Sapphire and Flicker?

[Wobblinwheel]

I getting ready to install my new Hornby R8245 Sapphire decoder into my new "Golden Eagle" A4 loco. Since the decoder seems to have multiple outputs for lighting and effects, I'm thinking about having a "firebox flicker", but I have questions: The literature with the R8245 seems to not have any sign of a wiring diagram to tell me wnich leads to use for lighting, or the functions assigned to those leads. Also, since the decoder is in the tender, does this mean I have to run extra wires to the loco to operate the "flicker"? Also, I can see nothing that tells me the voltage or amp load required for this lighting. On most of my other locos/decoders I've been using simple 6 volt tiny bulbs, and they work fine (I have tons of bulbs). Since they just flicker, they don't get hot, and they seem to look more realistic than LED's. Surely, there must be more availlable info for this decoder somewhere......right?

[96RAF]

@wobbly

The Sapphire wiring is standard NMRA 8 pin wiring for a 4-function decoder, plus the free purple wire, so you have Blue for common positive, switched negatives as follows, White and Yellow directional lighting on F0, Green on F1 and Purople on F2.

 

The downloadable leaflet for the Sapphire tells you which CVs to play with to enable the ligthing special effects, but it may depend upon your loco if these will all work as some diesels in particular were wired switched positive not negative. No way of easily working it out except byu magnifier on the circuit board and a bit of pcb knowledge. I couldn't get strobe and flicker to work on my Class 56 for instance.

 

I would think your A4 is basic track to motor wiring via the outer 4 positions on the 8-pin socket. And yes you may have to run additional wires from the decoder socket as the inner 4 positions may not even have any wires to them yet.

[Wobblinwheel]

Thanks, RAF. I should have supposed the wiring should've been "standard", but I wasn't sure. I haven't even counted the wires from the tender to loco yet. Would be nice if it was all eight...or nine...edit: it's a bit of a shame these more "modern" offerings don't accomodate locomotive wiring for possible lighting effects. I would guess this is becoming more popular, as people are paying big bucks to have it done! Would be much more "user-friendly" to have wiring provided, and even a schematic for optional lighting. Makes sense to me....

[Fishmanoz]

If you use one of your 6V lamps, you'll need a resistor in series to drop the voltage, play with values until you get the brightness you want, and it will also limit current for you.  And you won't have to worry about polarity as you would with a LED.

 

PS.  Thought this was a children's story about horses when I first saw the thread title.

[Wobblinwheel]

If you use one of your 6V lamps, you'll need a resistor in series to drop the voltage, play with values until you get the brightness you want, and it will also limit current for you.  And you won't have to worry about polarity as you would with a LED.

 

PS.  Thought this was a children's story about horses when I first saw the thread title.

Sapphire was a good old girl. Passed on in'69 of old age.. Flicker, on the other hand, expired during surgery whilst attempting to remove the light bulb lodged in her a.....