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DCC in DMU's

4998 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Suzie
Hi,

I wonder if any one could help me please. I'm new to this site and I'm just getting back into the model railway seen now we live in a house with some room for one!!


I have collected a number of models over the years, but this time round I have gone of the DCC option. This is fine for the DCC ready models but I have a number that are not. The main thing that is causing me a headache is that I would like to fit DCC to my DMU's!

I would like to have working head, tail and internal lights and plan to use "Express Model Lighting" kits (now hear comes the but!), but, would like to have the head lights at one end working independently from the tail lights at the other end, so I can have them working in multiple. I do understand that this my require more that one chip in some units i.e. CL121, but how do you wire in the extra chip?


The units that are currently involved are Hornby CL110, and Lima CL117 & 121. I also have a Bachmann CL108 which I have managed to find some information on putting the DCC into, but again will the head/tail lights off if I have it coupled to another unit?


Please can anyone point me in the right direction?

Many thanks


Ian
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Hi Ian,

welcome to the forum. I am new and have had lots of help as well as finding out the hardway. I recently chipped some jinties at the club and was asked to chip some 125. Whilst not your DMU's there may be some help.
The Hornby 125's had the original Ringfield motor plus the later motor. The early ringfield is staight forward, cut the wires and connect in the chip as normal. For the motor end I used the TCS TI as there is plenty of room (also fitted one to my own Cl101 but no lights yet). This enables connect for red and white lights. I tend to use LED's as bulbs give off a lot of heat and can burn plastic if to close. Not suffered with an LED yet!! I first tried the original bulb with a red LED but one side is white and the other a pink from the red led. Likewise when red one side can hardly been seen. Also not a lot of room for the two. Now use a 2 colour LED which has 3 leads, the common and the red lead and white lead. In the trailing car I use the lighting decoder buying in a pack of 5 which gives some savings. Connect up the red and white LED.
Ringfield II motors are more tricky. As it wasn't my model I did an insultation of the strap connected to the chassis to isolate the spring and brush. I soldered a wire across the spring so it was even stress across the spring. Works well and the guy doesn't want the drill and pin conversion done as he is happy with it. I obtain my decoders from DCC supplies and like some of the other suppliers mentioned on here always have time to offer advice and assistance.

When running in multiple ( I have the ecos and no experience of others but assume they have the basic controls) the selected lights can be turned of by use of the function keys. Must say it looks good when it changes direction and the lights switch over from white to red and vice versa. Convinced me to have a go at fitting lights on my own DMU's.

Sure you will have more giving advice but from a newby returnee hope this is of some help.
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If its any help I bought a 108 Paignton/Exeter dmu with a decoder already fitted in the power car for £55, plus £10 for a decoder for the rear car and it just plugged in
Hello also
Thanks for that. After my problems and the help from this forum (Richard and Neil) I now buy DCC ready and only use TCS decoders. Especially as I have used the Goof warranty DCC supplies/TCS give. It may be goof proof but wasn't Ian Goof proof as I managed to short the orange cable to the live chassis caused as it shot of when trying the loco and I hadn't taken the caps out.

Ian M
Thanks guy's,

Do I need to do anything special to the LED's before conecting them up or will they work "out of the box" so to speek?
Hello and Welcome to the Forum

With DMUs and running on DCC , to have lighting that is independent , so that the Tail lights can be switched off independent of headlights the light s must be wired to different functions.

Not sure about British outline DMU's , But if the DMU has Head and Tail lighting on both ends of one unit then a TCS 4 function decoder (T4X) will do the job if it can physically fit in the DMU

Function 1 -headlights on one end
Function 2 - headlights on the other end
Function 3 Tail lights on one end
Function 4 Tailights on the other end

If the DMU is part of a Pair (lights on each unit , but only on one end)
Then a T1 will do for the powered unit
Function 1 -headlights
Function 2 - Taillights

and a Stationery Decoder (No motor control ) or Fleetlighter decoder on the non powered unit TCS have a FL2
Function 1 -headlights
Function 2 - Taillights

Or use a FL4 and use the extra functions for Internal lighting This is what I did for an unpowered DMU using the DCC Concepts Flicker Free lighting unit -- Details Here



LEDs are the best for lighting , but each must be wired correctly with Resistor in series (1000 Ohm is a safe option)



The Long leg of the LED is connected to the Blue (+ve) wire of the decoder

Hope this helps

Regards

Zmil
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Here is an other topic with a Pair of Rail bus units RailBus DCC

Regards

Zmil
Nice one. This looks like what I need (and the photo's are a help)


But would each car of the unit need to have a different address?

And how do you add in a second chip for a single car unit for internal lights as this would already have use up four functions, or can you get a chip with more than four functions?


Ian
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You can put a decoder in the trailer car and give it the same address as the power car. To programme it just put the relevant car on the programming track and remove the other one. You will probably need to do this to map the functions in the two decoders so that they are controlled by the buttons you want and the head and tail lights only operate in the relevant direction. Decoder manuals give details of this but it is a bit tricky for the novice. There is also an issue that you command station may not think a function-only decoder has programmed correctly, other threads on here have discussed this recently.

Incidentally I plan to set up my DMUs with the red and white lights on one end controlled by one button (say f0) and the red and white on the other end controlled by another (say f1). When the relevant function is activated they would swap according to direction. That way if the unit is coupled to another one the lights on the coupled ends can be switched off and will stay switched off even if the formation reverses.

You can also put several decoders in the same vehicle just by connecting all the red wires to one pickup and the blacks to the other. These can all have the same address too, but it is better to choose decoders (such as TCS) with a feature called "decoder lock" which allows you to programme one decoder at a time. Otherwise you will have to disconnect the wires to one decoder when you want to programme the other one.
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You can buy a TCS T6x decoder that has 6 functions

Decoders can be given the same address , that is what I did with my DMU's each pair has the same address no.

A bit amusing if you put the wrong dummy end with the powered end


The Functions can also be changed to be activated for different running conditions , going forward , going backward , which function button activates the function etc

We can help when you get that far

Regards

Zmil
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QUOTE (locoworks @ 27 Jan 2009, 20:11) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>edited due to repeating information. how do i delete the whole post??

Hi locoworks

Don't worry about it , I answered the same time (roughly) as Edwin and covered similar ground without realizing , these things happen

Regards

Zmil
Thanks Chaps,

You have given me the info I need now (I think
).

I guess other people may put forward other ideas, but what you have all surgested seems to make some sence to me!!

Thank you all very much, I'll be back for help later when I get stuck!


Ian
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A handy tip when DCCing a DMU trailer without a motor is to use a decoder with bipolar outputs like the Lenz LF100XF where you can just disconnect the existing lighting wires from the pickups and connect them to the white and yellow wires, and connect the red and black wires from the decoder to the track pickups. Reprogram from the defaults if you want independant switching of the lights on different functions. With the Lenz LF100XF you still have the green, purple and blue wires for additional cabin lighting and stuff.
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