Hey guys how ya doin? I am adding a Digitrax DH163LO to a couple of P2K GP38-2s and wanted to ask a question before starting. First off I have added “LO” decoders to some of my other P2Ks and each one has poped the headlight. I cant remember the series of those decoders (123 or 163) but I have 3 SD60s that are lightless. Now this time I read the instructions page to page and they say that it will run the 1.5V bulbs with no problem. There is also mention of a bypass to this voltage regulator and I have checked the PC board and these are open like they should be. Has any one had any problem with the lights on this decoder? Did Digitrax make a change to the newer decoders to prevent the lights from blowing? Anyway thanks in advance
I installed a DH163LO in a P2K GP60 for a project layout of my NMRA division last year.
I checked the Digitrax website and it showed that the DH163LO worked with the 1.5V lamps installed in the P2K without modification.
There was one issue not related to the light.
In one corner of the plug P2K had an extra wire, I believe for constant lighting, and it prevented the locomotive running.
After talking with either John or David at Digitrax, I was able to correct the problem.
Digitrax has excellent customer support. If you can’t talk to them immediately, leave a general voicemail message and they will call you back.
You need the newer DH165LO–this has the resistor built in to the decoder–with the 163’s you had to add a resistor in-line to the bulbs–sorry you found out the way many have. Actually, from gazing at the Digitrax website, they’re deleting the 163 series entirely, it appears.
Jim
I checked the Digitrax website while making my previous post to verify my recollection of the installation and the DH163LO is still listed with full intructions, stating it is designed to work with the 1.5v lamps.
I normally model in N scale so I researched the project before the installation I described. It did work with the 1.5v lamps.
Thanks for the replies guys. I read the instructions online as well as the ones in the package and it said it will work. I was hoping to get some one with some first hand experience on these since my last attempt blew the bulbs on my SD60s. I cant tell if my SD60 decoders are 123 or 163, JMRI cannot tell the difference, it only says that it is an FX3 decoder. Well off to my bench and programing track!! I will let ya all know what happens.
The DH163L0 did NOT need any resistors for the headlights, I have them in all my P2K GP-7’s and an SD45 as well as one of my S-1’s.
On both the DH163L0 and DH165L0, resistors are needed for any low voltage bulbs or LEDs attached to functions other then F0F and F0R.
The other issue is related to the addition of seperate bulbs for number board illumination on some P2K models. The way these got wired in causes problems when just plugging the decoder into the socket.
–Randy
Massey,
The best thing to do with the P2K GP38-2s is to rewire the 8-pin NMRA socket before you install the DH163L0 decoder. The number board lightbulbs are attached to the wrong tabs.
If you don’t want to rewire the socket (which is not that difficult to correct), you’ll need to replace the 1.5V incandecent bulbs, that go to the number boards, for 12V bulbs. If you don’t rewire it or replace the existing number board lights, you run the risk of blowing the entire decoder.
The decoder will work properly on the programming track. It’s after you place it on the mainline that you run into trouble.
Tom
[#oops] Correction: I got my data a little mixed up. The number board lights are still attached to the wrong tabs. However, they are already 12V, not 1.5V, as I mentioned above. You’ll still need to either disconnect them from the 8-pin connector and wire them into two of the function pads, or substitute them for 1.5V bulbs so that they are wired with the white (F0F) and blue (common) decoder wires. Randy’s suggestion about using the larger 14 or 16V bulbs is an excellent one.
I did one of these engines today. I couldn’t get the 163L0 decoder in a reasonable amount of time, but I had an NCE decoder with 9-pin connector and a harness I could hard-wire. I changed all 4 bulbs to 14v bulbs, and wired the number board bulbs each to it’s own function output. The 163L0 is supposed to have current regulators to allow the original 1.5 volt head and tail lamps to work without changing them, but not for the the function outputs. The number board bulbs would have to be changed anyway. Also, the number boards need to be wired directly to the decoder since the pins are not available on the 8-pin connector. By the time you do all that, hard-wiring seems not too much more work.
I’m sure the way I did it is not the ONLY way. Tom, specifically how can the 8-pin socket wiring be corrected? It sure would have been faster if it really were possible to just plug in a decoder. The other challenge (for me, anyway) was figuring out exactly which 2 screws to remove to get the shell off. Turns out it’s the two that you need to rotate the trucks slightly to get a screw-driver on.
Hope this helps,
Jim
OK I found a few things out on this little adventure. First thing is the number board lights are rated for 12V. They are wired to the motor outputs not the light output. And you cannot have the lights attached this way and make the decoder work.
I rewired my first loco to have the number board and headlights on the same tab of the connector, I got lights but they were very dim. The next loco I just plugged in the decoder and gave it a try. While the number board lights can handle the 12V they cannot be left in the motor tabs. The decoder will read the bulbs as a dead short and turn off operation of the motor. I could program the loco and read the decoder just fine but as Tstage said I could not run on the main line. I simply removed the number board lights all together and my locos run just fine now. Thanks again for the help everyone.
I had the same problem. I removed the screws that hold the weight in place since they are in a similar place to my other P2K loco shell screws.
The number board lights need to be changed to 14v bulbs and conencted to F1 and/or F2, or changed to 1.5V bulbs and connected witht he headlights, if using the Digitrax decoders. 1.5V bulbs would probably be best to avoid any chance of melting the shell around the number boards. 12-14V bulbs running full power all the time will get rather warm. On DC it’s never usually a problem ebcaue you don’t runt he loco at full throttle all the time, but with DCC nearly full track voltage is applied to the bulbs when the function is turned on. Running bulbs at 75% of their rated voltagemakes them last a VERY long time, nad it probably plenty bright - say your function output is 12V, use a 16V bulb - the lower voltage driving it will keep the heat down as well. Or best of all, LEDs, no heat and unless you really screw up they’ll last longer than you will.
–Randy
I’ve installed Digitrax DH163L0 decoders in everyone of my Proto 2000 loco’s and have never had a light pop. I have over 50 P2K loco’s and have installed the same decoder in probably 100 more loco’s for people as well with no light issues. They come with a resistor in the decoder so you don’t need to install resistors. The Proto GP38-2’s and the GP60’s as well as a few other P2K loco’s do have a light issue with the number board lights. The loco will not run until the number board lights are either removed or relocated on the plug. Your DCC system will sence a short circuit and the loco will not run. Digitrax is upgrading their 163 series decoders and they will be called 165 series decoders. Now if you want sound you can install the 165 decoder and a plug in SFX Soundbug module and presto, you don’t need to make choo choo sounds yourself anymore.
SMassey, I bet you installed DH123L0 decoders in your loco’s. That’s why you have no lights.
Jim,
I took an NMRA 8-pin socket diagram and just traced the wires to find out which ones were wired incorrectly. (It was only a couple of them, as I remember.) If you’d like, I can either e-mail you the scanned diagram, or give you the link to the web page where I got it from. Let me know…
Tom
Massey,
Someone can correct me if I’m wrong. My understanding is that the 4- and 6-function decoders are the only ones that come with FX3. The 123s are only 2-function (front and rear headlights) decoders and don’t come with the extra function pads.
Tom
Digitrax decoder model numbering is generally that the first digit is the current rating, second digit is the number of functions and the 3rd number is the ‘series’. Since there’s only 1 digit for the current, they are almsot all 1 even for a 1.5 amp decoder. So a 163 is 1 (actually 1.5) amp, 6 function, series 3 with FX3 functions. The new 165 is Series 5, the main difference being the socket for the SoundBug sound module. Most with less than 6 functions have a modified subset of the FX3 function effects. The other letters and numbers indicate scale and specific fitments - IE DH163A0 is HO scale Atlas replacement, DN163I0 is N scale Intermountain replacement. This info is on page 5 of the Digitrax decoder manual.
–Randy