Hi all, Today I have fixed the front head light of my MTL GP9 with a Digitrax DZ123M0 decoder. I have desoldered the front SMD LED from the decoder (which was damaged while removing) and reinstalled a new 0603 LED on extension leads. I have used 0.25 mm strong phosphor-bronze wire. to be able to solder thes small LEDs, I have attached a piece of brass wire to my soldering iron tip. The end result:
Question: why use an SMD LED? The original DZ123M0s that I have used T1 LEDs just like the MTL board ( see http://www.digitrax.com/media/apps/products/mobile-decoders/dz123m0/documents/DZ123M0.pdf figure 5). They would be much easier to work with. Mark
Hi Mark, The later DZ123M0 controllers have SMD LEDs installed on top of the controller. The short hood did barely show any light and it was more green colored by the circuit board. Since I still had a couple of white SMD leds I decided to bring the light source closer to the headlight. (I damaged the original SMD LED while removing it...) Now I have a nice bright head light on my GP9. You could also use a 3mm white LED as with the original MTL boards and older DZ123M0.