How To Improve Light Distribution On Kato N Scale Passenger Car Lighting Kits
Vložit
- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- I recently bought a Kato N Scale LED Interior Lighting Kit (11-211) at a local hobby shop to see what my passenger cars would look like when illuminated. After installing it, I noticed that light distribution was very uneven, with one side of the car brightly lit, while the opposite side was much dimmer. This video shows you how to fix that with a very easy and inexpensive solution!
LOVE IT!. Thank you for helping so many of us. I can't wait to try. Good job.
Cool. I used some of the clear yellow heat tape (called Polyimide I think) for cars that have the warm light diffuser fitted to the led. It also seems to do a decent job. I have seen someone put a thin strip of tape to loop around the connection of the light unit and the holder it slots into. This lessens the chance of flickering by increasing the contact from the copper strips to the led pickup pins. If I get the time I will do a video for installing the light into an older car with a lower ceiling.
I did this to my 6 cars. Works great. Thanks for making this video.
Wow...I wish I would've known this before I did about 110 of them! The tape will also help keep the glass thing in place when you put the shell back on. I have some work to do.....
Fortunately it's relatively easy to remove the shells off the Kato passenger cars!
@@metroredline They are, but I had a lot of problems getting them back on and not having the side windows in the car fall off too. Also the articulated passenger cars, like SP Daylight ones, are like performing surgery! This is a great tip though, I'll work though them at my own pace. I think I have every Kato passenger set and every car has a light kit.
Beautiful tutorial! Thank you so much…
Great video. Thanks. My biggest problem is that these lights flicker like crazy (on DCC).
I was going to ask that very question. Thanks. Does anyone know if there is a DCC equivalent?
If you have flickering, it probably is caused by one of the upright brass contact strips moving sideways and losing contact with its corresponding thin wire contact from the LED board. Squeeze the brass contact strips toward each other and ensure that they are making contact with the two thin wire strips.
Simple and effective. Nice!
This is a great idea. I was just getting ready to install the light kit in my cars, but I’m going to use the tape first. Kudos to you. Cheers!
Cool instructive video, though the harsh white it too much for my German Era 3 passenger cars. I prefer the warmer slightly yellow glow.
WOW!!!! That was easy and simple!!
Cool vid . Interesting the flickering lights because the wheels aren't clean 🤔 I wonder if there is a way to make it flicker on purpose for a inner city diaroma..? Like graffiti covered carriages and one has a flickering light would be cool
Very nice, I'll have to do the same for mine, thanks!
Mine did not come out like that . They are very evenly lit and look great
Great tip, can’t wait to try it.
How would you wire a capacitor? Would it simply be a small electrolytic one placed in between positive lead of the LED?
why would you need that? The system Kato has is very reliable in keeping the lights on. even if they flicker occasionally, that's what real light do on trains.
I'd like to figure that out! Somehow I think one needs to break the traces on the light board and solder into them or something.
The light still peters out towards the far end. Hardly "even" distribution.
It's a lot better though. There may be another yet undiscovered way of evening out the light, but for now this is a great tip.