Question?

Christian,

Are you using A DCC control system? If so then a resistor and a LED could be wired to the frog and to both rails. This would need to be a 3 wire type LED. The common lead of the LED would be wired through the resistor to the frog and the other leads would be tied to each rail.. I believe a 1000 OHM 1/2 Watt resistor would work.with most Systems.The drawback to this system is that the LED will use track current.

If you are using a DC system then the LED would light only when the Locomotive voltage was high enough. You would want a better system for DC.

Regards,

John

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Another mode of accumulating power arises from lifting a weight and then allowing it to fall. Charles Babbage

What John said, and...

The bi-color LED could have slightly different forward voltage/current specs for the two colors.  The 1K Ohm resistor may be fine for both, but if you want them to be equally illuminated you may need to use two resistors and tweak each one to suit.

The center pin on the three lead bi-color LED is typically the common.

If you are using DC, I would get the second switch and use a separate power supply for signals, maybe a 9-12 volt wall wart, etc.  As John mentioned, using DCC you could just use the frog power for the signals with a current limiting resistor in place.  For myself, I would probably use the separate switch and power supply.

So sorry I forgot to mention this...

I am using DCC...  NCE PowerCab.  So, basically, I can just tap the current from the feeder wires connected to the micro switch in the switch machine to power the LED?  It's really that simple?

Thanks again,

Chris

Current Limiting Resistor

try Stapleton? ... or current limiting diode?

Current Limiting Device

Yes, the CLD will also work. I just got some in from Mouser this week.

Input voltage between 5 - 90V, current limited at 20mA, through hole mounting in a TO-92 package, $0.47 cents each.

CLD Cost

Kevin,

You may wish to check the cost for CLDs. The link shows $.47 vs your post of $.047. Thanks for the link and the information.

Regards

John

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with
it yourself. Benjamin Franklin

Typo!

Arrgg!  Typo corrected.  Thanks for pointing that out to me, and you are welcome.

Best regards,

Stapleton Solution

Yes, Ken Stapleton has a nice circuit available for controlling twin or single coil solenoid activated turnouts, that uses toggle switches with CD discharge and route indication built into each control.  In kit form (u-build-it) they are IMO,  quite affordably priced.

@johnnybgood18

Much of the discussion(s) here seem to imply the use of a tri-lead LED device - many bi-color LEDs are made with just two leads. Which bi-color are you using?

2 or 3 lead

Wiring Signals

A great thing about this site, I learn stuff all the time.  I thought bi-color LED's were mainly 3 lead if you wanted two distinct colors.  I have been enlightened!

Either way, follow the link above and scroll just over half-way down the page to see some wiring diagrams for 2 and 3 lead bi-color LED's.

Thanks all...

...for the great information and help you all have provided me with.  Life has been a little crazy the past 6 months but with the move completed, and my daughter born, now I can go back to working on my layout room and the layout itself!

Chris