A question about hooking up ditch lights to a DH163L0 decoder.
In order to achieve blinking ditch lights, do I hook up one of the light bulb leads to a function tab (1, 2 ,3 or 4) and the other lead to the “+” tab? This particular locomotive had ditch lights on the front and rear.
If my scenario is correct, it seems like the “+” tab is going to get a bit crowded with wires. I may opt to leave off the rear ditch lights and use the other two function tabs to light the number boards.
You are correct sir, that blue +ive lead will get very, very crowded. I like to utilize a small piece of brass strip or equivalant and solder the wire to it. That way you dont have any T connections.
If you are using 1.5v lamps or Leds, you will need resistors on ALL of the -ive leads. Many people will just apply a resistor to the +ive lead, but this doesnt work.
Thanks, David. I’m glad I wasn’t too far off base. Thanks, too, about the brass strip suggestion. That will come in handy.
David, another question for you. I knew about the need to place resistors on the F1-F4 pads, if using 1.5V bulbs. From the DH163L0 manual, if I switched out the incandescents for 3mm golden-white LEDs, F0F and F0R are already at 1.5v so I wouldn’t need a resistor, yes?
The resistor for the 1.5v incadecent bulbs should be ok for the 3v LEDs. The worst case would be that the LEDs dont light up. If they dont light up, you will have to find the resistor bi-pass pads on the bottom of the decoder and short across them (there are 2 pair), then install another resistor…but from my experience, you should be just fine.