Has anyone tried to install a DCC decoder and light in the passenger section of a Lifelike Proto 1000 RDC1?
Lifelike was no help to me and suggested I try the internet for instructions. Duh!
Thanks in advance
Fergie
We’ll disregard this!
I started to go over the circuit board and it became apparent very quickly what was what. In the middle of the board which measures 1x6" there are 7 pin holes marked P1 through P8, no P3. Now after some tracing it is apparent the “p” stands for pin. I still have to figure what the resistance for two white LED’s for the interior will be? I’ll work on it. Sorry for the fuss
Fergie[:I]
Fergie,
I too have had no luck with LifeLike in trying to get info from them.
While I’m not DCC, my HO layout features eight of those RDC Proto 1000’s and essentially all that I’ve come up with is that for me to illuminate them, battery op may be the way to go. Constant illumination is what I’m after …
I’ve probably communicated with at least a half dozen people who “claim” to be able to come up with a remedy, but once they realize that I’m referring to POWERED units - that’s where the story ends …
I’ve checked out the cirucuit boards too and it appears to me that they ARE more designed for adaptation to DCC …
See ya!
Add me to the 1/2 dozen as after I wrote this, I sat down and went back 25 years to college Electro 101and went rumaging. I installed 3 LED’s with inline resistors in parallel. I then hooked them up to the feed from the track. What I have now is a lit RDC and it looks good.
Fergie
Fergie,
Thanks for that info!
Good to hear that you’re happy with the results. My intent is to get a “flourescent” light effect for my RDC and Walthers passenger car interiors.
I had a modeler “snicker” at me at my LHS when I commented that the Walthers lighting kits, while attractive, are not correct for most streamlined coaches and diners since flourescents were the main light sources while incandescents were used as reading and accent lights.
I’ve noticed before the light produced from White LEDs that look “blueish” resembles flourescent lighting. Miller is currently designing an LED lighting kit that mimicks flourescent lighting, but it will be a year or so before we see it on the market.
QUESTION: Did you use the standard white LEDs? ( the ones that look blueish)
Cheers!
I have two Life Like FEC Proto 1000 SD40 (-2?) HO locomotives. They came DCC ready where you had to move the little plug on the circuit board towards the front of the locomotive to make it work on DCC. Apparently, unlike everyone else, the loco is set to be addressed by the last digit of its road number. My problem is that one engine (405) operates fine when address 5 is used but the other locomotive, (#445) does nothing. I’ve tried address 45, 5, 44, 4, and 445. None results in any response. I’ve tried this with the plug in both positions, and used CV #28 / 28 to attempt to reset it, I’ve tried giving it a new address (prog / main / Loco (enter) / address / 45 ) and still nothing happens. I understand that Life Like Proto 1000’s may not respond to the same CV’s as other DCC systems.
Bottom line, is there a list someplace of the what CV does what on the Proto 1000, or have an idea why this loco won’t operate? I’d appreciate any help I can get. Thanks!
What DCC system do you have? Do you know what kind of decoder is in the loco?
Can you read back the address of either of the locos?
Try address 3. That’s the default address for a factory-fresh decoder.
The original post on this thread is over a year and a half old. LifeLike is now owned by Walthers. They may be able to give you some additional information if you e-mail them. So far, they’ve been pretty good about supporting LifeLike products, even old ones bought elsewhere.
I just bought a new LifeLike P2K Heritage Series 0-6-0, and it certainly lives up to the P2K reputation for good detail and quality. To me, it appears that Walthers is doing a good job of “stewardship” over the old LifeLike model line.
I did one, with an NCE D13SRJ decoder. I didn’t remove the circuot board, but kept it in palce to keep the wires from dropping into the passenger compartment. Other than that, I hard-wired the decoder. I did ‘cheat’ and use two of the circuit traces on the board as ‘extension wires’ from the far end track pickups since the lengths of decoder wire I had were not long enough. I located the decoder near the motor area, so one set of track pickups and the motor drive leads are short. I replaced the light bulbs with golden-white LEDs, each with a 1k resistor. I didn’t add extra lights in the passenger compartment, but this would be pretty simple. I have another RDC to do that I want to do this on. My plan was to use 3-4 ‘sunny white’ (which are more bluish than the golden white) since the cars had fluorescent lighting. The surface mount types have better light dispersion (less directional) so 3-4 spaced out on a piece of styrene wired in parallel with individual resistors (more wires - but if you wire parallel and use 1 resistor, and 1 LED goes, you might increase the current to the remaining three - chain reaction, all 4 blow. 3 in series would work for DCC - about 10.5 volts across 3 of them, 4 in series you might not have enough voltage to operate them. Series-wired LEDs can use a single resistor) should make a nice light in the passenger area.
–Randy
Back in 2004 a forum member posted photos of an RDC in which he installed LED lighting in the interior and front/reverse lighting on the exterior. Was a beautiful job. I’ll post that link if I can find it.
Someone a while back asked about installing sound in an HO RDC. The catch is that no one offers a correct sound decoder for them. The prototype RDCs were equipped with twin Detroit Diesel 8V series diesels. So bacially they sounded like GMC transit buses.
I suggested that since there are a number of RDCs in museum/tourist rail service with the older Detroit engines, it may be posssible for someone to get a clean audio recording of one. A friend of mine suggested that the startup sequence, idle, high & low rpms, transition, and shutdown would be the way to go to get a realistic sound range.
The RDCs currently in commuter service in the U.S, like Trinity Rail Express, have been likely rebuilt with modern fuel efficient diesels so the sound would not be authentic for those of us modeling from the 1950s thru 80s.
This is the url to the site I used to the DCC installation in my RDC, it may help you as well although there isn’t much detail on interior lighting. Last time I talked to the author I believe he said that was his next project.
Cannoli,
This is super! For visual learners like me it’s a big help.
Thanks and Peace[:D]