Digitrax DH123, Dim the headlight?


lmackattack

lmackattack

old school
I see that the online manual shows Rule 17 (dim headlight)

what Im trying to find is if I can set up the Headlight (CV49) so that it dims when the loco is stopped and then comes back up brighter when it starts to move? is this possible with this decoder? or do I have to set up the headlight to a function to dim it manualy?

I have a few Diesels with ESU decoders that will automaticly dim when at speed step 0 and would like to get the Digitrax equipped locos to do the same.

Regards
Trent:confused:
 
CV 49 to 104 will produce the Rule 17 dimmable front headlight, to do the same to the rear, put 104 in CV 50.
 
That just dims it while going in reverse, at least on mine that's all it does. It doesn't dim it when power on the throttle is cut to zero. Remember this is just a DH123, the most basic of Digitrax's decoders.
 
Oh. I just looked up Rule 17 and posted the CVs. I don't program Rule 17 into any of my locomotives. If I am running a tsunami equipped loco, I just hit F7 to dim the headlight.
 
Thanks for the help Eric. My tsunami equipped locos do as you say with the dim headlight. IIRC I also programmed some to toot the horn and auto dim as soon as they come to a full stop.

I just cant figure how to do it with a DH123 or DH163?
 
The thing is, Digitrax and NCE are two manufacturers that like to have their own "flavor" of features and are stuck in the stone age in the sense that they don't like to put features in that other manufacturers do. I don't think ANY of the Digitrax decoders (I can't speak for NCE since I haven't looked into it and only have one NCE decoder equipped loco at this time) can do what you are describing.

TCS decoders can dim with one of the function buttons (I think you need to enable it with a CV though).
 
Trent, et al. This has turned into a very interesting discussion. I've done a little research this AM to check on some things, and this is what I have found.

It seems that any Digitrax decoder above a DH123, that is any decoder that has more than 2 functions, can do Rule 17 lighting. A friend has a couple of old DH142's, (these haven't been produced since 2003 IIRC), that he does Rule 17 lighting on, using the extra functions for lighting effects. :) Since my main modeling effort is in the steam era, particularly when lights weren't on in the daytime, I don't need the Rule17 ability.

Reading the "manuals", for both old and new Digitrax decoders, seems to show that you need at least a four function decoder for rule 17 lighting. How other decoder makers treat this, I'm not sure of. :confused: But this is what I found on TCS's site

Reading on the TCS website about their basic 2 function decoder, the T1, it seems to indicate that it can do Rule 17. This seems to be backed up in JMRI, as it has Rule 17 lighting indicated on its 2 function lighting lists. But I'm not sure if this is true or not because the literature on the DH123 and in JMRI also said it was capable of "special lighting effects", but as we have seen, there really isn't any except different types of headlights/dimming on reverse with the DH123. :confused::confused:

Since I don't own a TCS T1, my question now becomes, is this also the case for the T1? Or is the T1 really a 4 function decoder sold as a 2 function decoder in order to be in direct competition with the DH123???:confused::confused::confused:Also, how do different manufacturers, particularly TCS and Digitrax, define what's a 2 function verses a 4 function decoder?:confused:

A quick check on the NCE website, indicates that they don't have just a 2 function general decoder like the TCS T1 and Digitrax's DH123.
 
My understanding is that all current Digitrax decoders, including the DH123, support Rule 17 lighting; however, you can not set them to auto-dim when stopped. You have to activate F4 to dim the headlight.
 
Program CV49 to 104 and CV50 to 120. That makes the headlight opposite the direction of travel dim, and you can dim the forward headlight by hitting F4.
 
CSX Robert said:
Program CV49 to 104 and CV50 to 120. That makes the headlight opposite the direction of travel dim, and you can dim the forward headlight by hitting F4.
Click to expand...

Is there a way to use F4 for dimming the forward (or currently operating) headlight without Rule 17 yet still have directional headlights? (for the DH123)

I want to be able to dim the forward headlight on the fly without anything happening to the rear headlight yet still have directional headlights (with the rear headlight also set up to be dimmed while running long hood forward)

Even better, is there a way to map it to F7 instead of F4 so that I can have it match my Tsunamis?
 
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