Programming Digitrax DN140 for directional lighting & ditch lights.

[Anonymous]

I have installed and am attempting to program my first decoder. Install was easy, pu***he decoder into the sockets, programming is more difficult. I have the loco working under control of the throtle so I know the decoder is working. I can not get the stock lights to work, have tried the F1 function with no results. I have also installed 1.5 GOW bulbs with resisters attaching to the Green and Vilet leads, can't get these to work either. From reading the manual I know what programming addresses to change but not the values. Any help would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

If by stock lights you mean the headlights, then F0 turns them on and off. F1 controls "special effects" such as dimming them (i.e., Rule 17) when you put the proper values in the appropriate CVs (49 for the front, and 50 for the rear, 104 is the value if you just want the appropriate dimming).

As for your other bulbs, it depends on what you want to do with them -- are they Mars lights, ditch lights, ??? Oh, and not to overlook the obvious, when you say you've connected them to the green and violet leads, you're talking about two separate bulbs, with one end connected to the blue common lead, right?

One other thing that would help you get more info is if you tell us what locomotive you're working with.

[cacole]

Unless N scale decoder color codes are different than HO scale, you have the light connected to the wrong wires. A headlight is supposed to connect to the white and blue leads. Yellow and blue wires are for the rear light; green is F1, violet is F2, brown is F3. This information is from the Digitrax Mobile Decoder User Manual, so it should be the same for all Digitrax decoders. Page 35 of this publication contains the CV values you need for the desired FX effects, which is too complicated to explain here. You need to purchase a copy of this booklet if you intend to use Digitrax decoders.

[rrinker]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cacole

Unless N scale decoder color codes are different than HO scale, you have the light connected to the wrong wires. A headlight is supposed to connect to the white and blue leads. Yellow and blue wires are for the rear light; green is F1, violet is F2, brown is F3. This information is from the Digitrax Mobile Decoder User Manual, so it should be the same for all Digitrax decoders. Page 35 of this publication contains the CV values you need for the desired FX effects, which is too complicated to explain here. You need to purchase a copy of this booklet if you intend to use Digitrax decoders.

Actually, if you go to the Digitrax web site you can just download it for free. It's a PDF file. They also have other documents to explain the function settings, but over the years there have been at least 3 generations of Digitrax decoders, each with more features than the prvious ones. By naming convention the DN140 is actually an early 'regular' decoder but it DOES have FX features so it will support the various ditch light options.
You get a printed copy of the Decoder Manual in the various Digitrax sets, but they update it periodically so downloading is a good options. Actually, it might be easiest to try and locate an OLD version of this, it would be less confusing because they wouldn't also discuss the FX3 options from the newer Series 3 decoders. I knew there was a reason to save old versions of files.... [:D]

--Randy