Thank you gents. That should get me where I need to go.

Chris

Hello all

I put some digitrax DH1650AO decoders into some locos I bought. They run fine, but the lights don't. The digitrax instructions say that the board output for lights is 15mA, with an option for 30 mA which you get when you scratch out a circuit.

I chose 30, with the intent of putting in icandescents. Then I changed my mind and bought T1 LEDS. The max capacity of the LEDs is 20 mA. I assume that is why I can't get the lights to work. What resistor should I use to lower the mA's to less than 20?
I recall that the LED's are 3 V, 20 mA capacity

Digitrax support is not getting back to me.

BTW, after 3 years advice from Jim Banner, Rich, Old Timer, and many others, our layout is finally finished! Couldn't have done it without you guys. With no LHS, this site has been the source of most of my knowledge and present ability. Thank you all.

Chris Keusink

Thank you Rich, but there are a bunch of questions

One possibility is to just leave the marker light in that is an LED. I'd like to know how to turn it on. It is unusual because it appears to have a non-motor decoder and a device called a trimit. It appears to have an address on it, but it does not work when you address it like a locomotive. Here are the questions about it.

How do you turn on a function in this situation? (I am showing my ignorance here)

If that doesn't work, how do I change the address where the decoder seems designed for the LED only, rather than a motorized locomotive decoder?

My second and possibly preferred option is to install a white or yellow cabin light and incandescent red marker light. The lights I have in stock are a 12 v white GOR for the cabin light, and a very tiny red incandescent marker light in the rear. The red incandescent already has a built in resistor designed to reduce its current from 12 volts.

The questions:

Do I have to worry that my 12 volt incandescent lights will burn out because the DCC track voltage is 14 volts?

If I hook the two lights in series, will that eliminate the potential for burn out? The red light is downright dinky, marker light size for HO. I don't think the incandescent heat will melt the surrounding plastic because it is so darned small.

I still wonder what that "trimit" is. This looks like it was an expert installation from the quality of the soldering and the various insulation.

The boneyard I inherited does have a lot of electric gear like loose LEDs and resistors and such, but they are not labelled with their ratings. At least with the incandescents, I know what I am working with.

Nearest LHS is 3.5 hours away, no help there. I kind of have to work with what I've got.

Sure do appreciate all the help and feedback from you fellows over the years.

Chris

Ah. I know grain of rice, just didn't recognize the acronym.

My tiny red light is actually smaller than GOR, incandescent, comes with a resistor built into the wire already. Used it on my Dora's Bear Flag building and have an extra.

What is on the existing device is an LED, tiny. red, half cone shaped.

I opened up the insulation on what looks to be a decoder. It has three resistor-appearing devices, a small (1 X 3/4) circuit board, a capacitor, and a black round plastic structure. This is not the trimit device; the trimit device is installed between the decoder(?) and the LED.

Can anyone tell me how to turn on a non-locomotive decoder? (I'm pretty sure the taped numbers on the bottom of the caboose are a decoder address). I can change the loco address on my controller, but I do not know how one talks to an address of a caboose LED/ decoder combo. I tried the taped address as a loco address, but not surprisingly, nothing happened.

The November MRR has a very technical article on installing a caboose decoder and the author gives the TCS decoder a function number. I do not know how to talk to a function address. I run digitrax, but I place my faith in you Bachmann guys. This site helped me build my set from the beginning.  Chris

Thanks, Jonathon. What's a GOR light?

I have some cardboard sleeves that look to be designed as light mounts, probably for locomotives (the estate sale came with an impressive "boneyard" of parts and tools as well). Would those help w/ heat dissipation? Maybe keep the lights in the center of the compartment for maximum airspace?

The red light I have is tiny, just the right size really for a marker light. What do you think about putting the grain of wheat in series w/ the red marker, re total light voltage v 14 v track voltage?

Chris

Jonathon

You are still scaring me with the sophistication of your work (that is not said ironically).

Can you take a look at my general post of this morning about caboose lighting?

Chris

I have bought a large set from an estate. It has about 100 freight cars, including an oddity I can't untangle.

One really nice caboose has pickups on the trucks. It has a tiny red light in the rear of the body. The light does not come on.

It has what looks like a small decoder inside, leading to an odd device of plastic labelled "trimit 3365 1 W". The car has an "064" taped to the underside, which may be a decoder address.

What do I have? Also, can I replace the red light with another I have that already has a resistor in it designed for 12 volts (bought a set for the back entrance to Dora's Bear Flag, if you know your Steinbeck. The kids think it's a hotel for ladies. Which it is. Sort of.)

Finally, any trouble using a 12 volt grain of wheat for inside lighting on DCC? I have digitrax superchief, and I wonder if the excess track voltage will burn out the 12 v light. I don't care if the caboose lighting stays on all the time (compare last month MRR with instructions for DCC caboose lighting, which is more than I want to undertake).

If the existing rig is DCC, I don't know how to turn it on with my controller, and I'd like to add an internal white light anyway.

Chris

Jeez, you guys who do this stuff are scary. How on earth is an humble attorney raising twins ever supposed to learn to do all that stuff on your link? I don't even know how to take the boiler off (that is a boiler, isn't it?) so I can get to the wires to take off the cardboard cover to move the light closer to the headlight.

You have my greatest admiration for your abilities to transform these instruments of terror. Can you come over to my house and fix mine?

Thanks for your advice and replies. I am not competent to do what you do, but I sure can admire it from a distance!

Hello all

I have three Bachmann Connies, spectrum, dcc, two with sound. The headlights in all three are terribly dim, compared to the rest of my locomotive stock of various brands.
You can barely see them, even running in the dark.

Is this a programming problem?

Others have the same issue?

Is there a fix?

Chris

JTF

I just built one, 3.5'X8', out of two pieces of 5/8" plywood (3/4 would have been better, but heavy). Ripped the plywood, shelves are 4" deep, 5" between shelves. Holds around 70 freight cars and three trains of passenger cars.

One piece of plywood is the back, and the other is the perimeter and shelves themselves, ripped on a table saw.

Instead of track, I simply put a lip on the outer edge of each of the shelves, that extends about 1/4 " above the shelf edge. That keeps your goodies from falling out. You don't need to put rails in at all.

Our locos are in the same kind of cabinet, with a Plexiglas door for display and to keep the dust out.

Paint or stain to taste.

Chris

How about that?! 16 feet for flashing lights, ten feet for passive crossbucks.

Thank you, Chris

Okay, I'm confused re: HO scale RR crossing signs.

The model railroad crossing signs I see with flashing red lights are about two inches tall. The plastic ones I see without lights tend to be about an inch tall. That's a big difference. Does anyone know why they are different heights? Seems to me in real life that the two types are pretty much the same height.

I am modeling the 50's. Don't recall such signs being nearly the same height as the trains, BUT, I was just a kid then.

Chris

We run Gordon, Thomas and Percy on our regular set (that has snippets of Sodor here and there to satisfy my 10 year old Thomas fan). They were commercially converted to DCC.

Our problem is Gordon. On a 2% grade, he slips to a standstill with 5 cars. I opened him up, and it appears his boiler is already consumed by weight.

Don't want to try BFS, because he only has three pickup wheels as it is. I don't want to lose any electrical pickup because the set has two reversing modules with AR-1's.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Chris

Our Polar Express (HO) set goes up on the dining room table in November (you'll wonder where we eat in the meantime). It has permanent snow, created by a commercial scenery product company.

The reason I add to this post is that I found the snow effect was greatly enhanced by adding liberal amounts of white glitter. It sparkles and shines realistically, like snow in the sun. White glitter is available almost everywhere.

Chris

I had Thomas, James, and Gordon fitted w/ TCS decoders professionally. Their performance is marginal. Too few pickups. T and J particularly have trouble with autoreverse on reverse loops when used with an AR 1 automatic reverser. They stall there due to the pickup sparcity. Gordon might work better if we added pickups to tender wheels, and ran them to the loco, but it really does not seem worth the trouble or expense.

On the plus side, their fake lights can be replaced with working lights with the decoder.

Wheels and track must be shiny clean at all times, no tolerance for the slightest smudge. Hard to do with a layout of any size.

Were I  to consider doing it again, I probably would not. We have settled on the alternative of naming various buildings and stations after places in Sodor, but we use standard HO locos instead.

Hope that helps.
Chris