Hello everybody
This is the first time I have posted to a forum so I hope I get this right. I have a Kato SD40-2 mid that has a light board decoder in it from the factory and is dc/dcc capable. The ditch lights work on dc but they will not come on using dcc. I am using a NCE power cab with and auto switch program track combo. I have a Tsunami 1000 sound decoder that I plan on putting in this engine. The light decoder is a write only decoder and dous not read cv's. I have tryed to reset cv8 to 8 as stated but no luck. Everything else works fine. I was wondering if anybody knows if there is a cv I need to add to get them to work or is the decoder defective.
Thank you for any replys you have.
Roger (aka Ghost)
Welcome to the forums
If the ditch lights work with DC then you're fine. When you install the Tsunami "Ditch" the light board and hard wire the decoder. Use 1k ohm resistors with the lights and you should be set.
Soundtraxx has a tutorial on installing a decoder in your loco
http://www.soundtraxx.com/documents/appnotes/sd40-2midApp.pdf
Springfield PA
I have used DH123PS decoders on mine and the ditchlights work on F1 without any programming of the decoder. Would the same not apply for a sound decoder?
Bill
Here's a link to the instructions which is on sheet.
Looks like F0 turns the ditch lights on and off and F1 flashes the ditch lights.
http://www.katousa.com/HO/SD40-2/maintenance.html
Thanks for the replys.
The Kato light board has the lights installed in it and I don't need to re install new lights. I have another SD40-2 mid that is a sister to the one I am having problems with. I have the manuals and I have read the done the website search. The headlight and rear light come on when F0 is pressed and work correctly as per direction of loco travel. However the ditch lights will not come on no mater which buttin I push or combinations of buttons.
The instruction manual is lackinig when it comes to defining cv's and there values. I am wondering if I have missed something. Even with the reset they will not work. I will try to get ahold of kato usa monday if somebody doesnt come up with an answer by then
thanks again Roger (aka Ghost)
What decoder are you testing it with? The included ditch light controller is not a CC decoder, it only gets fed from a DCC decoder when you install one
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Randy
The light board that comes in the loco has an 8 pin socket with a dc dummy plug. The ditch lights work in the dc mode. They come on as soon as track power it applyed. I have tried two different decoders, an tcs DP-5 and a Tsunami t1000. neither of these will activate the ditch lights and the Kato light board is what opperates the ditch lights. They should come on even if there is no decoder in it. My other one works that way. F1 and F2 work the ditch lights and F0 turns the lights on and off. I am using a NCE Power cab for control. I can't figure out why they would come on in dc but not in dcc as the dcc decoder does not wire to the lights
If you have anotehr identical loco that works the way it should, I would suspect a wiring issue between the 8 pin socket adn the ditch light board. Both decoders definitely have the proper function outputs. Have you tried teh DP5x in the workign loco to verify the decoder is good? You might also want to try resetting the decoder to factory defaults. Set CV8=2 - do NOT use the decoder recovery option in the PowerCab - that feature is designed to reset NCE decoders and may set CVs that are not supported or work differently on other brands of decoders. It could be that the function settings were modified and F1 and F2 are not working as expected. The reset will fix that.
CV8 will not reset using 2. It defaults to 153. Tryed another dp5 decoder with no luck. I may have done something to the light board when I put in the tsunami decoder. They diddn't work with it eather.
What I don't understand is why they work on dc. Is there another circuit that the power goes through?
I'm going to get in touch with Kato USA tomorrow. Thank for trying to help. I'll post what I find out.
CV8 is the manufacturer ID, it will always read as 153 for the TCS decoder. But if you write 2 to it, then take the loco off the track, it resets all CVs to the factory default, including putting the address back to 3. Other decoders use different values or even different CVs to reset, but most current ones have some option to do a full reset. It's always somethign to try when things are workign wierd.
I have two of the Kato SD40-2 "Mid Production" locos. On both of them, I ripped out the factory boards and installed Digitrax DH165K1A's and SFX004 Soundbugs.
Are they the best sounding decoders? Nope!
Are they priced lower than those better-sounding decoders? Yup!
Is it an easy, drop in conversion? Yup!
Do the ditch lights work properly? Yup!
Do they run well? Yup!
Can they be programmed without a programming track booster? Yup!
Can I load whatever sound scheme I want into them, even one I make myself? Yup!
Do they allow recovery from a short without high-priced circuit breakers or light bulbs? Yup!
So let's see, I have one "Nope" and seven "Yup's". Others may disagree, but I think I made a good choice.
Tryed that also. I contacted Kato USA and they didn't know anything about my 2 decoders. They use the digitrax system Stevert mentiond. They are going to send me a new light board to try. When it gets here i"ll know for sure. I didn't try the tcs decoder in the other engine because it is a tight fit for the tsunami decoder and I really didn't want t take it out.
Stevert Now you tell me!