Wobblinwheel Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 I recently purchased my first British locomotive. I stumbled on a Youtube video that depicted the "Mallard" and other class A4 steamers. I thought they were the WILDEST looking engines I's ever seen! I've been modeling US railroads for nearly 30 years (Norfolk & Western, Pennsylvania RR) and I had to have an A4. Anyway, to make a long story longer, my new loco is a Hornby "Railroad" A4 MALLARD that is "DCC fitted". Upon re-programming it to it's new address (6), I attempted to change the START VOLTAGE, usually CV2, to get the loco going before speed step 10, as it is now......NO GO! CV2 didn't change a thing that I could tell. Does UK stuff use a different CV for this?, or not at all? (I notice you guys don't like headlights on your steamers, either!?) I like to program my engines so they just get going at speed step 1. Can I do that with this one? Also, I notice the decoder has the outputs for "lighting". Does anyone know what the voltage output is from this output? I'm looking to find some of those little "lanterns" you Brits call headlights. (a little help here, also) that I would imagine have LED's in them? I saw a vintage video where the "driver" went to work and had to pick-up his "lanterns" from the office so's he could "stick" them on his engine! That just seems so WEIRD to me! (lol) Here in the States, we like to SEE what we're fixing to run over! By the way, prototypically, were those lanterns battery-operated? I didn't see any WIRES. Thanks for any input you might have.....M.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Hi wobblin, for a start, all DCC equipment is the same made to the same NMRA standard, so CV2 will always be Start Voltage. That said, not all decoders support all CVs. And you will find the R8249 decoder fitted to your loco is quite basic. There should be a leaflet about it which shows supported CVs and unfortunately CV2 is not one of them. You would need to replace it with a more capable one. You can do this without having to worry about compatibility, it will work. On headlights, directional lighting is a standard feature on just about any decoder. Headlights are via the white function wire, taillights via the yellow with the blue the common positive. Voltage is 5V so suitable for LEDs, you just need to get the polarity right. They operate automatically depending on the direction your train is going and can be turned on and off, I think F1? They will be exactly the same as you are used to with US decoders, again an NMRA standard thing. You may however find that the decoder in this loco doesn't have wires soldered to the pads on the PCB for lighting, again an economy measure as the loco doesn't have lights fitted. You'll have to check. If the decoder is fitted to a standard 8-pin socket, it will have, but if 4-pin it won't. And if you upgrade to one with CV2 supported, it will definitely have these function output wires too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wobblinwheel Posted October 24, 2014 Author Share Posted October 24, 2014 Hi wobblin, for a start, all DCC equipment is the same made to the same NMRA standard, so CV2 will always be Start Voltage. That said, not all decoders support all CVs. And you will find the R8249 decoder fitted to your loco is quite basic. There should be a leaflet about it which shows supported CVs and unfortunately CV2 is not one of them. You would need to replace it with a more capable one. You can do this without having to worry about compatibility, it will work. On headlights, directional lighting is a standard feature on just about any decoder. Headlights are via the white function wire, taillights via the yellow with the blue the common positive. Voltage is 5V so suitable for LEDs, you just need to get the polarity right. They operate automatically depending on the direction your train is going and can be turned on and off, I think F1? They will be exactly the same as you are used to with US decoders, again an NMRA standard thing. You may however find that the decoder in this loco doesn't have wires soldered to the pads on the PCB for lighting, again an economy measure as the loco doesn't have lights fitted. You'll have to check. If the decoder is fitted to a standard 8-pin socket, it will have, but if 4-pin it won't. And if you upgrade to one with CV2 supported, it will definitely have these function output wires too. Thanks Fish, the decoder has all the necessary wires for lighting to the 8-pin plug. The socket does not, but I can fix that! Thanks again! Now all I need is the lamps........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idlemarvel Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 FYI the default function for lights is F0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graskie Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 @WW Yes, you've got it right now. They were called lamps and originally not worked by battery but kerosine which had to be lit. I don't think we even refer to them as headlights even now with modern diesel and electric stock, but some modernists might correct me on that. Also, we have directional lights operated by electricity, of course nowadays. We have never had extremely bright headlamps, probably because we have never had the same risk of running into a herd of buffalo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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