The Athearn board has voltage regulators on it to provide the required 1.5 volts for the bulbs. White LEDs require a bit over 3 volts. You cannot drive an LED directly from the factory Athearn motherboard.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
It sounds like the PC board has a failure regarding the lighting function. I have several Athearn Genesis locos that started out as DC (DCC Ready) that I converted to DCC by adding a decoder. But, before I did, I tested each loco on a DC track, and the incandescent bulbs performed fine. So, I have not experienced a lighting failure in DC mode.
You are correct in that the incandescent bulbs that come factory installed are of poor quality. I replaced mine with SMD LEDs when I installed the decoder but, again, the lighting function did work out of the box.
Rich
Alton Junction
hello all!
recently I took it upon myself to convert an Athearn Genesis gp7 (Brand new, DC only) into an ATSF Topeka cab chop-nose unit for a short line I model. (I then realised that Athearn already produces a ready-made low nose version!). Anyway, everything came out great - except for the front headlights. They do not function. Thinking it was bad luck and that the lousy wheat hair bulbs had burnt, I swapped them with an extra golden LED bulb I had lying around. Still nothing. I've tested several other LEDs and none work. Has anyone experienced dead lighting circuits on DC Athearn Genesis units? It's basically still a new engine and yet there seems to be a circuit issue.
cheers :)