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Offline husafreak  
#1 Posted : 17 December 2019 21:23:25(UTC)
husafreak

United States   
Joined: 09/04/2019(UTC)
Posts: 558
Location: California, Bay Area
One of the most rewarding things I have done to improve the appearance of my older 5 pole loco's with the "rice grain" type bulbs has been to replace them with LED's from High Tech Modelbahnen.
https://www.z-hightech.de
But these LED's are not to be used with the newer loco's coming already equipped with LED lighting. And they have some circuitry (capacitors) that surely improves their operation.
The problem is that the Marklin factory LED lighting is all over the map in terms of quality. For instance, the lighting on my Bavarian 88923 is so dim that it can only be seen in a dark room at high speed (power). My new Crocodile is also very dim. But other loco's are reasonably well lit, my new Railcar set with internal lighting is wonderfully bright!
So I wonder if anyone has experimented with this?
Of course this is not just a Marklin thing, a recently acquired American MTL SD40-2 is also LED equipped and woefully dim.
thanks 1 user liked this useful post by husafreak
Offline husafreak  
#2 Posted : 23 December 2019 01:21:27(UTC)
husafreak

United States   
Joined: 09/04/2019(UTC)
Posts: 558
Location: California, Bay Area
I have sent an email to Achim Grob at HTM and hopefully he will have some information for me/us.
Also note that the Crocodile I have that seems dim to me is 88227 E94-056, which I am not sure is considered a crocodile. My 88564 has nice bright lighting.
My new bell shaped armature loco's with LED's that are dimly lit are the one mentioned above plus the 88742 and 88923.
I guess it is due to either a dim LED (which would be odd) or the plastic light piping is very restrictive (more likely) or the LED is poorly placed in relation the the plastic light piping.
Offline Carim  
#3 Posted : 23 December 2019 09:49:01(UTC)
Carim

United Kingdom   
Joined: 15/09/2014(UTC)
Posts: 649
Location: London
There is also a very small UK company, CKLED, that make replacement LED lighting modules for some Märklin Z guage locos. You may want to check them out -

on Youtube:


and email: cl.led@virginmedia.com

Carim
thanks 1 user liked this useful post by Carim
Jay
Offline husafreak  
#4 Posted : 23 December 2019 17:51:57(UTC)
husafreak

United States   
Joined: 09/04/2019(UTC)
Posts: 558
Location: California, Bay Area
Thanks, I have seen that company and video, very reasonable prices too, but since I have purchased from HTM a couple of times I asked him first. And this is again an outfit which replaces the old bulb style lights. We know those are all dim and benefit from replacing. But I am interested in replacing the new style LED’s. Because that does not guarantee bright lighting. But I should ask this company as well.
Offline Bill Dickson  
#5 Posted : 27 April 2020 19:56:30(UTC)
Bill Dickson

United Kingdom   
Joined: 28/12/2015(UTC)
Posts: 26
The issue with dim lighting isn't to my mind a problem on older outline locomotives such as steam and early diesels and electrics because the lights on those would have been fairly dim in real life.
Offline husafreak  
#6 Posted : 27 April 2020 20:18:08(UTC)
husafreak

United States   
Joined: 09/04/2019(UTC)
Posts: 558
Location: California, Bay Area
Good point! I suppose my interest in increasing the lighting intensity was was not prototypical at all. But when I did put a bright white LED on an old steam engine as cool as it was to see it didn't seem quite right. I have tried to use yellow LED's and even a type of orange"ish" Tamiya tint to tone it down. But in the end I really enjoy running my trains in the evening in low light and the brighter lighting is more fun for me.
Offline Zme  
#7 Posted : 28 April 2020 01:36:12(UTC)
Zme

United States   
Joined: 02/10/2013(UTC)
Posts: 760
Location: West Texas
Hi

The dimmer, less white lighting on a steam type engine would definitely be more accurate.

I recently installed an LED on my 8899 Br 38, and went from essentially no light, to a somewhat clear LED brightness I didn’t expect. These lights are sold with various descriptions as to the light color and brightness, but it is hard to really know until installed. I agree, they are often more than expected. This unit also goes red when the loco is reversed which I understand is not prototypical.

I had not thought about tinting the LED to reduce it some, but I will give it a try. Is this safe for the LED or will this hasten a failure, I don’t know.

I definitely like reliable lighting, but understand some tinkering may be required.

Best wishes
Offline husafreak  
#8 Posted : 28 April 2020 18:15:58(UTC)
husafreak

United States   
Joined: 09/04/2019(UTC)
Posts: 558
Location: California, Bay Area
It is safe, HTM sells a tint paint and gives instructions on how to use it, basically add coats until you are happy. But I got Tamiya clear orange X-26 at a LHS which I read somewhere was also used for this.
Offline ajayrav  
#9 Posted : 28 April 2020 18:56:00(UTC)
ajayrav

United States   
Joined: 07/06/2019(UTC)
Posts: 45
Location: California, San Francisco
The MTL SD40-2 have dim headlights because there are no light guides from the LED to the headlight opening. MTL just omitted them. The workaround is to use fiberoptics as a light guide.

Ajay

Offline husafreak  
#10 Posted : 28 April 2020 19:12:37(UTC)
husafreak

United States   
Joined: 09/04/2019(UTC)
Posts: 558
Location: California, Bay Area
I’ll take a look at that
Offline Zme  
#11 Posted : 07 May 2020 00:15:40(UTC)
Zme

United States   
Joined: 02/10/2013(UTC)
Posts: 760
Location: West Texas
Hi

Has anyone tried the product to “tint” lights?

https://www.hobbylobby.c...ass-Window-Color/p/21950

It is a product used by crafters. It is like a jell which could be applied to the light bar or LED, but the neat thing about this is that when it dries, it becomes a rigid plastic shell. It is like putting a colored plastic cap on the light bar or LED. It comes in a variety of colors and would cost less than $5. With our z scale, many colored caps could be applied to our locos, and you would still have plenty. If applied to something, and you didn’t like the outcome, or it does not fit, you can just peel it back off. It can be layered as desired if space allows.

The above is a Hobby Lobby link but I also noticed it at sites like Micheal’s and Amazon. The yellow could be used to take out the white color of a LED. Brown might work well too it just depends how bright your light is. Perhaps clear could be used to make customs window panes for the engineer cab etc.

Best wishes
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