Original page created on 27/09/2023.
Electrical improvements
They’ll involve fitting LEDs to the end that hasn’t, and changing the lighting strip so that I can control the lamps at both ends and the interior lighting from the outside, using my good old latching reed switch method.
Note: the extra cost of the strip, which must be around €20, is unfortunate for me. Of course, many modellers prefer to have all the equipment out of the box without having to intervene. But the operation is generally not very satisfactory. Two recent examples: the current van, which has to be opened to control the lighting, and the REE unified railcar trailer, which doesn’t allow any control of the lights… Personally, I much prefer to fit the equipment myself; that way, I’ll have the operation that suits me, for much less money. Why not offer the strips as an extra? On the other hand, pre-equipping with power pickup is welcome (see Models World OCEM FL coaches for example). I wonder why what has been well-designed on some models is not carried over to subsequent models.
LED installation
First, let’s have a look at what the fitted end looks like. The LED is hidden behind a piece of black adhesive tape. The wires run between the body and the glazing. Unfortunately, it won’t be possible to do the same on the other side, as this is blocked by the side windows, which are glued in place.
Click on the photo for a closer view.
Here is the unwired side showing the location of the LED.
Click on the photo for a closer view.
Wiring the LED
This is a SMD 0603 LED. Soldering the wires (⌀ 0.1 varnished) put my nerves to the test, the main difficulty being to hold the LED, which has a hemispherical face.
Some photos taken with a digital microscope.
One of the wires is too long. It will be cut back later.
A little CA glue is applied to hold the wires in place at the LED output.
Checking operation.
The wires are carefully stranded. Here’s how to fit the LED.
Here it’s crooked, but I’ve managed to straighten it out just about correctly. The LED and wires are held in place with Kristal Klear. Here’s the result.
Click on the photo for a closer view.
A coat of No. 33 black Humbrol acrylic is applied.
Click on the photo for a closer view.
Note: before wiring the LED, I had coloured the negative wire with a black felt-tip pen and the positive with red: you can guess that from this photo.
I have to admit here that I only installed an LED in the big lamp at the bottom. I wondered about this for the top lamps, a question that was brutally resolved when I snapped the LEDs on the small lamps during tests to estimate the current needed!
New lighting strip
I wasn’t going to do a complete study for just one vehicle. I noticed that the strips I’d made for the Romilly De Massini coaches were the right length and quite easy to adapt. The lamp lighting was even planned for the B5D. I still had two or three left.
The main drawback was the misplaced anti-flashing capacitors: they would be connected by wires.
For the lighting, six LEDs are more than enough, out of the original twelve. For a current of 0.25 mA (half that for a coach), I need a series resistor of 180 kΩ. Remember that this strip works with a voltage quadrupler, so the LEDs are powered at 60 V.
For the lamps, a 220 or 270 kΩ resistor is sufficient.
I fitted three latching reed switches (I hesitated about the central one, as the lighting probably wouldn’t be very visible in daylight). But as the location was planned…
Here are photos of the original and new strips together. Given the extremely low currents involved, the hold time when my strip is switched off is at least thirty seconds, compared with two seconds for the original!
Connections
For your convenience, here is the original connection diagram.
As already mentioned, I only need to wire the big lamp.
Views before reassembling the roof
Hover over the image to see the details.
End view of the new lamp, in dimmed ambient light.
