I wired an LED with a 1K 1/4 ohm resistor to the anode (positive) side of the LED. The Digitrax SDH164D decoder is wired to a Proto 2000 E7A .I connected the blue and white wire for the forward light of the Digitrax SDH164D decoder and the LED is not lighting up when I move the locomotive forward or backwards. The directional movements show correctly on my Digitrax DT402D throttle. I switched the polarity white blue and vise versa and the LED still does not light up. However I wired the yellow and white wires to the LED and it lit up only at the right polarity when the locomotive is in reverse. The blue and yellow wires work too only at the right polarity and when in reverse. I keep testing the LED to the track power and it lights, so nothing is wrong with the LED. I tested the locomotive and everything works, like sound and directional movement, so there's nothing wrong with the locomotive or the decoder. Perhaps I'm not wiring the white and blue wires correctly to the LED. What should I do?
Did you use the correct blue and white wires? The blue and white that come fromthe same end as the speaker (the 'X' end of the Digitrax label on the wrapper) are NOT the right ones. Track,motor, and function conenctions are the wires at the 'D' end. Blue is +, white is -.
ANd did you make sure F0 was turned on?
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
(I wired an LED with a 1K 1/4 ohm resistor to the blue and white outputs)
Are you using two resistors? You only need one on the blue wire.
Plus like Randy said, make sure you are using the correct wires. You want to use the blue and white wires from the nine pin connector end.
I used the correct blue and white wires not the ones from the speakers. F0 was turned on. I used only one resistor on the anode (positive) side. The yellow,white and yellow, blue do work on the right polarity only when in reverse.
Sounds like you may have a programming issue.
Did you read the Digitrax manual? There is one that is on decoders only.
I think that you many need to check CV36, but I could not find that in the online manual.
Look for lighting instructions. Here is the link for the manual. http://www.digitrax.com/ftp/Decoder_Manual.pdf
Just do a reset. CV8=8. The default settings are for directional lights with F0 control, white being forward and yellow being reverse. If the lights still don;t work, try hooking to a different function wire such as green and seeing if it works there - if it works on a different F key but not on the default F0 connection of the white wire, perhaps the function is blown.If you don't need the other functions, you cna remap them so the F0 button turns the green or violet wire on and off instead of white and yellow.
I did a factory reset CV8=8. So far nothing has changed.
Well the function wire (White) may be blown.
You don't need a reverse light so just use the yellow function wire and re-map it and use it for your headlight.
Isn't there supposed to be a reverse taillight next to the number board according to the prototype?
Not too many E-units ran push-pull where they'd need a red marker on the rear. Maybe in a light engine move with an A-A or A-B-A consist, then the one facing backwards should show a red marker. But just backing on to a train, I'd be really surprised if this was always done. The marker colors were changed by sliding different lenses in front of the light and outer lens, it wasn't just a switch the engineer could turn to change the color.
Now, some roads had a Mars light, eithe whit or red, in one headlight housing, the Proto units came with this detail if the specific prototype had it. And if modeling a restored unit that runs in modern times, it would have ditch lights fitted (which I think generally ruins the looks, but if you are goign to run them today, they are required).