Improving the Arnold S2

[mmagliaro]

That's an awesome good runner!  Nice work!  I love seeing these old relics that had "so much potential" turned into engines that run well by current standards.   Can you do anything about the headlight flicker though?  It seems to flicker in response to momentary increases in load on the motor.

[Jim Starbuck]

Can you do anything about the headlight flicker though?  It seems to flicker in response to momentary increases in load on the motor.

Thanks Max,
I was thinking about the lights too. Could a capacitor be placed in the light circuit?

Closeup photos and video are brutal. It doesn’t look as bad when just watching the engine. Also, I took the video at St Louis RPM last weekend and lighting in the hall where the layout was set up was very low.

Jim

[strummer]

Both beautiful engines; very well done! 

Mark in Oregon

[mmagliaro]

Thanks Max,
I was thinking about the lights too. Could a capacitor be placed in the light circuit?

Closeup photos and video are brutal. It doesn’t look as bad when just watching the engine. Also, I took the video at St Louis RPM last weekend and lighting in the hall where the layout was set up was very low.

Jim

Yes, I would think a capacitor wired across the LED would help.  Make sure to get the polarity right, of course, and I don't know how much room you have.   You could try a 10 uF to see if that's enough to get rid of the problem.  Hopefully, you won't need more than that, to keep the component size down.

[CRL]

Wow! Very nicely done.

[Jim Starbuck]

Yes, I would think a capacitor wired across the LED would help.  Make sure to get the polarity right, of course, and I don't know how much room you have.   You could try a 10 uF to see if that's enough to get rid of the problem.  Hopefully, you won't need more than that, to keep the component size down.

There’s plenty of room in the cab for even E case caps.
I’ll give it a try and report back.