I have a Budd RDC partially converted to DCC via pulling the light board and soldering directly to the power pickups and motor contacts (I haven't had any luck wiring directly to the light board for some reason). And it moves backwards and forwards on command, which is nice. But, when I began to wire the headlights I realized I didn't know which one got the blue wire and which got the yellow/white one. I could just experiment and figure it out by trial and error, but I don't know how well those SMD LEDs respond to reverse polarity. They're probably OK with it, but since they're fairly solidly glued to the frame, I decided to ask here first before damaging something I can't repair. So, which of those copper strips leading to the lights gets the blue wire and which gets the yellow/white ones?
Hi what kind of Budd do you have? The electric boards from the 1. series and the 2. series are diffrent. I think, it works like this Also look at the cooper stripes, maybe you must isolatet these parts
Thanks Jurgen, I'm converting a New Haven, which was one of the first RDCs they released, so I guess I have a series 1 (the bottom of the frame is different). I didn't even realize they had 2 different series now (I've been away from trains for a little while). It looks like both the yellow and white wire go on the side with the egg shaped thing next to the rectangle (or whatever the technical train term is). Should I assume the series 1 work the same way? That's an interesting conversion you have there. I'd love to hear more about what you did. I'm not planning to put a cabin light in, at least not for now in this one, what LED/resistor did you use? Is that a Velmo board? I have one of those in a Marklin, it works great. I wish I could say the same about the loco itself, but I think it just needs to be cleaned.
Hi drken The Leds are the original lights and the decoder ist am Digitrax with sound for an Kato GP35 in N scale I try to make some pics from the diffrent Budds
Wow, I just assumed those wires were for a cabin light. I guess that explains why you didn't use the blue wire for it. I never even considered using a N-scale decoder to get on-board sound. I'm very impressed and I'll definitely have to look into trying that. Very clever. Hopefully, Digitrax will be inspired by your example and start making sound decoders in Z.
Hi Mark Ves, my first Budds (Boston&Maine) are changed to Amtrak and they get at first an Tran Decoder CT76. For another Loco I need the Tran (for Light effekts) and so I changed the Tran to D&H. For a better run (both Budd are running together) , I connected them with wires. These is also palned with the new Budd (TRE), my first TRE with sound runs ok, but the sound stopps at every turnout or dirt. So I get the second TRE last week and now I need a second sound decoder aso....
Jürgen, Thanks for the info. I followed your earlier thread and I'm planning to duplicate your work for the new SP Budd. I'd also like to do the same for my WP RDC2s but hadn't had the chance to compare the differences between the to versions. I'm also looking at adding the taillight on the units. Thanks, Mark
I didn't realize there was an earlier thread on this, it didn't come up in my search (I have to learn to use better search terms). At least now I got to see/hear a video of the Budd in action. Great job, Jurgen!
drken, If you haven't found it: http://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/azl-budd-with-sound.105248/#post-1013645 Mark
Thanks Mark, but I searched Jurgen's threads to find it and saw the video there. However, I gave wiring the lights a shot and got some weird, but hopefully explainable results. I wired it the way Jurgen did, with both the white and yellow wire on the side of the egg and rectangle. The blue is hooked up on the strip next to the white wire and I put a jumper between the copper strips on the blue wire side. Here's what happens: When the throttle is set to idle, stop, or moving both lights go on when in reverse. In forwards, neither of them light when it's in idle or moving. But, when stopped both lights go on when in forwards. Also, neither light goes on at all if only the yellow wire is connected. I haven't tried it with only the white one yet. The Budd will still move in either direction and both LEDs work so I haven't broken anything (yet). But what does this mean? My MTL GP9 works fine, so I know the DCC system still works (DCC++), so all I have is odd light behavior on this train for now. Anybody have any idea what's up?
