Genesis ES44AC ditch lights led replacement

[drudge]

I'm thinking about picking one of these up and would like to know how difficult it is to replace the incandescent bulbs in the ditch light housings. Replacing the other bulbs with LEDs in the model should be is simple,but I'm worried about possibly damaging the ditch light housing  parts if I go about disassembling them from the walkway the wrong way.  Has anyone had any experience with these and any techniques for best going about replacing LEDs in them.

Thanks

[grabbem88]

I'm gonna piggy back here because I'm in the same boat

They "look" like they remove easy enough but havnt dropped the ball just yet . Hate to pull on something if I'm not aware of another step I need to do first..

[kpack]

Removing the ditchlights is not difficult.  They pretty much pop out.  There is plenty of space inside the housing to add LEDs because Athearn had to make enough space for the bulbs they use.  The easiest LED to use is from Evan Designs....use the Pico size and just slide it up into the housing: SMD Chip LEDs.  They are pre-wired as well.

That being said, Athearn made the ditchlight housing enormous.  I don't know how else to describe it but it looks like a small refrigerator.  On the model I did, I popped off the ditchlight housings, took a sharp blade and cut the whole thing in half.  I then placed the LED behind the lens, glued some thin brass on the back to close up the hole, painted it the correct color, and reinstalled them on the model.

This photo shows how thick they are out of the box:


This picture shows what it looks like after.  It's an easy mod that makes a big difference:


Hope that helps!

-Kevin

[drudge]

Awesome Work!

What color yellow did you use for the thinned downed ditch light casing to match the original color?

Thanks

[ThoroughBreed]

Those ditch light housings are the same ones T55 used and size. They are huge in scale size, but as you said, it will accept the led's perfectly.