interior lighting and dcc

[full maxx]

well dcc hook up and the lights in the pass. cars do flicker and the bulbs do get hot so I need to figure out a cure for this...maybe the resistors like mentioned above

[full maxx]

concerning the Acela Express w/o a decoder...can it be ran as #10  on ez command with out damage, I have read that older locos will not take the track power from the ddc system but it is dcc ready as in it just needs a decoder plugged in or should it not be ran w/o a decoder

[ABC]

You can run it on address 10, but do not leave it idling for more than a minute, or run it for a extremely long period of time as it may also cause the motor to overheat.

[jdw3rd]

I found this thread helpful (in combination with a couple calls to Bachmann USA (215)-533-1600) and thought a summation might help:

The current ACELA kit is a DCC "A" (powered) Unit and a dumb "B" (non-powered) Unit with three cars: Club, Business and First Class.

When run with the "out of the box" DC Controller ALL lights respond to throttle input as do both the "A" and "B" Unit Head and Ditch lights.  "A" and "B" Head lights also change from white to red according to direction of travel.  All this is due to the voltage/current on the rail and the polarity of the rails.

On a DCC track the behavior is:  The "A" Unit is the only piece where the lights will recognize the DCC "Function 10" and reverse of direction.  Club, Business and First Class cars interior lights will ALWAYS be on as the track is always "hot".  "B" Unit Head and Ditch lights will NEVER come on as they are not connected to ANY DCC module (and therefore know nothing about "Function 10").

On any DCC layout I'd think cutting power at the wall outlet (or the equivalent) when not in use would be advisable or else the rails will stay "hot" pushing up the electric bill and presenting the potential for inadvertent cross-rail shorts.

[Doneldon]

maxx-

You can put an inexpensive, non-motion control decoder in your passenger cars to control their lights. One decoder will be needed per car unless you will keep the cars forever coupled in which case one decoder will work for the whole shebang. Just wire the lights together between cars. If you connect the power pick-ups as well you can eliminate problems with flickering lights as you'll have many pick-ups spread over a long distance. If you decide to use individual decoders in your cars, use the same address for each and you'll be able to turn the whole train on and off with a single signal. (Sorry.)

You'll pull a lot of power if you connect all of your cars together using one decoder, maybe enough to exceed the decoder's output. This would be most likely with incandescent lights but I can imagine eight or nine cars with three to five LEDs each also nearing a decoder's capacity. If that's the case (do the math with your decoder and lights or experiment) you can use one decoder per three or four cars instead. Having fewer cars wired together will also make handling them a little easier when you must remove them from the railroad.

                                                                                                                          -- D