DCC Decoders for coach cars ie. interior lights

[gavino200]

I'm curious what the price tag would be for adding decoders to control the interior lights of a train. For example a 10 car train. AFAIK the decoder could be extremely basic. Just one function. Two pick-up wires and two output wires.  Small size would be a plus, but obviously that would effect price.

 

Does anyone know what would be the cheapest decoder out there that would fit this description? 

Edited February 20, 2018 by gavino200

[katoftw]

Kato FR11 runs at 1500 yen full price no tax no discount.  So it can be had for cheaper if you shop around.

[Kiha66]

Kato has one actually, a drop in for their lighting kits part FR11.  They can be picked up for a little over $10 each when they come into stock, but as they are between productions the prices are much higher.  I never bothered myself as an extra $10 a car adds up pretty quickly.

[gavino200]

18 minutes ago, Kiha66 said:

Kato has one actually, a drop in for their lighting kits part FR11.  They can be picked up for a little over $10 each when they come into stock, but as they are between productions the prices are much higher.  I never bothered myself as an extra $10 a car adds up pretty quickly.

 

Do you know if they can be turned on/off independently of the cab lights? I'm guessing yes but just want to make sure. 

 

I agree about the price adding. I don't think I'd do it on all my trains. Maybe a couple of favorites that I have out a lot.

 

I may decide not to to this if I get Kato lights to work right, or if I figure out how to turn down the TORM lights (a lot). 

 

I think it would be cool to turn the lights off when the train is in the yard. 

Edited February 20, 2018 by gavino200

[gavino200]

Is there anything out there even cheaper than $10? Although 10 bucks for something designed to fit, sounds good.

[Kiha66]

A cheaper option might be to add insulators to the yard leads for each track, and switches on the power feeds so you can just turn off the yard tracks.  This is what my club uses for their stations and yards, which also has the benefit of securing the train from accidental movement.  According to the English instructions for the FR11, the default key to toggle the lights is F1 but can be reprogrammed to respond to a different key as well by changing CV61 and 64.

[gavino200]

I'll have to open my Series 500 up to adjust the TORMS sooner than I'd hoped. Either paper filters or resistors.  I wanted to put it off for a while but the retinal searing glow bugs me too much.

 

 

[kvp]

I would like to add that it's possible to set the decoders up to use F1-Fxx, so each car has a dedicated function button on the same address as the motor and the cabs. For a standard emu, this isn't really needed, but for sleeper trains, even multiple lights per car might be good. (for example on 3 or 4 functions for the whole train to simulate various compartements having the lights on or off) Digitrax lighting decoders with 4 outputs are great for this, but they need multi led lights to work and it could get expensive pretty fast.

[Ochanomizu]

Hello,

 

See discussion here: What I need to light up my Kato Roster

[gavino200]

On 2/19/2018 at 11:41 PM, Kiha66 said:

A cheaper option might be to add insulators to the yard leads for each track, and switches on the power feeds so you can just turn off the yard tracks.  

 

I did this today, and I love it. Thanks for the idea!