[Alex_dn]

Hello friends,

Recently I finished development of interior lighting boards for Märklin Z 88100 “Senator” train. It is an “exclusive” train, and it’s quite strange that Märklin refused to equip it with interior lighting like their ICE, ICE 3 and BR 601 trains, so I decided to fill this gap on my own

These lighting boards successfully passed all initial tests and they work very well and Senator with interior lighting got completely different, much better look. Set of 5 boards is required for one Märklin 88100 set. These lighting boards are equipped with warm white LEDs, and also have reliable flicker-free and soft-off features.

They are also digitally compatible. They don’t have own decoders, but for example, if you want to make Märklin 88100 train set digital (decoder with auxiliary output channel needed) or if someone will make a dedicated drop-in digital decoder for this train set in future, these boards can be easily attached to it.

I used white PCB color (instead of “traditional” green) for better light distribution. These boards have factory quality; I’ve ordered PCBs from one of local electronic manufacturers. Some soldering work is required for installation.

Here are some technical specifications:
● Voltage working range - 0-15 V AC or DC (at approx. 4-5 V LEDs start to ignite)
● Power consumption - 8 mA at 10 V AC or DC per one board; total consumption for set of 5 boards - 40 mA at 10 V AC or DC
● Flicker-free function
● Soft-off function

All attached photos are clickable for viewing in full size. Note: I also replaced stock yellow headlight LEDs with warm white ones in train on these photos (0805 SMD LEDs used, they are not part of lighting boards set). Any comments are appreciated

[tuxus]

Hi Alex,

great project - professional concept and realisation !

I love trains with light riding through the night ... therefore i bought these japanese traincars and coaches which can be upgraded very easily and cheap with light.

I like your concept that the whole strand can be switched on or off with a decoder in the loco.

It seems to me that you've produced a whole bunch of light decoders. Do you intend to offer these to Z-enthusiasts who are operating these Senator trains ?

Best

Mike

[Alex_dn]

Hello Mike,

thank you very much! Yes, I like Japanese trains too. I have 8-car Rokuhan JR500 high speed train set, it looks really wonderful with interior light!

Regarding light boards for Senator - yes, you're right, currently I made PCBs for 16 train sets. If there will be a demand among Z scale users, I can produce these boards in small quantities.

Regards,
Alex

[torsten83]

Zitat von Alex_dn

---

Regarding light boards for Senator - yes, you're right, currently I made PCBs for 16 train sets. If there will be a demand among Z scale users, I can produce these boards is small quantities.

Regards,
Alex

---

This would be great I am interested in!

Regards,
Torsten

[Alex_dn]

Dear friends,

Whoever is interested in my lighting boards for Marklin 88100 set please write me a private message and we'll discuss further details.

Regards,
Alex

[Michael Peters]

Hallo Alex,

in my opinion, the light is too bright. What resitor values do you use?

Regards,
Michael Peters

[Alex_dn]

Hello Michael,

I have to say that it's just seems to be so, it's just an illusion due to the specific algorithm of camera auto-exposure. Nearly each camera try to increase exposure gain in low light conditions in order to make dark areas visible. Therefore bright areas look even more brighter in such high contrast conditions. My lighting boards for Senator train look very close to interior lighting of new Marklin 81551 train set "Lufthansa". I even used this train set as a sample when calibrated brightness of my LEDs.

Regards,
Alex

[Michael Peters]

<<Therefore bright areas look even more brighter in such high contrast conditions. >>

I don't think so.


Regards,

Michael Peters

[Alex_dn]

Michael,

Please be sure that it's all OK with brightness of my lighting boards. They have the same brightness as lighting in passenger cars from Marklin 81551 train set. Their max. brightness is also identical to the brightness of interior lighting boards for passenger cars from Marklin 8871, 88711, 88712, 88713, 88714, 88734 and 88735 manufactured by Velmo.

3 kOhm resistors are used for each warm white 0805 type SMD LED. There's also 0.5 volts drop on rectifier. Each LED consumes 2 mA at full allowed Z scale voltage of 10 volts.

Considering that scaled speed of Z scale trains at maximum voltage of 10 volts in most cases is not prototypically correct (it's too fast), therefore maximum voltage is not widely used by Z scale users, optimal brightness is achieved at slightly lower voltage - approx. 8 volts. However difference in brightness at 8 and 10 volts actually is not so visible.

At first I had an idea to use a chip-based voltage stabilizer to achieve constant LED brightness at any input voltage, but that was not good idea because voltage drop of 2 volts on stabilizer is too high in this specific case. As I wrote above, starting voltage for my LEDs is about 4-5 volts - this is a value at which Senator train starts to move. Starting voltage of 7 volts for LEDs is not suitable because at this voltage Senator train is already moves at scaled speed of 70-80 kph.

Lighting conditions in your sample picture are totally different. It's a dusk in your photo, while there's almost a deep night in my pictures. Angle of view and viewing distance are also different.

[torsten83]

Hallo,

die Innenbeleuchtung von Alex kann ich wirklich bestens empfehlen. Leicht zu verbauen und mit schöner Lichtfarbe. Der Flackerschutz ist richtig super!

Und damit es auch was zu beleuchten gibt, habe ich eine Inneneinrichtung gezeichnet:


Versanddatum bei shapeways ist für den 30. Mai angekündigt.

Gruß,
Torsten

[torsten83]

Hallo,

gestern gekommen und heute eingebaut: die Inneneinrichtung zum SENATOR

Grundiert und braune Farbe für das Kirschbaumfurnier:


Komplett angemalt. Laut dem Buch aus dem EK Verlag über die beiden VT10.5 waren die Polster der Wagen 1 & 2 grün und die der Wagen 4 & 5 rot. Wagen 3 ist der Küchenwagen. Aus der im Buch enthaltenen Sitzplatz-Skizze lässt sich auch die Drehung ableiten:


Die Inneneinrichtung im Wagen, da ist alles sehr luftig:


Nur beim Küchenwagen muss darauf geachtet werden, dass die Platine der Innenbeleuchtung passend eingebaut wird:


Impressionen in der Nacht...
...Wagen 4:

Wagen 3 auf der Küchenseite...

...und auf der Gangseite:

Zum Abschluss: Wagen 2


Wer seinen SENATOR auch nachrüsten möchte, findet hier das Modell zum reinen Materialpreis: https://www.shapeways.com/product/PN7URJJ6V/cmz88100-senator

Gruß,
Torsten