Has anyone else noticed that the lights on the Athearn RTR units do not light up, or are very dim at low speeds? I did some testing and figured out that the lead on the side of the DCC board is used for the motor. I installed a 10 ohm resister on the motor lead and now the lights are nice and bright and the engine now runs the same speed as my older Athearn engines that I have directional lighting installed. My only concern is will this have any effect on the life span of the DCC board. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Greg
Shouldn’t make any difference in the life of the board.
Since motor speed and lights are individually controlled on DCC I have to believe you are running DC.
ATHEARN engines (and some ATLAS) use a 12v -14volt bulb which means you have to be running 10 volts or better to see it. By adding a resistor to the motor you have slowed it down and compensated by increasing the voltagefrom the power pak - The higher voltage will make an incandescent bulb burn brighter.
You may want to replace your resistor with a wirewound one. It will be getting hot.
Don,
Thanks for the response and the information.
Just an FYI, the RTR engines have 1.5 v light when a DCC decoder board is installed whether one is running DCC or DC.
Greg