Cisco,
Samgolden's comment about the Bachmann exploded drawing of the Decapod reminded me to look at mine.
My 2001 Decapod's diagram shows a bulb, part 10028. It is connected to the 4-pin connector from the tender, along with the motor. Looking at the end of the plug with the pins and keyway on the top, the bulb is connected to the leftmost terminals, and the motor to the right hand ones.
Check the exploded diagram that came with your engine and it will show whether your model has an LED or incandescent bulb, and how it is wired into the locomotive.
Hi Cisco Kid: I just checked my Spectrum Decapod, and the Parts diagram that came with it show a LAMP not an LED, and the disignation is "Light-10028". There is no list or discription of any of the parts, probably because there are 5 pages of pictures of the different assemblys.
As for the age of mine, I bought it from Model Train Stuff, (MB Klien) on 10/6/2006. Bought it through an Ebay auction. I don't know how long M.T.S had it before they put it on Ebay. It runs great on DC, but haven't even tried to put a decoder in it yet.
Sam
Edit: Just found a paper in the box to order a "156 Page Full Color Standard Line & Spectrum Catalog". It was for the "2001" Bachmann catalog.
I guess that might give an idea of how old the loco is.
Thanks, Cacole.
Luckily I did not remove the lightboard yet. However, I was easily able to figure out which were the light leads coming into the loco socket, and with a 9V battery and switching sewing pin probes from negative to positive was able to determine that the headlight is indeed, a bulb....just as I suspected! I sure got the impression on the telephone that the crew at Bachmann tech were not interested in my questions and not willing to think very deeply about what they were saying...no checking with documentation...just yelling across the room..."yeah yeah they're LEDs in the Decapod". "Oh you say you can see the one in the tender is a bulb?" "Well, ok, but the headlight is an LED. Yes,Yes, we are sure."
Well now, unless I have an old model which I just took the shrink wrap off, somebody at Bachmann is mistaken.
Cisco Kid wrote:The decapod seems impossible to take apart. I have successfully fit a Tsunami and small oval speaker in the tender (with the needlessly large light board in there...I may chop that out to put in a larger speaker!) but I can't get the cover off the front of the loco to check the light and replace with an LED if necessary.I have contacted Bachmann tech support and they tell me there is an LED already in there....I wasn't too convinced as they shouted back and forth about what they remembered of the Decapod...and they got it wrong about the tender.....there is a bulb in there.Can anyone confirm that there really is an LED for a headlight.....what would be a test for that?Thanks
The decapod seems impossible to take apart. I have successfully fit a Tsunami and small oval speaker in the tender (with the needlessly large light board in there...I may chop that out to put in a larger speaker!) but I can't get the cover off the front of the loco to check the light and replace with an LED if necessary.
I have contacted Bachmann tech support and they tell me there is an LED already in there....I wasn't too convinced as they shouted back and forth about what they remembered of the Decapod...and they got it wrong about the tender.....there is a bulb in there.
Can anyone confirm that there really is an LED for a headlight.....what would be a test for that?
Thanks
Someone posted the identical question in WiringForDCC · Wiring For DCC Q&A Forum, The Yahoo forums. It is amazing. Reverse the leads. A lamp will light and and LED will not with the leads reversed. Simple.
rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
If you removed the Bachmann light board from the tender, you also removed the resistors for the headlight LED; and yes, the Decapod headlight is an LED.
You'll have to add a resistor to the wiring that goes to the headlight if you can figure out which ones they are, and you'll need to know which lead is positive and which is negative. This could have been determined with a voltmeter before the board was removed.
The headlight wiring should be the two wires to the smaller of the plugs between the tender and locomotive.