during one phase and not conduct on the other. In effect the led is flashing at 60 cycles and responding as if it was using half the current thus tolerating a higher voltage.

[@dbtech7914]

It would, except that on the negative wave of the AC source it would burn out the LED. It would work if you put one diode in line, then yes, it would go on half the time. Then you would have a half-wave rectifier.

[@mercuryoak2]

Hey David , thank you for doing this type of video. I really did help me understand something and I'm going to save it in my playlist so that I can reference it later on. I noticed when you said about diodes and my mahano Pacific steam engine does have directional writing it just has incandescent bulbs. That's the explained to me how it worked because I was curious on that locomotive since the tender only has the diode for the reverse light the locomotive I didn't take it apart I only did minor maintenance to it and I'm not going to tear it apart to look for it but that's cool. I have a proto 1000 BL2 that has directional lighting and it has a small circuit board which looks like a bridge rectifier and a couple diodes I think but it only lights up on the forward direction because I think the incandescent bulb is burnt-out for the reverse do rat or diet has bad I'm not sure I haven't checked it with a multimeter but I will when I get a chance. . Very good electrical teaching. I myself will get the Amber type color for headlights on a steam engine or a diesel because I wanted to look more natural color. This will be a good reference for later on when I get a chance to do the conversion

[@dbtech7914]

Awesome, I'm glad it was helpful. I'm going to do an update shortly.

[@frankrowland63]

Tried to dl the Diagram but failed

[@dbtech7914]

If you send me an email, I can send it to you.

[@BoxcarJerry]

Hey David great job explaining all this to none electrical people like me. Does all this info work for DCC as well ?

[@dbtech7914]

That's a good question. I don't have DCC so I'll have to find someone that does and do some testing.

[@dbtech7914]

Hey Jerry, I found an article in the December 2023 Model Railroader magazine. You Can wire your DCC trains the same as I described in this video.

[@stevenmaterio1036]

❤

[@dbtech7914]

Thanks for watching!

[@janarthanamsubramaniam]

20mA = 0.02A.

[@4everdc302]

Good, ya posted this. This will help many. Well done👍🚂🚃🚃⚡️💡

[@dbtech7914]

Thank you. I hope it was easy to understand.