I've got 2 N scale Atlas D8-40CW with the working ditch lights. The first engine had a NCE decoder and I was able to wire up, change CV's and get them to operate properly. I switched out to a Digitrax DN163A0 board and switched out the wires and the lights lit up really bright then burnt out. I know the LED's got fried. I did not add a resistor to the NCE board and they operated fine so I figured I didn't need to add a resistor to the Digitrax board. I now have a second D8-40CW, same setup with a Digitrax board and I'm intimidated to hook up the ditch lights on this one in fear I will fry the board again. I've checked Atlas parts and a new ditch light board with the 2 little LED's is rather pricey. Is there anyone that has installed a Digitrax board into their D8-40CW and could point me in the right direction as to how to wire this up with no damage?!? I've searched the DCC forum on here and tried searching Google with several different keywords and came up with nothing. The only useful thing I came up with was a how-to on the TCS site which their board is a little different and I noticed they did not add any resistors to their installation either. Thanks to anyone who can help me out!!
The NCE decoder might have also. So to figure out what resistor you need, you'd have to know the power draw of the LEDs and the output of the functions. I left my units with the NCE boards, don't have any issues with them.
I didn't like the NCE boards and 98% of my fleet and my controller are Digitrax so I wanted them all to be the same so I sold the 2 NCE decoders. The lights properly functioned on the NCE board but I didn't like other features. I think I can find the output of the F pads from the Digitrax site, as far as the power draw of the LED's, I have no idea where to get that information. It is the little board that is mounted on the front of the mechanism. Maybe if I write Atlas an e-mail, they could tell me the power draw of them
