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Coach, this van is for the next auction.. Let me know when it is and what I need to do with it..

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0421.jpg


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0419.jpg


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0430.jpg

Joe

Coach, this van is for the next auction.. Let me know when it is and what I need to do with it..

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0421.jpg


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0419.jpg


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0430.jpg

Joe

C:eek::eek:L -- Where'd you get a black keyboard with white keys?!

And oh yeah, the van is nice too.

(j/k messing with ya -- the van is killer!!)

:thumbsup:

Why, Wally World, of course!!!! And thanks!!! I will have the white paint touched up on the headlights, and do something for a back bumper in time for the auction..I will also put a couple coats of future on it too. Believe it or not, it was going to be a surfing spongebob and patrick van originally, with a sandy cheeks spare tire on the back.. How plans change....


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/wave11a.jpg

I chickened out at the last minute since I'm not capable of printing white, and with all my digital manipulating things started gitting too pixalated... oh well...live and learn..


Joe

I believe Scottd961 hooked us up to this link elsewhere, but I wanted to put it here so you can get a peek at what I'm thinking.. http://www.motorcitytoyz.com/
Friday nite in chat I got bombarded with ideas on lighting a semi, and what did I find..soon to be released??? I have a pretty good idea of how I'm going to do it, I just need to wait for them to come out. I would rather cut up AW stuff than vintage Aurora, especially during the trial and error stage.. The tanker will pose a few problems though.. I need to be able to get inside the tank without butchering it.. I also need to be able to put it back together as seamless as possible once I get in there. Has anyone found any type of CA, model cement or the like that will secure AW plastics??? Any suggestions for the above from our customizers would be appreciated!!! P.S. Bill, I could use a chunk of that hippie lamp!!

Joe

Consider it done

I made a mistake.. OK..I'll admit it. :cry: I tried to take the easy way out with the camaro... And it backfired... Fiber optic that won't accept 1 minute epoxy mixed with stubborn red LEDs with flexible wire that got mysteriously stiff after soldering = gooey mess in the camaro. I got her tail end cleaned up and was going to call it a total loss when I had another idea...

There is no way to drill, mill, ream, lathe, etc a 2mm fiber optic cable to accomodate a .75mm fiber optic cable (the smallest I have). Since the head and tail lights on my lil chebby are 2.0 mm I had no choice but to use that size. Call it yankee ingenuity, or just dumb luck if the yankee thing offends ya, I decided to melt my way into her heart. I heated up the smallest screw driver in the case, and literally melted approx, .75mm holes into the end of my F.O. cables. I needed 3 hands to do it, and a fourth one wasn't available to hold the camera so i have no pictures of the blessed event, but it worked. I used Poly-Zap to CA the .75mm to the 2.0mm cables and stage 2 is done!!

Then I went back to thinking...what do I have to make a emitter manifold out of??? I looked around on my desk for a minute and like a bolt it hit me!!! OW!! :hat: I snagged an old cheapie no name ink pen, of the white plastic variety and started slicing!!! Perfect!! I whipped out my dremel and drilled 6 holes in the pen, 2 pairs of 2, and a pair of singles. I carefully sliced off the section of tube and checked out the chassis to hood clearance. The camaro is tight!! Really tight..Not much room in there!! I had to do a bit of surgery to the gear plate, took off a rounded 1/8 circle, almost to the magnet, to accomodate the tube. Inserted my 6 FO cables into the manifold and got the old 1 minute epoxy out and prayed.. I shoved the manifold full of cable ends up against the front post and filled it with the epoxy, squished it with one finger into an oval and held the front down with a screwdriver. Stage 3 sucess!!!

Stage 4 was a bit disappointing, but none the less, I must say... The only 2.omm warm white LED I had left, broke while bending it into shape... I had to use a 1.8mm bleeech bluish white to do a light check. The results to follow in a separate post!! Stay tuned!!

Joe

Before I go into the pictures, I have added a picture of my low budget low tech breaker inner lighted chassis tester upper thingy I made just so you guys have something else to pick on me for thing. I think it's pretty much self explanitory, but if you don't have one of these things yet, you probably don't need one....:tongue:


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0440.jpg


Isn't it amazing what you can do with the stuff you can't give away on feepay!!!


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0438.jpg

Sorry the RRR wheels were a bit jumpy.. I think I need to redo the resistor too, as the lights were dimming down with the motor speed. An 820 or next smaller should make things more acceptable..


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0439.jpg


Very hard to get my auto focus to handle a red chrome car..especially in the dark..


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0445.jpg

Nowhere near as nice as Bill's Hot Rod Lincoln, but the tweaking of the LED/resistor combo will help. I also need to seal up my manifold a bit better.


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0449.jpg


Hippie lamp fiber is a bit more flexible, and the Lincoln hood's dome made the straight fiber out the of the manifold a possibility. LEDs generally emit light out the end, so Bills method in the Lincoln maximizes the light output. The camaros tight body to the chassis fit and low hood made it impossible to straight out the cables from the manifold. Since the body is so narrow, I couldn't hide the cables between the chassis and the doors, but they don't leak the light out.


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0451.jpg The warm yellow glow is what I'm looking for, with out the nuclear reaction in the pass compartment.


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0454.jpg

Bill did such a nice job routing the resistor/LED leads, I decided I wasn't going to find a better method... I'll slap up some better pictures as soon as it's done and I figure out why my "illusion setting" isn't illusioning!!


Joe

Whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis? That 'Maro is awesome!

I wuz wunderin' how ya got into my photobucket and heisted my chassis pic? LOLOLOLOL! Well Joe there just wasnt a lot of room to do much up there between the frame rails. Truth be told I had the resistor pushed into the recess under the gearplate and the LED forward. But I undoohickeyed it around the uther way after all. I've seen smaller resistors but do they make the 1.6 mm in "sunshine white" rather than the bright "bluish white'?

I think this rig you've made is trick and easily rivals the Lincoln (she's not with out her warts ya know!) so quit with all that and just take a bow. The tail shot is great! For shooting show off pics for the board take a carbon brush out and that way you'll get a nice still of the headlights without the vibration! Duh....guess I fergot to mention that part in my thread!

Smaller resistors would help. I estimate that with some minor tweaking of the manifold, using a 1.6mm LED, one could concievablly fire 4 maybe 5 whips. So even smaller packaging may be possible. Perhaps two 1.6's for more fire power could be utilized if a smaller resistor were possible.

We're just now cutting our teeth and having you egg me on is fun!

Great stuff Joe!

Thank you Bill for the kind words!! I have never run across 1.8 warm white LEDs, but that doesn't mean they aren't made...I just haven't found them yet. I have been playing with my little resistor calculator, and according to it, you can use a 1/4 watt resistor, but it would have to be a 1.5k ohm to 1.8k ohm depending on the LED and the input voltage. BTW, on your Lincoln if the LED fades as you cut back the controller you might want to switch to the 1.5k ohm 1/4 watt, or the 1/2 watt 820 ohm. I would try the circuit on a spare chassis first to see if the resistor gets hot though.

Being the sucker for advertising that I am, I bought into the "no light leakage" blah blah from my fiber optic source. This has proven to be untrue. Guess you can't believe everything you read on the web...DUH! So while I can't really call it done, it's about as done as it's gonna get without painting the fiber optics or the windshield... I managed to salvage the sunshine white that broke earlier today, and I dropped the resistor to an 820 ohm...


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0455.jpg



http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0456.jpg


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0459.jpg


The fiber glows an eerie green color, it shows up too well for my hypercritical self imposed standards, I'm thinking painting the 'shield is the best option. The head lights leave much to be desired in brightness, however it's not the blazing bright (almost too bright high beam looking light up the paneling at the corners bright) of my vans. If I could only find a happy medium,,,Hmmm.. Back to the drawing board!! Next Lesson, when my next order of LEDs shows up, is going to be one of these....

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/000_0018a.jpg


By request for the secret santa!!!! Shhhhhh it's a secret who asked for it!!!



Joe

Here are some links to help you out with finding needed resistor values, identification, etc.


http://stores.ebay.com/Hobby-Electronics-and-Accessories


http://www.quickar.com/noqbestledcalc.htm


http://www.dannyg.com/examples/res2/resistor.htm


http://members.misty.com/don/ledd.html


http://www.mrollins.com/circuit.html

Hope you find these links helpful...I use them quite a bit!!


Joe

Yes, great helpfull links :thumbsup:

Well, there's some good news on the lighted van front!!! First of all let me hit you guys with this... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&item=220296724058

There was some interest in these in the lindberg post, but I want to see how many HT'ers are actually reading this!! There is another one coming up in a few days after this one. Due to a lack of funds I can't even think of bidding on these, so if anyone wants them, go fer it!!

Also, I spoke with Bill from dmmwem, (my LED source) and he says he's going to check into availability of a 1.8mm warm white LED!!! Smaller LED= more room to play!! Now if I could only get him to make me some warm white 2mm in a similar style to the 3mm I'd be in LED heaven!!! That's all the good news for now.
Now the sad stuff...I made a boo boo with my JL lighted camaro when I painted the fiberoptics to try to cut the glow down. I accidently got some black paint on the red fiber taillights and they are about half lit now. Stoopid me!! I'm trying to clean up my mess now, but no luck so far. there's a good possibility I'll have to do them over. Drat!

Joe

Air brush thinner and a q-tip...

and prayer!

Air brush thinner and a q-tip...

and prayer!

Got the thinner and q-tip, but the airbrush I don't have..I guess I'll need to pray harder.. :cry:

Misheard me, "Airbrush thinner" to clean the wayward paint away. As in dab cotton top in the thinner carefully elbow grease it away.

Thank you kind sir for your expert professional advice!!! Got 3 out 4 taillights lit up pretty good now, and will make another attempt tomorrow!! I'm still not too happy with the head lights, and will be considering a different approach with them next time. Before I hit the hay, I need to double check my latest LED order for white 3mm's. I want to try drilling the top surface to make in inverted cone. I think that's the biggest problem I'm facing here. The light's directed up, I need it directed sideways. Option 2 would be to re-optic the headlights with the manifold parts of cable bent down towards the LED. If I ever start molding my own bodies I think I would mold the manifold right into them. Then I could prebend the optics before sliding them into the grooves in the manifold, throw a squirt of quick clear epoxy in and call it almost done!!

Joe

Been a while, so I figured I would update on the little progress I've had here. I'm still having problems sleeping and wake up at numerous times of the night, and I've been feeling like doo doo all day. :drunk: I did manage to spend a couple hours under the table trying to rig up the RR crossing gate/ auto stop + go function for the slots. The gates are in, and the reed switches are mounted, but not hooked up yet. I did manage to find a use forJL bodies when they have been butchered for the sake of "science"...

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0518.jpg


That old challanger body did make a nice holder for the four reed switches!! They fit nice and snug, and a couple screws through the hood got it mounted.. I'm recycling...Does that make me a tree hugger too??? After a couple hours under the table my back couldn't handle much else so I gave up for the day. The head and tail lights on the camaro are still bothering me...alot... They're just not bright enough or red enough for my liking. I decided to give the trim and glue thing a try on a 1.6 mm red LED to see if it would be feasible....


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0521.jpg



So far so good. If the assembly will hold up through the sanding, it should make it through the install. I have had some luck with the clear 2.0mm LEDs also, and I am able to shift the "light shaft" over to one side of the LED. This will allow an easier install in most cars. I have yet to try installing any of these modified LEDs, hence the Project X moniker. One other note.. White paint has the best reflective quality so far and the base coat on the White LEDS should be white. However, I have found that white paint doesn't stop the glowing. I am mixing paints at this time so I'm not sure if it's the color or type of paint. The white is spray bomb, the black is rustolium in a can. There is a major difference in consistancy, so results may vary with other types of paint.

P.S. Just for giggles, I grabbed my flashing light circuit and hooked it to a 9 volt, and it worked..I put a JL car up to that same 9 volt battery, with the flasher circuit, and they both worked.. :freak: If you all switch your tracks to be powered by 9 volt batteries, I think I got something here!!! :jest:


Nuther Joe

I was up kinda late last night, and ran across this web site..


http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/bl-213-f.html

What is interesting about these is 1. They are fully assembled with a compact full wave bridge rectifier. This means they are unaffected by D/C power switches and will work in either direction, in fact they will work on A/C. 2. They are available in 3.0 and 5.0 mm sizes, and they are available in flasher too. You also have a choice of 1.5 hz (1 1/2 flashes per second) and 2.5hz (2 1/2 flashes per second). These are also equipped with a resistor so they will work at 5 to 19 volts. They have a hefty price tag at $4.75 ea, 5 for $22.00 and 10 for $38.00. BUT, if they work on, say, a mini lindy ambulance, well, I guess it's worth it!! For the sake of science, I am contemplating buying one and disecting it, or buying 5 and using 2 for the meatwagon and two for my future wrecker project, which leaves one to pull apart to see the nuts and bolts of it. I would prefer to just know what it's made from so I'm not tied to their inline assembly. By the way, the bridge rectifier should clean up the power so it might work on my lil applications. It is designed to function on model trains and be a constant on in either direction.

In other news I have started my next nightmare... LED lighting a JL chevy nova. I did some serious grinding on some 2.0 mm reds for the tail lights so I'm hoping they work. I also have modified a pair of 2.0mm white LEDs for the head lights. So far my snipping/sanding/glueing modification is holding up. What I have yet to determine is if there will be an adaquate amount of light being emitted from the tip, as it's no longer positioned centered over the light source. I'm sure I will have to triple dip the LED in the old rustolium before installing in the grill or it's gonna glow for sure. Pictures to follow in the next post.

NutherJoe

I like Novas..I don't love them like a GTO, but I like them. This one came at a decent price for 2 reasons.. 1. The previous owner had no idea what oil and tuning are. And 2. It's a dark color. Dark cars are hard to see, particularly on a black track. Dim the lights and they are a trail of sparks and nothing more. I like dark cars, especially when you can keep track of them...


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0529.jpg


This is the Nova in all it's unlit glory. Nothing special, just another JL car..


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0533.jpg

These are the first attempt at custom LEDs waiting for installation. Notice the light shaft on the white one being offset. The biggest cause for my nervousness is the amount of material I shaved off the taillight LEDs. In time, if I can start molding with clear and clear tinted resins, I would rather add material to a smaller LED than take material off of a bigger one. This would make special tail lights, like a cougar set possible.


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0530.jpg


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0531.jpg

This should give you an idea how it'll look when together. The back bumper needs to be slid up a little tighter, but the LEDs need to be secured first. All in all, not a bad conversion.


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0532.jpg


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0534.jpg


A little JB, a little soldering, and a pair of resistors mounted to the chassis and it'll almost be done. The key to this assembly is going to be the wiring. There is plenty of overhang for the LEDs to be soldered in, but I need a precise amount of wire from the LEDs to the resistors. Not enough, and mantainance will be a bear; too much and I'll have excess wire getting caught in the gears, rubbing the wheels,etc. I am deviating from my original goal of the fiber optics/LED combo, and I'm pushing ahead using materials at hand. I personally like the extra brightness of direct LEDs, so for now, that's the direction I'm heading..


NutherJoe

NutherJoe,

I LOVE Novas alot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice one man...that is way kEWL. :woohoo:

Bob...sold my 70 Nova because, I needed the money...zilla

Awesome! Really cutting edge Joe.

I got a stoopid question? Can one bond the lens to the flat wide side as well?

Yes you can, but the light is emitted out the end. There will not be a huge amount of light coming from the sides. By the way Bill, the latest link has 1.8 mm warm white LEDs available!! I just found this out tonight!! Unfortunately, they are preassembled to a resistor, but given time, I will check it out and see if the resistor can be removed with enough "meat" left to solder to.

There may be an alternative..I have yet to try this, and when my LED order comes in I'll give it a shot. If you cut off the protruding lens, and then grind the top surface on a 45 degree angle and glue a piece of foil to that angle, it should reflect most of the light out the side. Then the side mounting would be somewhat effective. I am guessing you are in a bind with the projector lights?? Just thought of this, taking your application in consideration... Provided you have an extra doner lens, grind 1/2 of the LED on as close to a 45 degree angle as the internal organs will allow, and the other side opposite. Split it long ways and foil the ends, and it should relect the light out both sides. It takes a while to fully bond, but the F.O. cable I sent you will bond ok to the LED with poly-zap. With that final idea you can have a lens or protrusion on both sides of the LED. Before assembly I would smother it insomething to bond it all together.. like the cheep goop, or JB.

Ok, so I just broke off the lens off the first prototype I made. :cry: It was a quickie job, I didn't sand the led or the lens. It took a bit to snap it off, but it did. I'll blame it on sloppy workmanship. The bond is really only required until the LED is JB'd on the body anyway. Once it's mounted it really has nowhere to go. And the ones I sanded for the nova feel a bit stronger, cause I took the time to do it right... Just to let you know..:rolleyes:

Some things take forever to penetrate my thick noggin.. Of course, when it comes to even semi advanced electronics I can be a total dingbat!! But it's slowly seeping into my thick cranium. I'm running my slots on old (keyword old) train transformers. The process used by these dinosaurs to convert 120v to 12v and A/C to D/C isn't exactly the cleanest, most efficient method of converting power. Sometimes not enough sleep makes me smarter I guess..not so good to look at, but smarter. I got 4 hours worth last night so epiphanies are occurring right and left!! :freak:

Pictures of waveforms in my mind that I had seen weeks ago started making sense. I did a quick test with my volt meter on my old choo choo transformers and was suprised to find the voltage kicked in at 12v and pretty much stayed there. Then I tried my good train transformers and it was a smooth 1.0 up to 19.0 curve. Hmmmm.. :rolleyes: Very interesting!! Just for laughs I took my lil ambulance, hooked up some test leads to the pickups and clipped them on the train rails. Well what do you know...The flasher LED was working!! An adjustment with the resistor would be required as it took a bit of throttle response to get it lit, but it was 2X as bright and 5X as consistant of a flash!! :thumbsup:

What's the difference between transformers?? Solid state power conversion vs. 100+ year old technology. Picture, if you will in your mind a sine wave with a straight line running through the center splitting the waves. This is alternating current. The sine waves are the direction of power. The old method takes the power from one side of that line and makes it direct current. It's not a pure power source. Think of it as a light bulb flashing on and off 300 times a minute. The pulses are so fast, you perceive it as being constant.

Sooo, what am I getting at here?? Call it speculation, but I am reasoning that those newer LEDs I have found, the "assembled" ones hold the key to my meat wagon beacons flashing properly on any tranformer. They are equipped with a full wave bridge rectifier, which converts A/C to D/C, and does so efficiently and a filter capacitor which cleans up the power even further. It's called full wave because it converts both sides of the waveform to D/C. There is a very good possibility these will work on my meat wagon, and with the rectifier,will be able to handle the accidental voltage reversal from a spin out or placing the car on the track facing the wrong way without negative results like, say, a capacitor blowing up!! I'm going to "bite the bullet" and try some. Test results will follow when they arrive!! :thumbsup: and my fingers are crossed!!

NutherJoe

Well, for what's it's worth, the little green nova is done. As a first time working with such a small car, I will call it an almost success.. It is cramped in there, especially up front, with 2 resistors and the somewhat bulky 2.0mm headlights. Soldering was a bear to begin with, and by the time I got to putting the final solder on the body was almost completely closed. There is an alternative available, and that is utilizing the passenger compartment, but I am trying to avoid that. My displeasure with the JL chassis also plays a part with not being happy with the final product. To further complicate things, the resistor I chose for the taillights is a bit too big, so the tail lights dim when I drop the power. One of these days I've got to update my list of resistors for LED tables, as I overestimate the voltage on almost every vehicle I light. Anyway, here's the remainder of the nova build(at least what I have pictures of....)


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0536.jpg


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0539.jpg


LEDs are JB Welded in place. Once the JB set up, I added another dose over the LEDs, and a little to set the bumper up tight to the tail panel. I also put a coat of JB on the headlights, as a start to sealing in the light, particularly on the front where the lens was repositioned. My goal was to keep the grill from glowing.. That was pretty much successful, but I could have used a bit more between the LED and the hood. It glows just a bit through the hood/fender seam.


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0540.jpg


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0541.jpg

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0542.jpg

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0543.jpg

She don't look too bad...Like I said before, as it sits the tail lights need almost a full throttle to be at their brightest. Here is a top view so you can see how much things get lit up...

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0547.jpg

Will I redo her?? Yes.. Will I do this again with a JL chassis? Uhhhhh..NO. The JL chassis is noisier than a NOS aurora, this one is a chatterbox, and need to runs too fast for my liking. One thing I should have done is shorten up the lenses on the headlights. They stick out a little too far out of the grill, and they sit back just far enough where they can interfere with the pick up shoes. I had to shorten up the travel on the front of the pick ups to accomodate this. I'm calling this lesson closed, unless I come up with some earth shattering improvement..


NutherJoe

Here's a few fun facts about LEDS you may not have known..I was a bit suprised myself when I read these... Different colors are produced by different materials inside the diode. Producing these colors with the differing materials requires different voltages, hence the mixed resistor values. Producing white light requires more voltage than individual colors, because "white" LEDs actually produce 3 colors of light, that when mixed look white. A special coating on the diode also alters the color "white" which give us the cool, warm and sunshine variations. Thought this was :cool:

NutherJoe

Will LEDs light with a Tesla coil, like flourecent lights will?

Rich

I guess that the light makes it a Super Nova! (Har, har, har...)
But really nice job there. I have been fascinated by lighted cars but haven't been motivated to do anything yet.
A question, has anyone tried a voltage regulator in the circuit to limit the voltage to the LEDs? (One of these...)
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/images/A10424B.jpg
Of course it looks small till you try to shove it into a little car.. lol

. *snip*
My displeasure with the JL chassis also plays a part with not being happy with the final product.

*chop*
*slash*

Will I redo her?? Yes.. Will I do this again with a JL chassis? Uhhhhh..NO. The JL chassis is noisier than a NOS aurora, this one is a chatterbox, and need to runs too fast for my liking.
*chop chop chop*

NutherJoe

whew! My arms are tired from all that cutting! lol
Nuther, if you have a dead TJet, transfer all the brass running gear over to the JL chassis... That goes a long way to taming the twitchy beast...
:woohoo:
Scott

My kids had (emphisis on HAD) one of those super balls that flashed when bounced. I found it in the driveway split open after it was run over.
So now I have a flashy thingy to experiment with.... Muh, ha, ha, ha, ha.......

Participation is awesome!!! :thumbsup: Ok, lets get some questions answered!!

NTxSlotCars.... Will LEDs light with a Tesla coil, like flourecent lights will?

Well, sort of.. I have noticed a couple of times the LEDs will dimly blink from the static electricity over the track. It's not enough to be useful, but it does happen!!

noddaz.... A question, has anyone tried a voltage regulator in the circuit to limit the voltage to the LEDs?
Yes, I have tried a couple of these, and was really hopeful, but found they just don't work out hooked up to the chassis. The motor doesn't get enough power to run hooked up to them. :cry: One other problem with them is they do get "warm".

Nuther, if you have a dead TJet, transfer all the brass running gear over to the JL chassis... That goes a long way to taming the twitchy beast...
I have one and only one Tjet chassis that I could strip.. one of the brush springs is gone. I hate to sacrifice a chassis for that, knowing I will eventually be able to repair it. I s'pose I could buy running gear off of fee bay..

My kids had (emphisis on HAD) one of those super balls that flashed when bounced.

I have one too I confiscated from the oldest kid... I'm waiting until he forgets about it completely before I start tearing it apart!! :tongue: If all else fails, I have found a source for flashing magnetic pins that work off batterys. I'm trying to avoid this because:
1. Who wants to keep buying batteries?
2. Weight issues.
3. Size restrictions.
4. On/off switch mounting locations...
5. The store selling them only sells in wholesale lots. 100 is too many to experiment with!!

I am trying to avoid having any electronics being visible from a "mounted on chassis" perspective. That is why my resistors aren't mounted in the passenger compartment, though mounting there would make things so much easier. I would have considered doing this if the nova had full glass,and I could black out the windows, but the side windows are open. I'll keep trying to come up with answers, and questions and comments are always appreciated!!! :thumbsup:

Hey, with that side window open in the Nova, it looks like he has the 8 track on.

Powered by....flubber??? LOLOL :tongue:

Nova looks great Joe! The only thing brighter than the high beams is yer enthusiasm.

As for the tail lamps; any brighter and yer brakelight switch would be stuck in the on position...LOL!

No doubt every body style will present it's own set of problems related to light leaks, wire and optics routing, as well as dealing with getting the holes just right to fit the LED's.

Looks like yer well on yer way to a fairly standard but adaptable setup. :thumbsup:

1. Who wants to keep buying batteries?
2. Weight issues.
3. Size restrictions.
4. On/off switch mounting locations...

I was going to use track power to run it...

5. The store selling them only sells in wholesale lots. 100 is too many to experiment with!!

I can't overcome this one... lol

Rocket scientist I'm not!! Not by any stretch of the imagination!! In fact the genius that I am got the resistors mixed up, causing the tail lights to be too dim, and the headlights to be too bright. :freak: This is what I get for trying to finish up a project with the kids out of school!! I had a resistor break while I was bending and tweaking to fit the two of them in the hollow between the rails, and when I redid them I reversed them. DUH!! In the process of trying to pull it apart to redo the resistors, I broke a headlight!!! :cry: I'm still waiting for my LED order to arrive so I'm at a standstill with the rebuild now. I am seriously considering putting the resistors up under the roof, to just say the heck with it. I don't know.. It would certainly make it easier to get "under the hood"..There are smaller 1/4 watt resistors, but the ones I've tried get warm quickly... not something I would want in a closed environment.

Which brings me to the voltage regulator..I had planned on using one for my fire truck, and it worked great off the track voltage, until you wire it to the chassis. Mind you this was when I first started playing with LEDs.. The chassis won't operate when you hook up the regulator. I'm not saying it is a total loss, and it won't work at all..just that if you power it as I was (sharing the power with the chassis) it won't work. If I recall, in my preliminary tests, The LEDs worked with the voltage regulator hooked to the track with a car running on the same power. I've always tapped power on the plates where the shoes attach. The chassis doesn't like sharing using this method. As far as the flashing ball, count the batteries, find the voltage of each and add them up. It'll be fun trying, but you're going to need to find out how much of a resistor you will need to bring the chassis power down to the volts of the batteries. Hopefully you'll have better luck than I have!! Buried in a few of my posts..some here, some elsewhere, I've mentioned what I've tried so far. So far I've had very limited success with anything that flashes hooked to a chassis!! :rolleyes:

hmmm.....you had to say that, didn't you...
Ok, so there is nothing new under the sun...

Yes there is, I just haven't scraped up the money to buy them yet.. I'm hoping this week!! Check out the link in post 69!! They look promising.. As yet untested for our application...


NutherJoe

In my travels in and around HT and the web I have noticed something that I mostly ignored. It had to do with Fray cars and the associated rules..particularly the one regarding armature ohms. Up until the nova, all of my lighted projects have been installed on an Aurora chassis. Maybe it's a fluke, but it seems the difference in resistance between the two types of armatures completely throws off my resistance calculations. I redid the Nova today. I swapped out the resistors for new ones, and dropped the tail lights to 330 ohms from 390. And they still do the same thing!! (dim down with a drop in power) It's a good thing resistors aren't that expensive. One thing needs to be said regarding LEDs. Too much resistance is ok, as far as the trial and error stuff goes. If you need to redo it, no biggie, not enough and the LED goes pop! Looks like I need to go resistor shopping again, or swap the JL chassis for an aurora.

My advice to anyone who dares venture into this realm...get a wide assortment of resistors, and always start on the safe, high side of resistance. The calculator link I supplied will not take into account the resistance of the chassis, unless you subtract it from the inbound voltage. Apparently, this will vary with the chassis brand and the installed armature. Therefore, there are no magic numbers for these applications. The requirements vary by a number of circumstances: The chassis, the brand and color of the LEDs, the number of LEDs, and the transformer or power source you're using. As per usual, my supply of Aurora chassis is almost exhausted, there's one left to play with. I guess it's going in the nova.... At least I figured out a wire routing that works.

One does need to keep in mind that this is new ground that's getting broken, from what I've seen other than the "lamethrower" type of concept this really hasn't been done before, at least in HO scale, and there are way too many variables to make this a quick, easy modification. This is the main reason I am hesitant to start throwing resistor values on here, because as I progress in my experiments I am finding out what works here may not work for you. Back to the drawing board...again!!!

NutherJoe

My new improved flasher order is in!! 2 for a meat wagon, 2 for a wrecker and 1 to disect... I'm looking foward to pulling one apart to see what makes it tick!! And even more good news!! According to my regular source of LEDs, a 1.8 mm warm white has been ordered and will be available in about a month!! This will free up a lot of room under the hood for fiber optic trickery!!! There's enough room to double them up, or just plain hard mount them as I do!! They will make the "square headlight" cars do-able, and even the round HL cars easier as they are half the size of the 2.0mm!! :thumbsup: To give you an example of the size difference I'm referring to:

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/100_0371.jpg

The taillights for the surfer van were 1.8mm..These have been shaved of their "bump", the headlights are 2.0mm. This will open up more possibilities, and being of the warm variety will make lighting look more natural. :woohoo:

If all else fails, Sir Hilltop sent me a nice flasher chassis to tinker with and if it comes down to it my next ambulance will be AFX powered.. Thank goodness for that quick Hilltop tutorial on making AFX body mounts!! Now if I could only resin cast the van....Hmmmm.....


UtherJoe

This Thread is great. Good Job on the cars. Looks like I will be trying this soon.

Dave

Thank for the compliment!! The most important things I need to stress are the most obvious, but I still feel compelled to say them!! 1. Get an assortment of LEDs to play with in red and white. 5 mm ones are a bit too big. Most HO scale cars head lights are in the 1.5-2.0 mm range. Tail lights call for assorted sizes depending on model. Start with junk bodys to get a feel for what you're doing. Don't mess around with vintage stuff!! If you want a vintage car, someone can or has already resin cast it. My best friends on my bench are my dremel, the flex extension, the drill index, the large cutter blade, and the fine and medium engravers. Also my cheapie mini file set. Scout around on fleabay for 28 gauge stranded wire. It's small enough to weedle around the chassis even in tight bodies, and is flexible(for the most part) enough to contour to tight curves. Plan on securing an assortment of 1/2 watt resistors..1K ohm and smaller. Also expect trial and error!! Alot of it to start!!! Make sure you have plenty of ventilation as the soldering fumes can me you ill!!! (lead for 1) Gives me one heck of a short temper, as the kids have found out..they keep their distance during and after a soldering session!! Don't get discouraged if it don't work out the first few times!!! I can't count the bodies I've tossed out due to failed attempts!! Don't be afraid to experiment, and always look for alternate options!! And the most important, "walk away"!!! It is frustrating at times!! Things you think will work, don't always turn out. Put it on the back burner and rethink the process. We'll get it done eventually!!

UtherJoe

Thank for the compliment!! The most important things I need to stress are the most obvious, but I still feel compelled to say them!! 1. Get an assortment of LEDs to play with in red and white. 5 mm ones are a bit too big. Most HO scale cars head lights are in the 1.5-2.0 mm range. Tail lights call for assorted sizes depending on model. Start with junk bodys to get a feel for what you're doing. Don't mess around with vintage stuff!! If you want a vintage car, someone can or has already resin cast it. My best friends on my bench are my dremel, the flex extension, the drill index, the large cutter blade, and the fine and medium engravers. Also my cheapie mini file set. Scout around on fleabay for 28 gauge stranded wire. It's small enough to weedle around the chassis even in tight bodies, and is flexible(for the most part) enough to contour to tight curves. Plan on securing an assortment of 1/2 watt resistors..1K ohm and smaller. Also expect trial and error!! Alot of it to start!!! Make sure you have plenty of ventilation as the soldering fumes can me you ill!!! (lead for 1) Gives me one heck of a short temper, as the kids have found out..they keep their distance during and after a soldering session!! Don't get discouraged if it don't work out the first few times!!! I can't count the bodies I've tossed out due to failed attempts!! Don't be afraid to experiment, and always look for alternate options!! And the most important, "walk away"!!! It is frustrating at times!! Things you think will work, don't always turn out. Put it on the back burner and rethink the process. We'll get it done eventually!!

UtherJoe

Or just send your bodies to joe for lights

OK!!! Talk about fast shipping!!! Both my latest LED orders are in!! I have yet to tinker with them, but they are on my desk!! In case you missed chat, it was suggested I do up a scooby van. And keeping with the scooby doo haunting scenario, this van quite possibly will be equipped with scary green headlights and even scarier purple tail lights. I won't know until I see what they look like installed. The cool part is they are clear lenses that glow those particular colors!! Also, sitting right here in front of me is my test universal flasher LEDs in red and yellow. My fingers are crossed they will work correctly!!
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fxhAvQXVNg
As much as my back and neck were bothering me, I spent much of yesterday and a good chunk of this morning cramped up under the table working on the automation process for the RR crossing. So far, so good. To give you an idea of how it's working, check it out!! Sorry, no strip club music today!!
Please keep in mind I am still missing the remote gate actuator cables so the gates aren't going to move for now, and the delay is set for the gates to go up.
LED experimentation will resume tonight and hopefully I'll have even more good news!!

UtherJoe

That is too cool Joe!!! Just like the real deal, lights coming on before the train gets there!!! I likes it!!! "Wher's the train, I can beat that train"!!! RM

Punch it Randy...put yer thumb in yer beer and hold on!

Very cool Ujoe! How about a pull back shot one of these days so we can see the whole enchilada? Please!

Given any thought to trying your constant lighting program in yer passenger cars?

It does look kinda silly shutting them lights off waiting for the train, don't it?? I am still trying to come up with a way to do it, but no solution is in sight yet. We are talking about a very small amount of room to play with, and at least two extra parts to accomodate. It's a shame I don't have a crew like Randy does!! They got them little hands, can get in them tight spots to solder and stuff. Heck, these cars are like 1:1 to them!!! :jest: Maybe I'll make a little progress when I tear one of these universal flashers apart and see what makes them tick. Because they are equipped with a rectifier, a capacitor may be a feasible addition to the works. We'll just have to wait and see if any of it works.. One step at a time, as they say!! :thumbsup:

UtherJoe

Ask and you shall receive!! Well, this is about the best I can do as far as the whole enchillada. The best I can give you is about half at a time. You'll have to do some mental surgery to to put it together. Here's some figures to toss around with the pictures. Back wall lengths are 10 feet. The 4 track section width is 5 feet, the 2 track section is 4 feet. The whole thing is on nice big rubber tired wheels and it rolls nicely out away from the wall. Because the window wall is 11 feet and the back corner is cut on an angle, it pivots out away from the wall allowing easy access to the back parts. Also, the 4 controllers (sadly 45 ohm, and the biggest cause for my JL/AW dilemma..I need 90 ohm) are located 2 on each side of each leg, allowing the drivers to also play marshall. Here's some pictures, and then more blah blah later..


http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/14b0370b.jpg

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/74aa43e0.jpg

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/c5bc53f3.jpg

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/c2e81845.jpg

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/c4653271.jpg

The last picture has a decent view of the solo operation controller station. The slide out on the left wing holds the choo choo's controllers. The black panel on the elevated holds all the gizmo's to make it all work. These consist of (4 of each) 100 ohm rheostats for speed control, push button momentary on for emergency takeoffs at the RR crossing, and SPDT switches for switching from controller to solo op's. Wiring-wise under the table is a spaghetti mess!!! So is behind the black panel!! Next time, I'm using regular sized switches, them mini micro's are a b*tch.:rolleyes:

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp251/slotcarman12078/f97ef3dc.jpg

By the way, the four train transformers to run the slots are on that shelf under the control panel. The slots run a lopsided figure 8 with a couple wiggles; the trains run double track thruout and it's basically a double folded oval. Nothing fancy here, just like to get it all running on it's own and chill out with a few cold ones, and watch them all go round in circles!!


UtherJoe

Dang it, forgot to apologize for the sloppy messy table. As you can see it's a work in progress and the work ain't getting done near fast enough for me even!! Here's the situation... I couldn't do the crossing gates until I figured out a way to get the scenery in around them, so I improvised. I used most of the wire I bought for the street lights on the crossing gate electronics so I need to replace it. I need a 6 volt 1 amp transformer for the street lights and the best I've found so far is $20.00 shipped and shipping is half of that, so I'm looking for somewhere else to buy it. I can't do any more plaster cloth until the lights are in so I can wire them. And (I was afraid of this) the TM just informed me that this tax return we're moving out of NY. This means any work I do to the table to make it look pretty will probably be torn up by next March!!!! :mad: Oh well.... Can't fight city hall!! Before I forget again, if the constant light capacitor idea isn't difficult enough already, I will need to find a way to isolate the power discharged at shutdown into the lights only, or the car would move on it's own!!! :lol:


UtherJoe