Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The ROCK 3.0: Progress Report 10.23.13

Today I received my blue LEDs in the mail.  After dinner, I went upstairs to work on wiring up the LED.  Hmm...you know, I don't know how to wire up a LED.  It has two poles which is straight forward enough, but which one do I solder the resistor to?

Back downstairs to look up on YouTube.  Bingo!  The long lead is the positive.  I soldered the resistor to the positive pole on the LED, soldered some feeder wires to it, drilled the holes for the LEDs, and put in place.

The track before the project.

Marked the track sides and holes for the LEDs.

The 2mm blue LED.

The resistor.

A quick soldering job to connect the resistor.


I dug out the 12v power supply I purchased for the crossing gate controller.  I connect up some alligator clip wires and BAM!....


Wow!  That's really bright!  My friend Allen and I had joked about special eyewear required for crews.  I added another resistor, but still too bright.


I pondered the situation and then decided to connect an old Bachmann Power Supply.  I added a single pole, single throw (SPST) toggle switch.  Connected up all the alligator clip wires again and dialed down the throttle to 30.  Bingo!  We have (non-blinding) light!  

Ahhh...much better!

I need to fill in hole so only the tip of the LED sticks up above the benchwork.

From a normal viewing distance.







4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I have two industries that have dual tracks for loading box cars. I'm adding the blue lights to act as blue flags to provide protection for the cars when being loading. Local crews won't be able to move the cars until the lights are turned off.

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  2. Those are gonna look awesome Steven!
    Even if you didn't fill in the holes I think they'll good. The ballast should cover some of it up anyway.
    BTW, classic movie! LOL!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks!! I'm pretty excited about it. I think it will work out well. I do want to paint/fill in with plaster around the LED. It will eliminate the big glow ball of light and concentrate it down to just the tip of the LED.

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