By David Bodnar LSOL.com Electronics Editor

Author  Bio Even the elves get some time off at Christmas, so... We have put together this round-up of the basics to LEDs. You might have not yet discovered all the gems stored in the LSOL.com Library.

Even the elves get some time off at Christmas, so... We have put together this round-up of the basics to LEDs. You might have not yet discovered all the gems stored in the LSOL.com Library.

LEDs 101 - The Basics
LEDs have rapidly taken the place of incandescent light bulbs in many, if not most, model railroad applications.

Although LEDs have been the topic of many LSOL articles, questions that I see in the forums and that I receive in emails tell me that a review of their characteristics and use is in order. In addition I have discovered a number of interesting LEDs and ways of using them that I don't think have been presented here before. Let's take a few minutes for review and a few minutes more to see if we all can learn some new tricks with these fascinating and useful devices

• Getting power to LEDs that are installed on board trains

  Reducing flicker in LEDs that are powered through track pickups

• Installing directional LEDs that are wired so that one LED lights when an engine is going forward and another lights when it is going backward.

• Using LEDs to illuminate the interior of cars v
• Choosing batteries to power on board LEDs

• Using LEDs with track power on DC and DCC layouts

Topics will include:

• Latching reed switches

• Latching dual-coil relays

• Building a flip-flop circuit

• Employing a PICAXE to do some more sophisticated on & off stuff

So please enjoy these articles as you enjoy your Christmas day. I hope you will be with family, friends and of course with a Large Scale Train around the tree.

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