CL Lighting

[VentureForth]

So, all my track is Tomix, I'm getting a Tomix power pack, but my trains are all Kato.  Any way to get CL lighting to work with Kato trains with a Tomix powerpack?

[kvp]

Most trains using led lights will work more or less out of the box. Many third party internal lights also support it. Since Kato's new pwm controller also has an implicit CL mode, most newer Kato trains and internal lights will work nicely.

 

Old grain of rice bulb lights (both headlights and internal ones) will need upgraded boards. These include all older Kato sets and pre CL Tomix sets. I have a few but all are over 25-30 years old.

 

If a non CL led light set has too much flicker, a small extra parallel filter cap behind the diode but before the series resistor + led pair could be added to make it fully CL compatible. Also works more or less with older light bulb lights.

[VentureForth]

So, now I am looking to replace the incandescent lights with LEDs.  Anyone know the difference between Kato 11-212 and 11-214 (Type 2 indirect)?  Also, I placed a film along the ceiling in the coaches, but the new kits don't seem to have those.  Should I peel them out?

[Gryphr]

11-212 and 11-214 are the same set except the former using a white LED and the latter a warm white one. ("Bulb Color" according to Kato).

The foil you are mentioning is an aluminium/metal one to distribute the light I suppose? The new sets have really good light guides that spread the light evenly throughout the cars so the foil won't be necessary anymore, though you can probably leave them in if the light guide still fits.

Edited January 4, 2019 by Gryphr

[VentureForth]

Cool. Thanks!