roof top beacons

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Nice vids guys always neat to see how others can get the same details and make them look good. Rico that FP45 sounds good!
 
Thanx Mouse, and I will post a vid of it in action!
Trent those look very nice, maybe a how-to is in order??
 


I hard wired up the DH123 decoder to the loco and useing the green wire for the beacon output. Because I used a LED for a beacon I had to spliced in a resistor. from there I ran my wires leads leaving plenty of length to remove the shell with the beacon in the roof. The hard part was fitting the LED into the center of the GP18 roof as the numberboard/headlight use a clear tube from the hedlight bulb to the high hood. I had to remove the light tube, drill a 3mm hole. I took the leads of the LED and bent them 90 deg at the base of the LED then soldered wires to them using heat shrink to protect the leads. I had about 4mm of space to work with between the light tube and the roof of the cab. after the LED was pushed into the roof I left it press fit in case it needs to be removed again. put the light tube back in, dab of ca to hold it in place. Shell fits snug like it should. one other tip is to put a small pice of electrical tape on the inside of the shell to cover the roof top fans. this will prevent you from seeing the lights thru the fans when the shell is on the loco.

Trent
 
Hey thanx, I have some of those sitting in my misc drawer, guess I have an upcoming project!
What function did you program the green wire to...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
lmackattack said:
I hard wired up the DH123 decoder to the loco and useing the green wire for the beacon output....
Click to expand...

Whoa!..... DH123 doesn't use the green (F1) wire.......

Unless, as I've suspected but never tested, it's really a "bad F2 output" DH143 (or 163) etc?

Are you really controlling F1/the green output on a DH123?

If so, I'm stoked! I've got a couple in stock :)

Cheers,
Ian
 
Im 99% positive its wired to the Green wire. im 1400 miles away so cant check. I know pressing the F1 button on my throttle turns the beacon on or off..
 


lmackattack said:
....I know pressing the F1 button on my throttle turns the beacon on or off..
Click to expand...

It shouldn't! :D

Seriously, according to the manual at least, the green (F1) and violet (F2) wires are "unused" and don't do anything in the DH123!

*Very* interesting! Anyone else come across the same thing - "Excess" functions on a 123 series decoder?

Cheers,
Ian
 
fast_ian said:
.... Anyone else come across the same thing - "Excess" functions on a 123 series decoder?
Click to expand...

FWIW, I looked at a couple of mine;

- The DZ123 doesn't even have the green & violet leads.
- The DH123 does have both leads, but neither of 'em work - Only F0F & F0R are functional - As expected.

Are you sure it wasn't a DH143?........ ;)

Cheers,
Ian
 
I read about these on another forum...

These 2mm ceramic stem LEDs from Lumex look rather "beacon-like." They are available in red, yellow, orange/red, and green. Looks like the white base could be painted.

SSL-LX203CYT.jpg


Available from Digi-Key and probably other vendors.

- Jeff
 
Those look nice. I took the hard way and widened out a lense from a #126 Details West kit. Slipped a front wired SMD LED into it and secured with superglue. Then drilled a small hole in cab roof and threaded thru a makeshift housing I made from a bell housing (i cut the bell off and sanded it).
 
Artieiii, that actually looks VERY close to the prototype strobes! I think the single on one side and double on the other is what the prototype used!
 
fast_ian said:
FWIW, I looked at a couple of mine;

- The DZ123 doesn't even have the green & violet leads.
- The DH123 does have both leads, but neither of 'em work - Only F0F & F0R are functional - As expected.

Are you sure it wasn't a DH143?........ ;)

Cheers,
Ian
Click to expand...

123 series are two functions only. Forward & reverse headlights. The green & violet wires are there only because they are present on the standard 9 pin JST harness. It would have had to be a 143. Some of the newer decoders allow you to program an effect instead of using the rear headlight, but there are still no functions present for the green & violet wires.
 


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