hello to all.got my new spectrum f40 ph and it sure is nice and runs great.a lot better than their previous offering of the same engine.i installed a nce decoder(plugged it into the spectrums board) in the loco and it works well.however,the lights including the strobe lights wont work.i took out the decoder and replaced the pin so it will run on dc and now of course the lights work.not for sure why the lights wont come on in dcc operation.anyone have this problem with your decoder install in this particular loco? thanks for your help.terry
Did they fix the flat spot on the nose that isn’t on the real thing and revise the body so it isn’t a scale foot too short and the wheel base two feet too far apart? These were all fidelity issues with the early Spectrums, but I saw a year or so ago that they were getting revised.
Have you pushed the F0 key to turn the lights on? With DCC, the Function 0 key turns the lights on and off.
i know how to turn the lights on and off (using nce powercab)but as stated they wont come on.not sure about the nose and or dimensions.the shell sure is nice though imo.terry…
Well on the old split chassis Spectrum model the trucks were a scale foot too far apart and the result was that the couplers were also mounted pretty far out to clear the trucks. This meant they coupled a wider distance apart.
The height of the shell was someone noticable since it was a bit on the short side.
The nose had a very unsightly flat spot on the bottom edge of the silver pilot above the plow that I haven’t seen on any of the prototypes, should be pointed. The profile of the bottom edge was nearly flat but should have had angled down and back up on the other side. I think they corrected that somewhat on the test molds I saw in Springfield MA before the second run models were shipped. The flat spot was still there on the shell they showed, which I was amazed at. Mainly because of the pilot treatment on the old Spectrum, I went with Walthers Trainline F40PH’s and when KATO offered there’s got three of them. I’ve kept all six because Walthers are quite decent and represent phase II bodies and the KATO’s represent a later production body. I’m not sure about the Spectrum.
Read through the documentation that came with the decoder, or download it from the NCE web site. Some decoders require light function programming before they will work, especially for something like a strobe.
Without knowing which NCE decoder you used, it’s difficult to pinpoint the problem.
im using the d13srp which has the 8 pin plug.will read the doc again.for being just a dc engine i might add that the pc board bachmann uses is sure large.terry…
Pay particular attention to the section on “Configuration of EFX CVs” and the use of CVs 120, 121, and 122. For the plug-in decoder the Bachmann may not be wired correctly for the strobe function.
thanks charles.
make sure the decoder isn’t plugged in backwards. motor control, but the lights not working is a classic sign of a reversed plug.
the capacitors and induction coils for the european rfi supression can some times interfere with decoders, but usally they effect motor conrol. not lights, and can be removed without voiding the warrantee, if used in north america.
try the decoder in another loco to make sure it’s not defective.
the decoder isnt defective.will probably just remove spectrums board and use an nce dasr and see what happens.thanks for the replies.terry…