N Gauge 153, MX621N and Lightbar

[xModellerx]

Greetings all, first post so hope this works

 

I have an N gauge Dapol 153 fitted with a Zimo MX621N 6 pin decoder and a Dapol light Bar

 

One of the lightbar wires came adrift, and whilst looking at it I wondered if it would be possible to control it by DCC.

 

The Zimo chip has additional pads as seen here on the back...

 

the positve blue and 2 function outputs.

 

Am I right in thinking that if I take the two wires from the lightbar and solder them to the +ve and the FO1 pads, I should be able to control the lightbar from the chip and switch it on or off?

 

Heres the internals pic of the lightbar with what I am thinking.

 

Tha

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Graham

[Nigelcliffe]

I know nothing of the Light Bar, but assuming its a standard voltage device, then yes you can control it by the chip.

 

I'd wire it as per 6-pin and most N-gauge models, so the +ve wire on the Light Bar goes to one of the loco pickups (red or black wire), though you could go to the decoder Positive pad you identified. 

 

Yes, the Light Bar -ve goes to either of the function outputs (eg. F01), and then the remainder is to setup the function mapping to control the lights from whichever function keys you desire. 

 

 

 

- Nigel

[xModellerx]

Thanks Nigel,  I'll give it a whirl and report back

 

Regards

 

Graham

[Vonzack]

I think you might have to do some more work on the Lightbar to get it to work that way, they are normally connected to track voltage directly, so they have an AC/DC converter and resistors to cope with track voltage.

[Penrhos1920]

I think you might have to do some more work on the Lightbar to get it to work that way, they are normally connected to track voltage directly, so they have an AC/DC converter and resistors to cope with track voltage.

Looking at the photo in the first post I can see a rectifier and regulator that forms the ac/dc converter. But feeding that with dc won't hurt, but it might not be as bright and certainly won't dim if the dcc chip supports dimming on f01.

[xModellerx]

Hi all ..  I'm working here on the fact that the lightbar is connected across the power pickups and works from both 0-12V DC and DCC AC Voltages with the light output varying on DC and constant on DCC.   I accept that from a chip function providing DC, it may be dimmer, but in my mind, that would actually be a bonus, on DCC the damn thing could be a beacon for transatlantic shipping

 

My concern was that on DC from the chip, it would only work in one direction, but since it works in both directions from the track inputs, I think it's going to be fine.  At the worst, I should be able to use both spare functions, one for each direction, but hoping that is not needed.

 

All I'm looking for is the ability to switch it on and off from the DCC functions so when it's stored in the fiddle yard, I can turn the lights off, as I do with all headlights and taillights on the locos..  those few milliamps per loco really add up when you have 40 locos in the yard and coach lighting all draining the available power and another 6 running on the front of the layout

 

Anyhoo, I should be in a position to experiment next week..  this week, I am adding a Booster to the layout and rewiring the main DCC and Feedback Busses as the origional wiring was done with little thought and was very suspect in some areas, especially where some of the main busses are 60ft in length and innapropriate wire dimensions were chosen with what was available rather than what was needed which gave me a bit of a major volt drop across the layout which was playing havok with RR&Co control in some instances.  This time there is a plan and with the booster, the longest run I will have is 20ft.

 

Regards

 

Graham

[pauliebanger]

Hi all ..  I'm working here on the fact that the lightbar is connected across the power pickups and works from both 0-12V DC and DCC AC Voltages with the light output varying on DC and constant on DCC.   I accept that from a chip function providing DC, it may be dimmer, but in my mind, that would actually be a bonus, on DCC the damn thing could be a beacon for transatlantic shipping

 

My concern was that on DC from the chip, it would only work in one direction, but since it works in both directions from the track inputs, I think it's going to be fine.  At the worst, I should be able to use both spare functions, one for each direction, but hoping that is not needed.

 

All I'm looking for is the ability to switch it on and off from the DCC functions so when it's stored in the fiddle yard, I can turn the lights off, as I do with all headlights and taillights on the locos..  those few milliamps per loco really add up when you have 40 locos in the yard and coach lighting all draining the available power and another 6 running on the front of the layout

 

Anyhoo, I should be in a position to experiment next week..  this week, I am adding a Booster to the layout and rewiring the main DCC and Feedback Busses as the origional wiring was done with little thought and was very suspect in some areas, especially where some of the main busses are 60ft in length and innapropriate wire dimensions were chosen with what was available rather than what was needed which gave me a bit of a major volt drop across the layout which was playing havok with RR&Co control in some instances.  This time there is a plan and with the booster, the longest run I will have is 20ft.

 

Regards

 

Graham

 

Graham,

 

All the other issue aside, you will be able to map the function output you eventually use to the F key you would like to operate this function and also to make the function operational in both directions (that should be the default status).

 

Kind regards,

 

Paul

[Crosland]

My concern was that on DC from the chip, it would only work in one direction, but since it works in both directions from the track inputs, I think it's going to be fine.  At the worst, I should be able to use both spare functions, one for each direction, but hoping that is not needed.

 

It will not be needed. The output from the decoder is always the same polarity, regardless of direction.

 

The decoder outputs can, however, be programmed to be on or off depending on direction.