Need help with DCC lighting

[mikebonellisr]

When I had a soundtraxx DS150 decoder installed in a Heritage HO 0-6-0, they also replaced the bulb that blew out when I ran the engine on 16v DCC.The bulb that's in there now is VERY dim & I can,t see the tender back-up light at all.I was told that if they used a 16v grain of rice bulb it would melt or distort the headlight housing.What to do?

[AntonioFP45]

Hello MIke,

Don't like to see anyone left hanging. I'm surprised one of the guys here haven't answered as some are electronically knowledgeable.

Joe Fugate may chime in when he has a chance.

Sorry I don't have an answer for you. For now I can only suggest that you e-mail Tony's Train Xchange or one of the other DCC vendors. They usually respond to e-mails involving electrical troubleshooting.

Peace!

[rexhea]

Hi Mike,
Assuming you still have the original light board installed:
It sounds like the bulb is still hooked to the original light board which may only be 3 volt. A 16v bulb will be very dim at 3 volts supply. Antonio has a good suggestion to call Tony's. They will fix you up in a jif.

REX

[jfugate]

I recommend you direct wire the decoder outputs to 1.5v bulb(s) with resistors. The Soundtraxx manual has a nice wiring diagram, and the NCE decoder manual has a great resistor chart for 1.5v bulbs.

The 1.5v bulbs work great because they are small and run cool. They'll burn out before they get hot enough to melt anything.

You can download manuals from here:

Sountrax - http://www.soundtraxx.com/docs/dsdprt1.pdf
NCE - http://www.ncedcc.com/pdf/d14sr.pdf

To see a video clip with the 1.5v bulbs in action, go to ...
http://model-trains-video.com and watch the Siskiyou Line volume 1 preview

[mikebonellisr]

Thank you gentlemen....I,m going to call Tony's first thing tommorow,