Headlights

[Mark W]

So the past few years we've seen factory sound equipped engines start to take off, which I love.  But one thing I've noticed is an apparent trade-off when it comes to headlight brightness on these factory sound equipped engines, especially longer 6 axle units.

This weekend while doing some spring cleaning, I stumbled upon an old fiber optic tree light and decided to see how easily I could fix the headlight issue in one of my new Atlas SD60s. 


https://i.imgur.com/2fNKh3F.jpg

Looking under the hood, it's no surprise why the headlights were so dim!  Here it is with the fiber optic fix in place.  Yes, the LED's are that far from the actual light pipe! 
On top of that, there is a sort of mask inside the shell that hangs down in front of the LED's as well, with only a tiny slit open to let light through.  So essentially, maybe 95% of the light is blocked by the shell or the cab interior masks. 
I used Bondic to glue 6 fiber optics directly to the LEDs on the LokSound board; 3 on the headlight (top LED) and 3 on the Aux 1 light (underside LED). The actual light pipe extends slightly over top of the cab interior mask on the frame there, so I added a bit of foam, cut from the handrail wedges in the packaging, to keep the fiber optics pointed up into the OEM pipe. 


https://i.imgur.com/7qVtHuL.jpg


And here's the difference.  OEM on the left, fiber optics added on the right.   Night and day.   In total, this fix took about 3 minutes. 


https://i.imgur.com/XeOOZur.jpg

[MK]

Whoa!   

[RBrodzinsky]

Nice job!

[Frank Amato]

Awesome fix!

[ns737]

is the cab interior lit up or is that just the picture?

[Mike Madonna]

Impressive!!

[muktown128]

WOW - That's a huge difference!  I like it!  Thanks for sharing.

[Mark W]

is the cab interior lit up or is that just the picture?

Now that the light is 'outputting' closer to where it should be, there's more light-bleed I'll need to mask off.  I think painting the bottom faces of the OEM pipe silver would do the trick.


Here's a shot of the shell I should have included before.  I highlighted the OEM light pipe in blue, about an inch and a half away from the LEDs.  And in red, you can see features of the shell that block everything but the small channel in the center.  This is right where the separately molded cab fits onto the long hood shell, so I don't think those features were intended to block light, but rather hold the cab together.  Blocking the light was just an unfortunate, unavoidable, side effect. 


https://i.imgur.com/WrFh6IK.jpg

[ns737]

what i  did with a similar engine. I put a blob of white glue over the led and fiber optics and painted black. no more light bleed.

[peteski]

The extra fiber optics make a big difference.   How about if you were to install those fibers in the shell, then add a black styrene "ceiling" in the cab to prevent light leaks?

[C855B]

I should try this on the GP30 I have on the bench. That's a big difference!

[Lemosteam]

Shrink wrap tubing on each FO strand from the LED to the end of the strand?  might not need to even heat it up to risk bending the FO.  I havwe also used GB brush on electrical tape.

Ngineering has 3/64 shrink wrap tubing:  https://www.ngineering.com/accessories.htm

[nsbob]

   Shrink wrap tubing is the way to go as far as I'm concerned.  I have used it very successfully when I moved the headlights from the nose to the number boards on my Kato Norfolk Southern  Dash 9's using light pipes from other Kato models.  You don't have to heat it, just find the correct size, slip it on, and trim it accordingly.  You can get a package of various sizes at most any auto parts or hardware store.

[Mark W]

Great suggestions everyone. 

If I wanted to get really detailed, I think there's even an opportunity to design/3d print a replacement cab mask/clip that includes some interior detail.  Something similar to the Kato interior part. 

[ns737]

that would a great Idea. giving all the space in the cab now.