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Loose Ends

Light PCB for caboose / passenger cars - at Target

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AMC_Gremlin_GT
Big Boy

Status: offline

Posted - April 19 2016 : 11:59:07 PM

I don't know if any of you are looking for a "cheap" way to light your caboose, or even a small passenger car...but I walked into Target tonight to stock up on cat food, feeding two hungry stray males in addition to my domesticated female cats, and wandered through the Dollar Spot. some neat stuff there sometimes. Not even half-way down the first row, I spotted something - light wands. Hmm. They had different color outer shells - clear, blue, pink , purple, green, etc. For the LEDs themselves , there are 4 : two red, one blue, one green. Tried a clear shell wand, bright LEDs come on, then you can cycle through a sequence of flashing, strobing, sequential flashing, back-and-forth lighting, just keep hitting the power button. Has a little sealed circuit on the long skinny light board PCB to do that. And the nice thing about it is? Only $1 each! I bought 5. SPecs - about 7 inches long, has room for a 5th LED, powered by 3 mini-coin batteries. PCB is about 1/4 inch wide. Could cut it down to 3 LEDs, about 4 inches long, for a caboose. Or leave it long for a passenger car. Has mounting holes at either end for screws. PCB is a little flimsy, but won't sag on it's own. For a buck, not a bad deal to get a pre-made light board, LEDs, and a battery holder, too! The shell is glued/pressed together, I just gently cracked it apart with some pliers to get the PCB out. The "switch" is a rubber "hat" with a metal-embedded dot to make contact with the zig-zag traces to start the light show. Might could use part of the wand shell to hold the PCB and the switch hat in place, or make your own.
At any rate, thought I'd mention this thing here, since I'm on a light-it-up phase kick now. :D Would be easy to scrape and cut the PCB tracks to install resistors, diodes, etc for a track-powered light bar. Like I said, only a $1 gets you all this. I've been looking at online light kits for cabeese, and a simple 3-LED is $15, and a more complex 5 LED one is $25. Not exactly cheap money, although those ARE well engineered and thought out. I may buy one to "borrow" the circuitry secrets for these. :)
Anyway, a few pictures to enhance the post as well.

Jerry