Hornby Maglight system - first impressions

[Brew Man]

Just received one of these today. I thought I would just buy one set to try as although I don't have any Hornby 4 or 6 wheel coaches, I do have some Hattons Genesis ones.

First impression = quite impressed. The strip light fitted easily to the under side of the roof with the reed switch along side. At the moment the battery is just pushed in between two seats but later I will remove the body and attempt to fit it under, though leaving where it is would make changing the battery considerably easier.

Switch activation with the supplied magnet appears to work flawlessly and it all looks very effective. It's good that it all works from a 3V PC button cell too which tend to last quite long, at least they do in PCs.

Also of note is that these units sell for £15.99, (cheaper elsewhere), whereas the Hattons offerings are £25 per coach plus the cost of a decoder. All in all highly recommended.

EDIT: I said the cost of the Hattons lights were £25 per coach. That is wrong, it's £25 per four coaches. But there would still be 4 decoders required.

[DarkRedCape]

Maybe you got newer versions than I did, or maybe I’m just a dunce, but I found the magnetic activation to be rather temperamental. I’ve got some that had to be installed, and a few GWR 4/6 wheel coaches where it came pre-installed and I found them to be all equally as finicky.

That aside, I agree that the system itself is very nifty. It creates a nice light that’s not overpowered and it can be hidden away completely out of sight. There is a small compartment under one of the seats to take the battery, which I suppose is the only major drawback, as replacing the battery can be a bit of a faff.

I did think about mounting a magnet in a bridge opening or a gantry, so that when the train passed under and was in a tunnel, it turned the lights on and off to extend battery life. I’ve no idea how effective this would actually be though.

[Brew Man]

No, I found the whole thing really easy to fit and found it worked entirely reliably. Maybe you did have an old version. Unless I am mistaken, I think the one I got is a recently released product.

[Topcat1707821625]

@BM

The reason that a CR2032 coin cell lasts a long time in a PC is that it is powering a memory chip storing various settings, that consumes only a few microamps. Coach lighting will be consuming several milliamps, probably 100 times more than the battery in a PC, so there is no comparison.

A good-quality CR2032 will have a capacity of around 220 mAh so the lifetime of the battery will be measured in tens of hours.

I've just taken delivery of a COB (chip-on-board) LED strip that I am going to use in my home-built coach lighting. This has 320 LEDs per metre so the 200 mm strip in each of my coaches will contain 64 LEDs that will give much more even illumination than the 6 LEDs in the Hornby system. I am hoping that this will avoid the problem of light bleeding through the coach sides.

[Brew Man]

@TC

Yes I realise that, I did used to build PCs for a living. But that taken into account a CR2032 should still last a decent length of time powering a few LEDs.

[DarkRedCape]

I got mine a while ago, they were one of the first things I bought. They are the R7338s for the smaller coaches.

[Topcat1707821625]

@BM

Have you measured the current drawn by the Hornby lights? It would be interesting to get an idea of how long the battery would actually last.

I've attached two photos of my first experiment with COB LED strips. These are designed to operate at 5 V so I'm operating them from a 6 V battery with a series resistor to set the current. They are running at 1 mA so that's only 6 mW power consumption. Two CR2032s should last up to 220 hours.

You can see how even the illumination is but even at this low current there is considerable light bleed. These COB LEDs do have a radiation angle of almost 180 degrees v. about 120 degrees for packaged white LEDs. These photos were taken in almost total darkness so this is what you would see when running a train at night.

These are warm white LEDs with a colour temperature of 3000 K to 3500 K. I think that they look fairly similar to incandescent filament lamps, which are about 3000 K (plus or minus).

Do you happen to know if any photos have been taken of the Hornby lighting actually fitted in a coach?

[Bulleidboy]

I have not yet fitted the R7305 Maglight set for Mk3 coaches (ten LED's). Those that were factory fitted in the 4-wheel coaches work well. As DRC is considering, I have fitted a magnet inside a tunnel portal, and it works every time, although I have found that if the train is travelling very slowly, the lights turn on and then off. I have also finished today, adding a small drop of Tamiya Clear Yellow to each LED. The light was too bright for me, and I felt that coaches of this era would not have bright white lighting. They now have a softer light with a slight yellow tinge. I do not use the Hornby magnet, but had a strip of wood which now has a magnet attached at one end - a Magnetic Wand - I can just wave this over the coaches and the cottage on the hill to operate the lights.

It is a pity the reed switch is not available as a separate item - it could have numerous uses. They are available on ebay, but not as compact as the Hornby version.

[Brew Man]

Yes that's where things get a little trickier when you need to operate items that are beyond your normal reach. At the moment I am only considering the Maglights for coaches, so can run them up close to the control centre to operate them. For other lighted objects such as buildings I intend to use simple LED strips operated from 12V DC supplies via switches.

[Bulleidboy]

This picture shows the 4-wheel coaches with the lights not quite as bright as they were.

[Topcat1707821625]

@Bulleidboy

I like your photo of the 4-wheel coaches. Obviously not taken in total darkness. Would be interested to know if you get any light bleeding through the coach sides.

[Bulleidboy]

@Topcat

The room light has a dimmer switch, so light was reduced a little. I have not noticed any light bleed at all. I have had the coach lights on without the room light. I will check again with the room in total darkness.

I checked and there is no light bleed.

[Topcat1707821625]

@Bulleidboy

Thanks for your reply.

That's weird. I'm sure someone mentioned that they got light bleed, but maybe it wasn't with the Hornby Maglights. I find that I get light bleed through the sides of my Gresley teak coaches whether using LED strips with individual LEDs or with COB LED strips.

I will have to think of a solution.

[Brew Man]

I only have one coach, (6 wheel) fitted at present. I don't think there is any light bleed but, like BB I've not looked at it in complete darkness. Will check it out later when the sun goes down and take a snap.

I haven't measured the current drawn but the Hornby spec reckons life span to be more than 200 hours. Sounds a bit optimistic to me. I can't measure the current at the moment as my meter is in the loft and I can't get up there due to recovering from a hip op, but soon I should be good to go.

[Topcat1707821625]

@BM

To get 200 hours operation from a CR2032 cell with a capacity of 220 mAh the LED strip would have to be operating at just over 1 mA.

As I am running my COB LED strips at 6V 1 mA and getting light bleed through, maybe my LEDs are too bright and Hornby's claim of 200 hours operation isn't too far out.

Perhaps I will try operating my COB LED strip at 500 uA.

PS: Oops - just realised I made a boob in calculating my series resistor and operating current was too high. I am now really running my COB LED strip at 1 mA and no light bleed through, even in total darkness

[Brew Man]

That all sounds good, TC

[Bulleidboy]

A couple of pictures in the dark of the MagLight fitted system - no light bleed.

[JJ73]

Hiya

@ Brew Man & DRC :- Be careful of these 'Mag-Light Carriages@ b/c they have a thing for turning them selfs on -

but then I found the answer

@ BM & TC :- 2 things 1) if you want to see about 'Light bleed' then check out my Video :-

2) Your both talking about the Cell Battery which comes with it & I've had 2 of these 'Mag-light Carriages Since Feb 2021 & both batteries are still going strong!!! 🚂

[Topcat1707821625]

@JJ

Thanks for your inputs. I'm continuing to work with my COB LED strips and I've discovered that they will work at 3 V, so I only need one CR2032 cell.

I've been looking at various systems for controlling the lights and I think I have come up with a system to cover all eventualities.

The lights will only come on if: the coach is moving (vibration sensor) AND it is dark (sensed by photodiode in coach roof) AND there is power to the coach wheels (DC voltage as low as 1 V or DCC).

The last criterion is optional and is to prevent the possibility of the vibration sensor turning the lights on of the coach is moved whilst in a box, for example.

The lights will turn off after approximately 15 minutes once any one of these conditions fails to be met.

[Topcat1707821625]

@JJ

I had a look at the videos and was very surprised to see that just placing a loco on the track near the coach would turn the lights on and off. Any magnetic field that this could generate would be minute.

If I was ever thinking of using latching reed switches in my system those videos have convinced me not to.

[Brew Man]

A couple of pictures taken yesterday as the sun went down. No light bleed at all

[Bulleidboy]

I have watched JJ's video (again) and it is strange. One thing to remember with the Maglight coaches is to have them all the same way round - reed switch either at the front (nearest the loco) or at the back. I found that when entering the tunnel some lights came on and some remained off, until I turned the carriages around (the ones where the lights did not come on).

Getting back to JJ's problem, I have just taken a Maglight (factory fitted) coach and moved it by hand close to and above numerous loco's and nothing happens. The magnetic field JJ's loco is creating must be immense by OO gauge standards - I cannot see that bouncing a loco six inches from the coach makes the lights operate. I really do not see that it is a problem with the Maglight system - which operates as it should. Possibly JJ's loco is an old loco with a huge magnet inside?

Another test using the Hornby supplied magnet, is that if the magnet is more than two inches above the coach roof the lights will not work. Also with the magnet moved along the side of the coach (virtually touching) the lights do not operate.

With the light-bleed situation, could it vary depending on the livery painted on the coach?

[Rallymatt]

The engine that is causing JJ’s issue is an old Airfix (GMR) loco, trying to recall those dim distant days, I’m sure there were issues of interference, causing things like the old TV remote controls to go haywire (not that we had anything so advanced!) I had a later Mainline branded Jinty, fabulous loco but it would make certain radios crackle when it was running.

[Bulleidboy]

I even tried banging a Maglight coach on a flat surface to see whether the lights would operate - they did not. You will notice from JJ's video there is a lot of track movement when tapping the loco on the track.

[What About The Bee]

JJ's issue got me to thinking.

We suspect a magnetic field is developed by the Airfix locomotive.

We could jump into a scientific analysis with magnetometers, measuring the field strength in gauss. Yet none of that is necessary.

Align the carriage and track on an east - west axis. Literally the directions on the earth. Place a compass next to the carriage. It will point north, of course. Play with the Airfix locomotive, just as JJ shows us on video. If the Airfix locomotive develops a magnetic field, the compass needle will move. The field strength of the earth is actually quite low, and should be easily overcome by a field strong enough to flip a reed switch

Bee