Retrofitting lights on Class 373 Eurostar

[Smudge617]

I just want to check with the more experienced members here before I do something stupid.

I have a Class 373 Eurostar, DCC, fitted with a Hornby R8249 decoder, This is the older version 373, with no working lights or wiring and am thinking of doing a retrofit.

Am I correct in thinking in order to do this I would have to cut the necessary wiring from the plug end of the decoder (white=F/Headlights, Blue=Common etc) or am I thinking this all wrong ?

[Chrissaf]

Am I correct in thinking...........I would have to cut the necessary wiring from the plug end of the decoder......

 

Not quite.

 

They way you have phrased your question, it infers that there is already [or you have fitted or intend to fit as part of a conversion] a socket into which the 8 pin decoder plug inserts.

 

It would be far better to add extra lighting wires to the socket pins so that you can keep the decoder plug intact. There is no point in having half the decoder connected via a plug and socket and the other half 'hard wired'.

 

This schematic shows the principle:

/media/tinymce_upload/dc0f2da47d1b11b0473f9f549ffb7fe5.jpg

[Smudge617]

Hi, sorry I didn't make myself clear, (I'll get in right someday) so my apologies.

It does have a factory fitted socket, not sure my skills are up to doing soldering on such a small scale, but yes, I see what your sayng, I have an old plug somewhere so I'll practice on that, if that doesn't work it will have to be either cut the wires (not a good idea, as you say) or splice into them,(also not a ideal solution) many thanks I'll try your suggeston first and see how it goes.

[96RAF]

The only thing to beware of when soldering to the socket is inadvertant bridging of the pin tracks.

 

Hornby stand alone sockets are not very good and the individual pins can unsolder and become misaligned as you rework them. A tip I found works when soldering to these sockets is to fit a blanking plug into the socket, which will hold the socket pins in alignment as you solder your extra wires on the underside.

  

Based on it being a typical stand alone socket per SS 325, remove the two screws holding the socket in place in the chassis. Turn it over and you will see that the four outer pins are wired to the front and rear bogie track pickups and to the motor.

 

You need to solder your lighting kit wires to the empty inner four pins as per Chris’ diagram. The socket tracks are fairly large so easy to solder to, but as stated check with a meter for any bridging by solder.

 

/media/tinymce_upload/d2547d752b65d242e9290d8099bea640.png