First LED signal project

[Ralph]

Thanks! My signals are pretty simple and probably not for everyone, but here's how it works: Each of the three LEDs has a resistor (included in the package) soldered to it with lead wires coming off each leg of the LED. Here is the work in progress.



I threaded the wires through thin black plastic coffee stir straws and fed them through a hole I drilled into the bases of the tower's upright supports. The wires were threaded through the benchwork and then back up to the tracks where they were then soldered for power. It took a little trial and error touching the wires to to the powered track to figure out which wires controlled which LED, and how they needed to be attached to the track to get the appropriate light indication, but once I got a green light on all three LEDs when track current would have a loco move toward the tunnel, I was in business.

The thing about these signals is they do not automatically change from green to red when a train passes through them...that's a concession I make since I don;t have some sort of logic board controlling them, but they do indicate red when power is routed the opposite way so I can have cool looking train meets with the proper signal indications as shown in the second photo above in which a train on the main is getting the high green indicating "proceed" into the tunnel while the "siding" and the turnout leading left toward the siding are "red" for "stop".



This is a pretty easy way to get operating signals (to a point) cheaply, for modelers like me who don't have much expertise in electronics!

Oh! More budget saving....I used grommets for the signal heads, cutting off half of the protruding part to make shades for the the lights.