Peteski and Co: Deciphering light board...

[lashedup]

I still haven't learned how to read these things yet.

So I've got this light board in a kato unit that has a red LED on top and a white LED on the bottom for forward and reverse lights that I need to hook up to the light functions on a decoder (Front white and rear red):



When both LED's are lit it looks like this:



Here is the top of the board with the red LED:



and here is the bottom of the board with white LED:




So I need to hook up a DCC decoder to provide white LED in forward motion and red LED in backwards motion.

Help me Obiwan, you're my only hope...

[RBrodzinsky]

I have diagrammed this board, think it is the same one,  in the second post here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=42777.0

[MK]

What loco/car is this?

[peteski]

Rick's info is accurate, but might be a bit overwhelming for someone not familiar with electronic circuits.

Here are specific instructions on how to modify the board to hook up an external decoder.

As shown, cut the 4 traces at the black lines. That isolates the circuit from the brass contact strips in the car.
Install a short wire jumper (green line) between the resistor and the via (plated hole in the PC board).
Attach the common positive (blue) wire from the decoder where indicated.
Attach the the decoder's function outputs to the white and red LEDs as shown in purple.
This install uses the resistors included on the Kato board (560 ohms).  But those might result in the LEDs being too bright.  If that is the case, replace those resistors with 1000 ohm resistors.

[lashedup]

Thanks much guys!

[lashedup]

What loco/car is this?

Something completely different for me. Kato Shiki Shima 001. I don't own any other Japanese equipment, but the designer of this train is the guy that designed the Ferrari Enzo (Ken Okuyama) and I met him years ago at an event in LA through the car industry. Long story short, I had one of these sent to me and figured I'd try and install sound in it which turned out to be a big PITA. Not difficult, just expensive and time consuming.

This model is probably Kato's finest to date though. The amount of little detail is incredible and well done.  Plus the prototype train is crazy luxurious...

Anyway, it turned into a big distraction when I have a million other things to do. Back on track...

Thanks again for the assistance on the circuit board guys.

[peteski]

Very cool!  Thanks for the video. It looks and sounds awesome!  That sure is a unique-looking train.  I'm surprised to see a Diesel powered Japanese passenger train. I thought they were all electric (but I'm not very familiar with Japanese trains).

I'm curious as to what sound file you used for it.

[lashedup]

Very cool!  Thanks for the video. It looks and sounds awesome!  That sure is a unique-looking train.  I'm surprised to see a Diesel powered Japanese passenger train. I thought they were all electric (but I'm not very familiar with Japanese trains).

I'm curious as to what sound file you used for it.

It is a diesel electric hybrid that runs full electric and then tucks the pantographs and runs full diesel when not in electrified areas.

I found one or two videos online from rail fans in Japan of this train running diesel and it sounded more truck-like than any of the diesels we have here (the diesel units on the ends were built by Kawasaki Industries). Since DCC isn't as popular in Japan, there aren't too many sound files available that specifically match their prototypes. I ended up listening to nearly all the european sound files and ended up using a Siemens Vectra diesel/electric hybrid loco sound file. The Siemens unit uses MTU diesels which sound closer to the Kawasaki units in the Shiki Shima. Just don't use some of the advanced F button numbers as they trigger German-speaking trains station announcements.  

[peteski]

It is a diesel electric hybrid that runs full electric and then tucks the pantographs and runs full diesel when not in electrified areas.

I found one or two videos online from rail fans in Japan of this train running diesel and it sounded more truck-like than any of the diesels we have here (the diesel units on the ends were built by Kawasaki Industries). Since DCC isn't as popular in Japan, there aren't too many sound files available that specifically match their prototypes. I ended up listening to nearly all the european sound files and ended up using a Siemens Vectra diesel/electric hybrid loco sound file. The Siemens unit uses MTU diesels which sound closer to the Kawasaki units in the Shiki Shima. Just don't use some of the advanced F button numbers as they trigger German-speaking trains station announcements.

Thanks for the info. I was just thinking to myself that the Diesel sound was more like a truck engine than a locomotive. It now makes sense.  If you could edit that sound project, you could insert your own Japanese station announcements. 

[RBrodzinsky]

When I was routinely traveling to Japan for work, about 15 years ago, we would leave Tokyo Central on a combined train: all electric in front, combo diesel electric in rear. Head north to Fukushima, where the train would split. We would then head west over the mountains to a smaller city where our partner in the project was (if we needed to be at their labs). Always fun to notice the changes in running from the high speed to a more “normal” train.

The model looks fantastic, as does the prototype. My wife wanted to know why we couldn’t have had a bathroom sink like that on our California Zephyr trip a few years ago.

[lashedup]

Proto diesel sound...

Idles higher/faster.  Sounds like a couple of diesel generators running at once.