New Acela Locomotives

[murfling]

I saw an advertisement in Historic Rail for a new set of Acela locomotives with DCC on board.  Do these control the directional lighting of both units? My issue with the ones I have is the dummy units lights are on all the time, and the DCC just controls the power unit.  Any thoughts around this?

[James Thomas]

Expensive solution? -- put a decoder in the dummy.

Cheap solution? -- run wires from dummy lights to decoder in powered unit.

-JRT

[CAB_IV]

Expensive solution? -- put a decoder in the dummy.

Cheap solution? -- run wires from dummy lights to decoder in powered unit.

-JRT

thats a 6 car train (prototypically) with $50 each cars, and a lot of work that would be in a precarious position. 

You can buy really cheap Lighting-Only decoders (built for just this situation) for $15/$20.   Its a whole lot less work, and all you have to do is program it so that the dummy  is either in consist or is the same as the locomotive.   Its MUCH easier that way, and you won't have to damage your cars.   


I really have to reccomend Train Control Systems (TCS) lighting decoders.  they are some of the better decoders out there (they beat Digitrax by miles),  and their customer service truly is unbeatable (if anything goes wrong, they will exchange it no questions asked, no money payment required).