How to disable directional lighting

[Dolby86]

Hi, I recently bought the express models class 66 headlights for my Bachmann model, however I'm having difficulty setting up the main drive decoder correctly. In the instructions that came with the lights, it states i need to disable directional lighting so the lights can be independently controlled. I have the Bachmann 8 pin decoder with railcomplus and I have read through the manual for the decoder and cant see any option to disable the directional lighting. Has anyone got any idea on how I do this please?. 

[Paul80]

Press F0 

 

Hat coat door

 

What does the express models headlights door that the Bachmann lights can't, not heard of them before.

 

Paul

[Nigelcliffe]

10 hours ago, Dolby86 said:

Hi, I recently bought the express models class 66 headlights for my Bachmann model, however I'm having difficulty setting up the main drive decoder correctly. In the instructions that came with the lights, it states i need to disable directional lighting so the lights can be independently controlled. I have the Bachmann 8 pin decoder with railcomplus and I have read through the manual for the decoder and cant see any option to disable the directional lighting. Has anyone got any idea on how I do this please?. 

 

This depends on what you're trying to achieve, but commonly it is like this:

 

The lights on a RTR loco traditionally(*) have connected the white front at one end to the red rear at the other.  So, if the white is on the front, the red shines at the back.  But this is wrong for any loco pulling a train, because the red should be the train tail lamp (last wagon, last coach or brake van). 

 

The standard wiring of an 8-pin decoder, and the standard "out of the box" settings for most decoders have the "forward light" attached to the white wire, and the "reverse light" attached to the yellow wire.  These connect in the loco so that white connects to front white light and rear red light, and yellow connects to rear white light and front red light.    When operated, the lights remain connected as a pair.

 

Independent control means wiring the lights so each light has its own control wire, and then the settings in the decoder allow the user to choose which light(s) is (are) on, ie. the headlight might be on in direction of travel, or both on together as marker lights for stationary loco, or different day/night headlights - depends what lights are provided and what you want them to do. 

 

 

Step 1 - wire the lights so that each is attached to a separate wire.  With an 8-pin you quickly hit a problem, there are only three lights carried through the 8-pin connection, so the fourth light has to bypass the 8-pin socket and end up directly wired to the decoder.   (Or rip out the 8-pin socket and fit something with a higher pin count). 

 

Step 2 - change the "function mapping" in the decoder with CV changes, to get the lights to work on the desired function keys.   A common arrangement would be to put the white lights (front and rear) so they are still controlled on F0, and still swap on change of direction, and the reds controlled by a different key (again can be set to be directional).   But any combination of keys is possible, with or without things changing on the direction of the loco. 

 

 

 

(* some recent designs have improved, usually by using newer decoders with larger pin counts)

 

[Pete the Elaner]

32 minutes ago, Paul80 said:

Press F0 

 

Hat coat door

 

What does the express models headlights door that the Bachmann lights can't, not heard of them before.

 

Paul

F0 turns both ends on or off. The OP asks about independent control.

 

Express moodls make lighting units for locos which were not originally fitted with them, I have a couple for my early Bachmann 20s (must finish them some time). & I think I have a pack for a Hornby 86 somewhere.

I suspect the early Bachmann 66 had no lighting & this was added a few years later.

[newbryford]

On 10/01/2020 at 08:32, Pete the Elaner said:

F0 turns both ends on or off. The OP asks about independent control.

 

Express moodls make lighting units for locos which were not originally fitted with them, I have a couple for my early Bachmann 20s (must finish them some time). & I think I have a pack for a Hornby 86 somewhere.

I suspect the early Bachmann 66 had no lighting & this was added a few years later.

 

Bachmann 66 have always had lighting - but they've never had the correct configuration.

 

Express Models kits usually state that directional lighting is disabled so that every light function can be controlled independently - regardless of direction.

I've often circumvented this because for the likes of my Voyagers and other MUs, I wasn't bothered about day/night selection and wired up the day to white wire  and red to yellow ire from the decoder as I wanted simple direction changing.