Headlamp installation

[E.R]

Hello i was wondering how to install a headlamp to my hornby tts franco crrosti boiler 9f

[Chrissaf]

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[96RAF]

The electrical side of it is covered by the TTS leaflet included with the decoder. The physical side of the installation will be down to you to source and fix a suitable led lamp and resistor; route the fine wires to the decoder socket and solder to the correct inner pins per the TTS leaflet.

[ColinB]

What I did with my locos was use the lamps supplied by YouChoos, they look realistic but are also reasonably easy to use. I bought some from another manufacturer and they were like working with grains of sand. Wire the positive side (anode) of the led via a suitable resistor (I use 1 kilo ohm) to pin 7 of the the DCC socket ( VRef) and the cathode of the led to pin 6 of the DCC socket, or pin 2 of the DCC socket (depending how your motor is wired). Be very careful soldering to the DCC socket, the gaps between pins are very small, it is very easy to short two pins together. Before you put the DCC decoder back in, do a continuity check between pins of the DCC connector to make sure you have not created and shorts. If you inadvertently short pins 7 and 8 together you will damage the decoder. If you have more than one led, it may be worth looking a resistor packs where you get a package, with 5 or so resistor wired together at one end, making the wiring easier and they are smaller than using lots of resistors. The leds from YouChoos can aready wired with the right colours so it makes it a bit easier.

[96RAF]

https://images.app.goo.gl/i9m7i1bmZVEER2qy9

[walkingthedog]

Steam locos do not have headlamps. They do have very dim lamps at the front that are placed at specific locations depending on the type of train being pulled. They are not for lighting the way ahead. 

[96RAF]

Steam locos do not have headlamps. They do have very dim lamps at the front that are placed at specific locations depending on the type of train being pulled. They are not for lighting the way ahead. 

 

 

Except Hogwarts Express which is fictional and FS when rigged for ops in US of A which doesn’t apply to UK locos.

[walkingthedog]

I didn't mention that because it was irrelevant  😆

[ColinB]

I think E.R just wanted to put a lamp at the front, he probably called it a headlamp because most of us understand what he means. By no stretch of the imagination would any of those lamps in real life have enough energy to act as a headlight, but it looks good on a model, even if sometimes in the case of DCC it lets the owner know the loco is receiving power.

[Rog RJ]

I think Big Bertha was the only British mainline loco fitted with an actual headlight.

[walkingthedog]

I realised that Colin but I'm not sure you could see the glow in daylight, that's even if they were lit. 

 

A little knowledge  can always be helpful  😆

[37lover]

There is no problem knowing when the led lights I install in my Class 159 are on; obviously depends how bright your leds are but even dim leds are quite bright.

[walkingthedog]

Diesel lights are always brighter than steam loco oil lamps. 

[ColinB]

Yes, some of the modern leds are stupidly bright. Normally I always used to use values of 1 k ohm as a resistor, but with some of the tower leds I am using about 10 k ohm and still they are bright.  

[96RAF]

I have a Class 40 with DIY leds and it lights up the train room. Coming up the gradient towards me it is dazzling. Next time I have the top off it gets another hefty resistor fitted.