39 - O Scale Trains Magazine Online

Review: Miniature LED Lights; MSRP: $3 to $4.15 each
Richmond Controls, PO Box 1467, Richmond, TX 77406
281-342-4895 • www.richmondcontrols.com
Reviewed by Ted Byrne
Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are made in various sizes,
mostly small. One of the smallest is the #603 size that is
a rectangle 0.8 millimeter wide by 1.6 mm. long by 0.6
mm. thick (.03” x .06” x .02”). See Fig. 1.
The portion
Fig. 1
.01”
.03”
.04”
.06”
.01”
that lights is
about 3/4 of a
millimeter in
diameter. In
short, it is so
small that you
can hardly see
it. The O Scale
conductor in
the photo can
easily hold one in his hand (Photo 1).
Richmond Controls has adapted these for model railroaders
by attaching two 6 inch long thin (#36) wires. The
wires are painted for insulation and are twisted together.
Available colors are white, yellowish white, red, amber,
green and blue. Prices range from $3 to $4.15 each.
Richmond suggests that these LEDs can be used as
locomotive headlights or ditch lights. They must be thinking
of N Scale headlights because these are way too
small for O Scale. They note that a unit can be inserted
into a #56 hole (0.046”). But that is less than useful
because the light comes from the flat side, not the end
and is not focused
by a lens. So you
might say these
LEDs glow and
indeed glow more
brightly than a
photo can show.
The suggested
ditch light application,
as well as
marker lights or
end-of-train lights
seem like ideal
uses. I can also see
two units back-toback
as a caboose
marker light. This may be the first time in your life that
you put a light on your layout that was not oversized.
There are some usage cautions. Like all LEDs, these
operate on current-limited DC.
The longer lead is positive. You could feed track
power through a tiny rectifier and a series current-limiting
resistor of, say, 1000 ohms. Of course these other parts
could be hidden inside the loco or caboose. You cannot
mount the LED on a metal surface because the two
connections are exposed at the ends, but of course you
could cover the ends with epoxy.
Richmond Controls is willing to make other versions,
such as tri-color light assemblies, if there is sufficient
interest among manufacturers. But these units should
be quite useful, as is, to modelers who want that perfect
scale accuracy.
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makes a layout boring.
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July/Aug ’08 - O Scale Trains • 53