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Do It Yourself Digital LED Strip Lighting in Marklin passenger Cars
 Joined: 01/05/2016(UTC) Posts: 623 Location: Athens
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Have a look at the new couplers from Marklin  Are not in the catalog yet, but you can find them easily Are for semi-permanent consists. Are very reliable The problem is that they are at the moment very expensive 12-15 Euros I try to do something like with normal couplers and SIL pins If I succed I will post the method Thanks
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 3 users liked this useful post by ktsolias
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 Joined: 02/04/2013(UTC) Posts: 683
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Originally Posted by: ktsolias  Have a look at the new couplers from Marklin
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The problem is that they are at the moment very expensive 12-15 Euros
Really quite expensive, 15€ per single coupler, not a pair!!! A bit cheaper, You get them from http://www.lokmuseum.de for 9,40€ each, but still quite expensive. |
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1 user liked this useful post by Moritz-BR365
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 Joined: 27/02/2008(UTC) Posts: 297 Location: Santiago
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Hi,
This is a perfect solution and a low cost one too. One question, can this solution be used with an analog AC transformer? is the capacitor safe and can hold the extra voltage when you change the direction?
Best regards
Eduardo
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 Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 18,772 Location: New Zealand
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Originally Posted by: 3rail4life .......... this should be a sticky, Made topic Sticky.
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1 user liked this useful post by Bigdaddynz
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Joined: 01/05/2016(UTC) Posts: 623 Location: Athens
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Originally Posted by: eduard71 Hi,
This is a perfect solution and a low cost one too. One question, can this solution be used with an analog AC transformer? is the capacitor safe and can hold the extra voltage when you change the direction?
Best regards
Eduardo Of course can be used with analog AC trafo. The capacitor must be at least 63V. Of course the rectifier voltage must be high enough, usally the rectifier bridges are 200V or more. Costas
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 Joined: 13/05/2002(UTC) Posts: 676
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Originally Posted by: ktsolias Have a look at the new couplers from Marklin Are not in the catalog yet, but you can find them easily Are for semi-permanent consists. Are very reliable The problem is that they are at the moment very expensive 12-15 Euros I try to do something like with normal couplers and SIL pins If I succed I will post the method Thanks Yes, those are great couplers. They are very flat, and they won't touch the rails or get stuck at turnouts. They are not new, though. AFAIK they were introduced as standard in a Märklin DB train set with a control car (I don't remember which one) about 15 years ago, and have been available as spare parts since. I bought some in 2005 for €3.20 each. Recently, prices were increased to €12 ea, as happened with most spare parts. |
*Bart |
2 users liked this useful post by Bart
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 Joined: 20/04/2017(UTC) Posts: 1 Location: Utah, Salt Lake City
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Another option is Roco part number 40345 they are 4 pole and run about $20.00 fit nicely in the Marklin pockets.
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Joined: 20/01/2015(UTC) Posts: 1,204 Location: Kerikeri
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I wonder why they didnt make them with one male and one female pins. That way they would only have to make one sort and you could connect cars either way. Seems dumb to me.
Dereck |
Northland. NZ REMEMBER 0228 for ä |
1 user liked this useful post by dominator
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Joined: 15/10/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,319 Location: Washington, Pacific Northwest
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Originally Posted by: dominator I wonder why they didnt make them with one male and one female pins. That way they would only have to make one sort and you could connect cars either way. Seems dumb to me.
Dereck Would not one of the plugs then have, say +ve on the male and -ve on the female, and the opposite wagon's plug would need +ve on the female and -ve on he male.. so that the cars still could not get flipped around in orientation? You'd get short circuits that way. |
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Joined: 20/01/2015(UTC) Posts: 1,204 Location: Kerikeri
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You might be right there. If they had bridge rectifiers in the carriages you could get around that though.
Dereck |
Northland. NZ REMEMBER 0228 for ä |
1 user liked this useful post by dominator
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Joined: 05/12/2004(UTC) Posts: 2,976 Location: CA, USA
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Hi all,
Some research led me to this post, which I find interesting for my project I'm working on. A question for experts familiar with this: a single coach per the diagram/ video in this thread makes total sense to me. But to extend it to a 4-6 car train, pretending 2 pole couplings or similar, does the circuit change, or do I just run the LED strips from car to car and thats it?
I'm assuming the draw of the additional LEDs will mean at least a different resistor, or a pot to adjust?). And do you cut the strips as well as reverse the +/- in every car, or just the "lead" car?
Thanks for any advice! This seems like a cheap solution, and additional cars would only cost the extra bit of LED roll and the 2 pole couplers/wires? |
SBB Era 2-5 |
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Joined: 15/10/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,319 Location: Washington, Pacific Northwest
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Originally Posted by: 5HorizonsRR Hi all,
Some research led me to this post, which I find interesting for my project I'm working on. A question for experts familiar with this: a single coach per the diagram/ video in this thread makes total sense to me. But to extend it to a 4-6 car train, pretending 2 pole couplings or similar, does the circuit change, or do I just run the LED strips from car to car and thats it?
I'm assuming the draw of the additional LEDs will mean at least a different resistor, or a pot to adjust?). And do you cut the strips as well as reverse the +/- in every car, or just the "lead" car?
Thanks for any advice! This seems like a cheap solution, and additional cars would only cost the extra bit of LED roll and the 2 pole couplers/wires? The experts will chime in but here is my quick take. The ground comes from wheel pickups in each car so you only need couplers to conduct the track voltage from the center pickup - 1 conductor or are Märklin conducting couplers. In each car you do it the same way - a rectifier and capacitor and resistor to feed a local strip of leds. That way you can rearrange the cars at will. |
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1 user liked this useful post by Minok
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 Joined: 30/08/2002(UTC) Posts: 1,288
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Originally Posted by: 5HorizonsRR A question for experts familiar with this: a single coach per the diagram/ video in this thread makes total sense to me. But to extend it to a 4-6 car train, pretending 2 pole couplings or similar, does the circuit change, or do I just run the LED strips from car to car and thats it?
I'm assuming the draw of the additional LEDs will mean at least a different resistor, or a pot to adjust?). And do you cut the strips as well as reverse the +/- in every car, or just the "lead" car?
Thanks for any advice! This seems like a cheap solution, and additional cars would only cost the extra bit of LED roll and the 2 pole couplers/wires? This is how I do it: One ground connector per car One rectifier per car One resistor per car One capacitor per car One pickup shoe per train One function decoder per train One relay per train Current conducting couplers It’s explained in the link above.  |
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Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 18,772 Location: New Zealand
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Here's how Martin from Marklin of Sweden fits lights in coaches
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6 users liked this useful post by Bigdaddynz
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Joined: 05/12/2004(UTC) Posts: 2,976 Location: CA, USA
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Originally Posted by: Bigdaddynz Here's how Martin from Marklin of Sweden fits lights in coaches This is nicely straightforward. What I'm not understanding is any amendments needed for multiple cars on 1 "lead" car with ground spring/pickup shoe/rectifier/cap. I'm assuming that would be different resistors? There is also the potential for a capacitor inrush issue if using multiple sets, but that I know how to solve. Any ideas? |
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Joined: 19/08/2008(UTC) Posts: 1,054
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I have at least 40 passenger cars on the layout, most lit with this method, and have not seen any issues regarding in-rush of current. There are resistors in each car (along with a rectifier and a capacitor. The layout is divided up among three boosters so maybe that helps with in-rush.
Regards,
Roger |
Modeling Immensee, mile/km 0 on the Gottard. SBB Era V.
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1 user liked this useful post by rbw993
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Joined: 05/12/2004(UTC) Posts: 2,976 Location: CA, USA
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Originally Posted by: rbw993 I have at least 40 passenger cars on the layout, most lit with this method, and have not seen any issues regarding in-rush of current. There are resistors in each car (along with a rectifier and a capacitor. The layout is divided up among three boosters so maybe that helps with in-rush.
Regards,
Roger Hi Roger, just curious are you using a ground spring in each car, or one master and running two pole wiring from car to car? If the latter, how are you handling the connections/couplings between cars? |
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Joined: 19/08/2008(UTC) Posts: 1,054
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Hi John,
I use a ground spring in each car. Couplings are one pole either the "permanent" or couplable(?) 72020. I generally couple two cars together with the permanent one but have the 72020 on the two ends. Some pairs have a slider others don't. I have found that a 3 car set coupled "permanently" are difficult to handle when rerailing. Most my passenger trins are 6 cars or more so there can sometimes be more than one slider but I do prefer one because of the drag. I also apply powdered graphite to the axles where the ground sping makes contact to reduce drag.
Regards,
Roger |
Modeling Immensee, mile/km 0 on the Gottard. SBB Era V.
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Joined: 05/12/2004(UTC) Posts: 2,976 Location: CA, USA
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Originally Posted by: rbw993 Hi John,
I use a ground spring in each car. Couplings are one pole either the "permanent" or couplable(?) 72020. I generally couple two cars together with the permanent one but have the 72020 on the two ends. Some pairs have a slider others don't. I have found that a 3 car set coupled "permanently" are difficult to handle when rerailing. Most my passenger trins are 6 cars or more so there can sometimes be more than one slider but I do prefer one because of the drag. I also apply powdered graphite to the axles where the ground sping makes contact to reduce drag.
Regards,
Roger Thanks! Excellent idea on the graphite... |
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Joined: 04/02/2021(UTC) Posts: 484 Location: USA
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Some pics of LED strips with small capacitor and conducting couplers for plastic cars (connect front&back couplers with its own wire, instead of rectified LED strip power). Metal cars cannot be connected through the coupler (which is ground), so I use a thin single wire with electronics board connectors between cars (LED grounded in each car). Obviously, disconnecting metal carriages requires manually unplugging wire.   |
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2 users liked this useful post by BenP
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