Author Topic: Working Ditchlights on Athearn F59PHI?  (Read 1184 times)

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MetroRedLine

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Working Ditchlights on Athearn F59PHI?
« on: February 17, 2018, 04:12:04 PM »
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I recently got working ditchlights going on one of my Kato P42s via the Digitrax SDN144K0a sound decoder, which supports 4 functions.
I have a couple of Athearn F59PHIs, both the newer versions with built-in DCC and Tsunami sound. I'm wondering if I can wire working ditch lights to that one?
Looking at the decoder, it's awfully small and I don't see any mention in the instruction manual about any additional functions. Yet I've seen some people install working ditchlights on theirs. How is it possible?
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RBrodzinsky

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Re: Working Ditchlights on Athearn F59PHI?
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2018, 05:20:01 PM »
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The Tsunami decoders do support 4 function outputs, and have a setting for Ditch Light.   Look to see if there is a green and brown wire coming from the decoder (the colors SoundTraxx used).
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MetroRedLine

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Re: Working Ditchlights on Athearn F59PHI?
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2018, 05:58:57 PM »
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The Tsunami decoders do support 4 function outputs, and have a setting for Ditch Light.   Look to see if there is a green and brown wire coming from the decoder (the colors SoundTraxx used).

Hmmm...there doesn't seem to be any wires coming from the decoder aside from the speaker. It's a light board with a bunch of micro components on it.
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peteski

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Re: Working Ditchlights on Athearn F59PHI?
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2018, 06:07:19 PM »
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See if you can find a full manual for that decoder (online) - that should provide info about where the function outputs are.
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MetroRedLine

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Re: Working Ditchlights on Athearn F59PHI?
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2018, 06:44:16 PM »
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See if you can find a full manual for that decoder (online) - that should provide info about where the function outputs are.

I've been looking for this all day. I do see some technical reference documentation (http://www.soundtraxx.com/manuals/tsunami_diesel_technical_reference_0213.pdf) (and there's references to ditchlight functions) and a list of CVs with default values (http://soundtraxx.com/factory/images/athearn/pdf/n-scale/f59phi_n.pdf) but no diagram anywhere of where these outputs are...
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peteski

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Re: Working Ditchlights on Athearn F59PHI?
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2018, 07:41:38 PM »
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That stinks!  Unless someone here has the answer, you'll probably have to contact Athearn or Soundtraxx customer support and ask for some sort of a diagram for that decoder showing where you can access the extra functions.  It is a pain when manufacturers don't have tis type of into readily available.
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ryan_wilkerson

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Re: Working Ditchlights on Athearn F59PHI?
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2018, 12:38:43 AM »
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I'd recommend taking a photo of the decoder and upload here so the experts can take a look!