Problem with Fleischmann decoders on a Digitrax system?

[gavino200]

1 minute ago, chadbag said:

Is that a PD05A decoder?

 

Is that a DH tiny? I only check the numbers when I'm buying them. After that I just give them nicknames. It's their tiniest one. I can look it up if you need me to. I'll have to buy another anyway, as I like to have at least one of these in reserve.

 

I'm going to use the Digitrax function decoder in one of my snow plow units to makes it's lights directional.

[gavino200]

3 minutes ago, chadbag said:

 

Interestingly, if I click this photo, it opens a new window and goes to Hobbysearch to a Tomytec temple.  https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10340728

 

I know. Weird right? 

[chadbag]

Just now, gavino200 said:

 

Is that a DH tiny? I only check the numbers when I'm buying them. After that I just give them nicknames. It's their tiniest one. I can look it up if you need me to. I'll have to buy another anyway, as I like to have at least one of these in reserve.

 

I'm going to use the Digitrax function decoder in one of my snow plow units to makes it's lights directional.

 

Yeah that is the tiny D&H one.  PD05A is the tiny.  DH05C and DH10C are the "regular" ones, the difference being in the current allowed.  The one difference, besides the tiny being much smaller (but thicker due to being double sided), is that the tiny does not support running on DC tracks IIRC.  So be careful there.

[cteno4]

28 minutes ago, chadbag said:

Interestingly, if I click this photo, it opens a new window and goes to Hobbysearch to a Tomytec temple.  https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10340728

 

Gavin put the image on imgur, and gave the image the link to the temple page. Perhaps a copy paste error? Gavin how did you load the imgur photo link?

 

jeff

[gavino200]

6 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

 

Gavin put the image on imgur, and gave the image the link to the temple page. Perhaps a copy paste error? Gavin how did you load the imgur photo link?

 

jeff

 

What happened is that I pasted without copying first. So I pasted the last thing I had copied into the post. After I posted I realized the error and edited the post. There's nothing strange on imgur. I think the JNS software is confused. 

 

It's a nice little anomaly. And it takes you somewhere peaceful - a model of a little temple. So I'm not gonna sweat it. 

[kvp]

1 hour ago, gavino200 said:

I also suspect that the clever Germans may have included the necessary circuitry. It looks very complicated for just a red and white LED.

I actually wired the thing up and it works. Finally my IC is finished!!

It's one resistor per led and maybe a capacitor. If the light board had diodes, then you would have two rail connect pads, usually on the left and right side of the board. If it does have them, then you are using only one of the diodes, which is half wave rectified power. The led bright brightness is at 50%, unless a filter cap smooths it out, which case it's ok. If it has a filter cap and it's connected to the rail without a diode, then it gets charged and discharged at every DCC bit, which is not really a good idea...

[gavino200]

16 minutes ago, kvp said:

It's one resistor per led and maybe a capacitor. If the light board had diodes, then you would have two rail connect pads, usually on the left and right side of the board. If it does have them, then you are using only one of the diodes, which is half wave rectified power. The led bright brightness is at 50%, unless a filter cap smooths it out, which case it's ok. If it has a filter cap and it's connected to the rail without a diode, then it gets charged and discharged at every DCC bit, which is not really a good idea...

 

I may revise it later when I get some diodes. Did you see my question about what diodes to buy?

[kvp]

4 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

I may revise it later when I get some diodes. Did you see my question about what diodes to buy?

Just any old silicon types, like any of the 1N400x series diodes or an equivalent SMD variant (SM400x or Mx series). They are overkill for this use (1A), but very easy to get everywhere. The wiring is one diode each pointing from the track pickups to the common (blue wire) point.

 

ps: You only need these if the board doesn't have the diodes already installed. In that case, you would find two track connection pads beside the yellow and white wire connection pads. A single blue wire pad usually indicates a lack of such diodes.

[chadbag]

32 minutes ago, kvp said:

Just any old silicon types, like any of the 1N400x series diodes or an equivalent SMD variant (SM400x or Mx series). They are overkill for this use (1A), but very easy to get everywhere. The wiring is one diode each pointing from the track pickups to the common (blue wire) point.

 

ps: You only need these if the board doesn't have the diodes already installed. In that case, you would find two track connection pads beside the yellow and white wire connection pads. A single blue wire pad usually indicates a lack of such diodes.

 

Looking at the photo, there are red/black going from track into decoder.  white/yellow going from the decoder to the light board.  And then blue going to a different pad next to the white.  There is an empty not connected pad in the same place next to the yellow.  There are seberal SMD components on the board and then the LEDs.   I can't tell by looking at them if there are diodes in those SMD components, but it looks like it was made to take a red and black track wire on the two pads next to the white and yellow though they are using a common blue to only one of them.

 

Gavin posted the photo earlier in the thread.

 

[cteno4]

1 hour ago, gavino200 said:

 

What happened is that I pasted without copying first. So I pasted the last thing I had copied into the post. After I posted I realized the error and edited the post. There's nothing strange on imgur. I think the JNS software is confused. 

 

It's a nice little anomaly. And it takes you somewhere peaceful - a model of a little temple. So I'm not gonna sweat it. 

 

Ok when you deleted the link it was not all the way gone in the editor and it pasted the imgur photo embed in and attached the old link to it. It can also do this sometimes if you select something like a link and paste something over it, all the visible link text is gone but it ends up picking up the url in the html and wrapping it on the pasted code/url whatever and then the editor software cleans it all up into something odd like this.

 

is a nice serene effect though...

 

jeff