Coach lighting - another one of my bright ideas.

[ebay mike]

One of those will probably be fine.. - You can always tweak the voltage up a bit .. - For maximum brightness, with minimum smoke!

Now, there will be many who will tell you, that:
1. 1k is too big. - depends on voltage.
2. They have never, ever used a resistor, and have got away with it for years.
3. You should use a little 'grobber' (small, package of electronics / chip / integrated circuit) to limit the current.

But.......... Seeing as you have the 1k resistors...

PhilP.

Great. Thanks Phil. I bought these in the Tandy shop (when I was modelling in N gauge) for my streetlights. That was before my son was born - he's 32 now!! I have a box with several hundred resistors, Lee's and diodes in so it's time to put some of them to use.

 

[ebay mike]

We has lights! A bit Heath Robinson in the cobbled together test rig, but it works and meets my expectations admirably. First photo shows results from constant 18v a/c output of 50110 5amp transformer. Second photo shows what you get from a 1amp 50060 with the knob turned just sufficiently to show a DC current of 3.2v. The buck dohickey thing has been set at 3.4 volts to produce a none too bright light from the soft white LEDs. Success for both analog and DCC it would appear. Just needs tarting up now. I may halve the light chain to get two festoons from each set. Means I can do more coaches.

 

[ntpntpntp]

I thought I recognised the old Radioshack resistor pack a few posts back. I bought a few of those when our local Tandy shop closed down way back in the early 90s, they were 1p each in the bargain bin. I still have a few packs

Keep an eye on the current draw through that single resistor, make sure it doesn't fry!