Is it hard to install ditch lights on a locomotive
Depends on a few things. 1. your skill level, 2. the loco you want to install them on and 3. the decoder you want to use.
Springfield PA
This may help answer your question. This is a Athearn blue box SD45T-2. The decoder is a Digitrax DH123, and the decoder is programed so that the ditch lights ocilate with function F2.
I beleive these are Detail West ditch lights.
How did you get flashing ditch lights plus a headlight plus a rear light with just a DH123? You need at least 4 function outputs for all that and the DH123 only has 2.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
May not be using the Rear Lights; that's what I did.
C
No, you can see he has an LED and resistor ont he yellow wire at the rear of the loco (left of top picture). Looks like the ditch lights are connected to purple and green, which is how you'd do it on a decoder with enough functions. Unless Digitrax has pulled a fast one and added 2 more functions to the DH123 (the '2' is for 2 fuctions) without telling anyone - when NCE did that to the D13SRJ they noted the change, of course if you got old stock from a dealer it was still the 3 function version but at least they let you know the extra funtions were on the latest production.
I did not think the DH123 would work the ditch lights neither, but my LHS owner said that the DH123 would do it so I tried it, and followed Digitrax's manual for the instructions on how to program the decoder for them to work, and they worked. I used the white wire for front light, yellow for rear and violet and green wires for right and left ditch lights. The Package said it was a DH123 and you can see in the picture it is stamped DH123 on the decoder shrink wrap. But now that everyone is baffled, I am tempted to try other 2 function decoders in this loco {bacause it is already wired} to see what happens with the aux. functions, maybe a TCS T1?
Truck.
T1 definitely only has the F0F and F0R working. I found someone reported this about the DH123 like 2 years ago - the suggestion was made to see if it wasn't actually a DH163 witht he 'wrong' shrink wrap applieed but the original poster never reported back. If you look at the DH163 manual it shows how to access the solder pads at the rear of the decoder which are the final 2 functions plus a repeat of the blue common. It COULD be that Digitrax found it less expensive to just make allt he deocders the same and just package some as DH123 and some as DH163 since the CPU chip would be the same anyway, and probably the driver chip for the function outputs - so instead of buying 1000 of one and 1000 of another, they got 2000 of the one and made the all identical.
The instructions say that the violet and green are not used but I see he's using at least the violet.
They may have started utilizing the other 2.
Edit. I see someone already noted it.
Ummm, that's not a Blue Box motor either.
No, it's a pair of Canon can motors - dunno if two are required, my Stewart Baldwin switchers have same motor int hem and they pull more cars then I would care to run in a single train based ont eh size of my layout. But they also draw so little power, even stalled, that a typical HO decoder can probably drive 5 or 6 of them at the same time.
Randy your right, one motor would have been enough. But all I had was these single shaft motors I picked up on Ebay. I got five of them for less than $20. That is a whole lot cheaper than the NWLS or A-LINE motors that sell for a lot more each. The first loco I put them in was an Athearn RTR UP SD45T-2 it had a bad Athearn motor right out of the box. Plus If you turn bolts for a living you get that more POWER is better attitude, Truck
Just be careful you dont try to pull too much with them. The gears aren't any stronger and the added power could damage them on stall.
Thanks for the advise Hamltnblue. They run between 15 to 20 cars, that should'nt be to hard on them.