Dapol 7mm Autocoach DCC question

[stephennicholson]

1 hour ago, wgura said:

I have bought the Dapol Autocoach 7P-004-007 GWR Lied Crimson 37, without Lightbar and decoder. I

I now want to install a 21 pin function decoder and also the lighting equipment, but I don't know how to install it in the wagon. Can I get the lighting system with DCC suplies. Can someone help me

LG Werner from Austria

They used to be available from here https://www.dccsupplies.com/item-p-113051/autocoach-o-lightbar-screw-kit but seem to be out of stock

 

I did my own conversion using parts bought mainly from ebay.  The pickups on the bogies are already there, so I bought a decoder socket and led lighting strips. So if you have done your own DCC fitting before and soldering, this should not present too much difficulty.

[wgura]

Hi Stephennicholson

Can you please send me pictures of where you have set the socket?

Best regards

Werner

[stephennicholson]

10 hours ago, wgura said:

Hi Stephennicholson

Can you please send me pictures of where you have set the socket?

Best regards

Werner

 

Werner,

 

I have put everything in the roof and you cannot see any of it once its fixed back down again. Everything is fixed with black tack.  I wanted to reposition the speaker to be at the driver end (to make sure there was more distance between the engine sounds and the autocoach sounds. Also the speaker housing looked ugly! It also means just two wires are needed between the body and the roof and they are easily fitted through the partition as you can see. I believe the Dapol kit has a separate drivers cab light - but I chose not to fit that.  The remaining task is to put some sort of translucent cover over the lights to make them more yellow and less bright.  So the parts list (without sound) is just a dcc socket,  two or three warm white led strips (eg N gauge coach lighting size) and optionally a plug and socket.  Then just solder the lights to aux pads on the socket. Good luck!

 

[steveb860]

18 hours ago, stephennicholson said:

They used to be available from here https://www.dccsupplies.com/item-p-113051/autocoach-o-lightbar-screw-kit but seem to be out of stock

 

I did my own conversion using parts bought mainly from ebay.  The pickups on the bogies are already there, so I bought a decoder socket and led lighting strips. So if you have done your own DCC fitting before and soldering, this should not present too much difficulty.

According to the dcc supplies link, they have 6 lightbar kits in stock.

[wgura]

Hi Mr.Stephannicholson and Mr. steceb860!

 

Thank you for your answers. I have orderd  at DCC suplies the lightbar 113051 and I hope I will get it soon.

Mr. stephannicholson: Which products are the socket ,the sounddecoder and the speaker?

 

Best regards

 

Werner Gura

[stephennicholson]

Quite right - I don't know why I thought they were out of stock!

 

Sound decoder is a Loksound 4 and the sound file is from http://www.wheeltappersdccsounds.co.uk/. I am afraid I cant remember where the speaker came from as I already had it. The 8 pin socket is Laisdcc 860002 DCC NEM652 8-Pin socket with hard wiring solder tabs adaptor PCB - I expect they also do a 21 pin as well.

[LaScala]

I recently bought a Dapol GWR O gauge autocoach in the Hattons Black Friday sale with light bar and (I presume) two function decoder, likely a rebranded LAIS.

 

All worked well until I decided to add a directional lamp to the driver's end.

 

I duly wired up a DCC Concepts bicolour red/white Nano LED .

 

This also worked well on DC power.  Also easy to fit to the iron below the driver's window and wiring invisible.

 

Excellent.

 

Then I thought why not use the decoder to power the lamps?

 

I was able to identify white, yellow and blue pins, so confidently wired it all up.

 

Place on the track and disaster.  The tell-tale smell of decoder is all you need to know.

 

Turns out that the light bar is the opposite polarity to the Nano lamp LED.

 

I have checked the DCC Concepts manuals and cannot find anything that indicates a polarity, but it seems I'm boxed in, needing either new lamps for the light bar, a second decoder, or opposite polarity NANO's.

 

Of course, I already need a new decoder.

 

Are there any tips for how best to resolve this?