Accesory ditch lights for ps3 diesel

It's even easier with PS/3.  Many of the sound & chain files for PS/3 have ditch lights already programmed, and you can usually find one that will have the capability.  Also, many of the locomotives will already have the connectors for ditch lights added to the harness, you just have to supply the bare LED's for the actual ditch lights. You will then have ditch lights that actually work prototypically, flashing with the horn and steady for normal running.

The Evan's kit will not be useful here.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

It's even easier with PS/3.  Many of the sound & chain files for PS/3 have ditch lights already programmed, and you can usually find one that will have the capability.  Also, many of the locomotives will already have the connectors for ditch lights added to the harness, you just have to supply the bare LED's for the actual ditch lights. You will then have ditch lights that actually work prototypically, flashing with the horn and steady for normal running.

The Evan's kit will not be useful here.

Thanks John.  This is really good to hear.😀

I'm thinking of using just the two LEDs from the kit since I no longer have any of the LED bulbs.

I'll have to look for a connector.  If none is found , are there  pins I have to access ?  🤔

As you say, the kit is non-alternating.  It is just 2 LEDs wired together (in parallel).  Both are either on or off.  The two components on the board are a diode (to convert track AC voltage to DC which the LEDs need) and a resistor (to limit the high track voltage from blowing out the low-voltage LEDs).

If as GRJ suggests your RK PS3 diesel has alternating ditch light functionality and harness wires installed, you ought to be able to at least re-use the 2 LEDs from your kit.

If for whatever reason you can't use the PS3 ditch light outputs, then there are many inexpensive off-the-shelf circuits/kits that alternate-flash two LEDs...think grade crossing flashers.

Here's the wiring diagram from the PS/3 diesel upgrade kit, you can trace out the wiring and find the ditch lights.  Note that you can even have rear ditch lights, the PS/3 diesel board had tons of outputs for lights.

@stan2004 posted:

If for whatever reason you can't use the PS3 ditch light outputs, then there are many inexpensive off-the-shelf circuits/kits that alternate-flash two LEDs...think grade crossing flashers.

Probably not nearly as satisfactory, having the ditch lights constantly flashing would look somewhat foolish I would expect.

I see no reason that the ditch light functionality of the PS/3 board can't be used, I've added ditch lights to a few engines.

Thanks Stan.

What reliable  source do you use for these items and even just LEDs ? 🤤

Quite some time ago I ordered lights from a site I wasn't familiar with and after almost three weeks I still didn't get my order and my card was charged.     After a month and a half later everthing was resolved......... but no product.    I gave up on LED upgrades for awhile. 😑

I order tons of LED's from overseas through eBay and other sources.  I very rarely have an issue with the orders, don't give up for one experience.

eBay: 202182955470, $2.57 and $1.80 shipping, so they're about five cents each.

Well John....

.....the pin / wire arraingment doesn't match the diagram.

This item is an RK E8 A connected to a non powered A.

No smoke and no troublesome DCS / DCC switch and the rear A unit headlight comes on in reverse.  It could be that I'll have to add pins with wires .    Maybe this unit doesnt have the capability to run the alternating ditch lights on it's own.

I'll try to get some photos today after getting grass cutting and some steaks on the grill. 😉

I think the question is whether the 2 Front Ditch Light wires are installed on the 40-pin harness...and where they run to.

BTW, are you running DCS command or conventional?

FWIW, the ditch lights normally work in conventional or command if they're fitted to factory PS/3 engines.  As stated, most newer Railking just has a jumper between pin-1 and pin-2 to enable DCS all the time.  I've installed a number of DCS/DCC switches for people by just running that jumper through a switch.  On some of the harnesses, the jumper was long enough to cut it and run it directly to the switch without adding wire.

Hey Stan.....and GRJ.....

I'm running Full DCS with remote.

This Railking didn't come with ditch lights.  The non alternating ditch lights were aftermarket using just track power.

These photos might help.

browns and greys go to couplers ( one grey goes to tach reader ) .............orange goes to vol pot and one to tach reader...........blue goes to front A and rear A couplers............yellow and white of course go to speakers .......,greens run to headlights...........purple  goes to that internal connector for the hookup to the rear A ,  the vol pot and the tach reader.

It looks like you'll need some pre-crimped wires to add the ditch lights.  I suspect they are enabled in the sound/chain files as even many steamers seem to have them enabled when I test boards on my test set.

John......I do have a connector from a bad board that I could pull the pre-crimped wires out of.

Which number locations on the pin harness would I have to connect the two LEDs to ?

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Which number locations on the pin harness would I have to connect the two LEDs to ?

Didn't you look at the previous photos?  I posted the diagram of the diesel board from the upgrade kit, then Stan annotated the two pins for the ditch lights.  The anode of the front ditch lights are on pin-5 and pin-39 of the 40-pin connector.  The cathode of all the LED's go back to PCB ground on pin-40.

Sorry GRJ.......

I  just got past figuring how to rub two sticks together to get that bright orange hot stuff started.

Thanks for the help guys. 

I don't know if this helps or simply adds to the confusion but here goes:

So if you have a sacrificial harness with the "magic" crimped pins, you would pop 2 out from the donor and snap them in to unused positions 5 and 39 on the E8 harness.  The two wires go to the "+" (red) wires of your existing ditch light LEDs crudely depicted above.

Then the two "-" (black) wires of your LEDs would be joined together and attach to either position 38 or 40 of the harness.  Those positions are currently occupied but the wires go somewhere!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

...

Probably not nearly as satisfactory, having the ditch lights constantly flashing would look somewhat foolish I would expect.

What's wrong with foolish?  Tell me you haven't driven down the Interstate with some dude in front with his turn signal flashing for 50 miles? 

I proclaim no expertise of prototypical RR operations but note how DCS has a setting where the ditch lights are constantly flashing.

@Dallas Joseph posted:

...

I'm running Full DCS with remote.

This Railking didn't come with ditch lights.  The non alternating ditch lights were aftermarket using just track power.

Understood on using DCS command control.  If guidance is what you seek, I'm thinking we've got to figure out how to use the PS3's built-in alternating ditch light function...rather than an alternating LED circuit module from wherever.  To GRJ's point, if you use an external/after-market alternating LED flasher (such as might be used in a crossing flasher) then it will either be flashing or OFF.

I'm no DCS guru, but I think something you might try sooner than later is to see if you can even access the Ditch Light control menu on your RK E-8 as is.  I was under the impression that DCS engines might not allow you to access certain features on the DCS remote if the engine is NOT equipped with those features.  If such is the case for Ditch Lights, then you'd have to upgrade the engine's parameters which typically means finding, say, a Premier version of the E-8 that has operating Ditch Lights and using the TIU to re-program your RK E-8 with the Premier version's soundset/chain-file.

So can you use your DCS remote on your RK E-8 and even "reach" the menu that allows you to turn on/off the non-existent Ditch Lights and/or set the mode?

Stan and GRJ...........

..........just finished getting the grass cut.   Going to get a couple adult beverages and throw a couple Omaha sirloins on the grill.      Really wish you guys were here to show some real gratitude for what you helped me get through.

Just to show how much I enjoy this work , I'm going to have to get the LEDs to give this RK some marker lights.

Much thanks guys.

@stan2004 posted:

I'm no DCS guru, but I think something you might try sooner than later is to see if you can even access the Ditch Light control menu on your RK E-8 as is.  I was under the impression that DCS engines might not allow you to access certain features on the DCS remote if the engine is NOT equipped with those features.  If such is the case for Ditch Lights, then you'd have to upgrade the engine's parameters which typically means finding, say, a Premier version of the E-8 that has operating Ditch Lights and using the TIU to re-program your RK E-8 with the Premier version's soundset/chain-file.

So can you use your DCS remote on your RK E-8 and even "reach" the menu that allows you to turn on/off the non-existent Ditch Lights and/or set the mode?

It all depends on the sound/chain files in this case.  Like I said, I've seen many steam boards that have the ditch lights enabled, and they don't have anything in the menu for them.  However, when you toot the whistle, the ditch lights flash on the test set just like if it were a diesel.  Obviously, they're not actually connected to anything, but clearly the code is still present in the sound/chain files.

Also, you are 100% correct, many times I load different sound/chain files to add features that aren't available on the low cost model.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Here's the wiring diagram from the PS/3 diesel upgrade kit, you can trace out the wiring and find the ditch lights.  Note that you can even have rear ditch lights, the PS/3 diesel board had tons of outputs for lights.

Probably not nearly as satisfactory, having the ditch lights constantly flashing would look somewhat foolish I would expect.

I see no reason that the ditch light functionality of the PS/3 board can't be used, I've added ditch lights to a few engines.

@stan2004 posted:

I don't know if this helps or simply adds to the confusion but here goes:

So if you have a sacrificial harness with the "magic" crimped pins, you would pop 2 out from the donor and snap them in to unused positions 5 and 39 on the E8 harness.  The two wires go to the "+" (red) wires of your existing ditch light LEDs crudely depicted above.

Then the two "-" (black) wires of your LEDs would be joined together and attach to either position 38 or 40 of the harness.  Those positions are currently occupied but the wires go somewhere!

@stan2004 posted:

Understood on using DCS command control.  .........................................  I was under the impression that DCS engines might not allow you to access certain features on the DCS remote if the engine is NOT equipped with those features.  If such is the case for Ditch Lights, then you'd have to upgrade the engine's parameters which typically means finding, say, a Premier version of the E-8 that has operating Ditch Lights and using the TIU to re-program your RK E-8 with the Premier version's soundset/chain-file.

So can you use your DCS remote on your RK E-8 and even "reach" the menu that allows you to turn on/off the non-existent Ditch Lights and/or set the mode?

Well guys , no results.🤔

Used donor wired pins to # 5 and # 39 .  Good continuity from those wires to each of the bulbs ( + )..........soldered ( - ) from bulbs to #40 wire that was used for headlight ground.

The pins appeared to be seated properly but I only did a continuity check to the bulbs from the top of the pins.   I  didnt pull the board to see about continuity.

Everything worked normally on the two A units using the remote.   I tried each one of the ditchlight selections on the remote but didn't get any light at all. 

Just for G.P.  I  retested the bulbs with the aftermarket board and they still worked.

I guess this unit doesn't have ditchlight capability.

The board clearly has the capability, you just have to find a sound/chain file set that also has it.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

The board clearly has the capability, you just have to find a sound/chain file set that also has it.

.......sound / chain file.... ?

PS/3 locomotives have a sound file and also a chain (FLASH) file.  They go somewhat together, though you can do some mix/match with them.  The DCS Loader has a FLASH load capability to load the chain files.

All the diesel boards are created equal, so any PS/3 diesel board has the capability to drive ditch lights.

Not familiar with the DCS loader or how this is done.................. It sounds like a new adventure for me on these trains  John.

What and where can I  get :         Rev L  TIU cables  .....USB  and sterio male to male sound cable

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

PS/3 locomotives have a sound file and also a chain (FLASH) file.  They go somewhat together, though you can do some mix/match with them.  The DCS Loader has a FLASH load capability to load the chain files.

All the diesel boards are created equal, so any PS/3 diesel board has the capability to drive ditch lights.

I have the Rev L  TIU and need some info on where i can secure the USB cable and the micro input to input cables so I can experiment with the DCS loader.

"micro input to input cables"?  What are those?

The USB cable is a bog standard USB A to B cable, they're available all over the place, it's likely the most common USB cable sold.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

"micro input to input cables"?  What are those?

The USB cable is a bog standard USB A to B cable, they're available all over the place, it's likely the most common USB cable sold.

The micro stereo speaker connections that had male ends that the loader video showed having to be connected on the TIU before powering it up.

That's only for updating the software on the TIU, you never use that stereo cable for any other purpose.

Thanks John.

All I need to do now is get that USB cable and try to learn the process.

If you have Barry's DCS O Gauge Companion 3rd Edition, you're all set.

Just the 5th Edition DCS OPERATORS MANUAL.

Let me have your DCS O GAUGE Companion 3rd Edition.🙂

Related to this ditch light blog, I noticed something unusual about some of my MTH engines with ditch lights.  One of my diesel engines from 2007 has ditch lights that are constantly on and flash when you blow the horn.  However, my newest two engines run with the ditch lights off and only come on to flash with the horn.  The only settings on these two engines are "off" and "auto".  With "auto", it is like I mentioned, no ditch lights illuminated until the horn blows and then they flash.  Why would MTH have changed the program that you cannot have the ditch lights on with the flashing option when the horn blows?  Is there a way to make them like the old version with the current ps/3 diesel boards?

Ron

if you can install the ps2 3 volt sound files in the ps 3 engines but I'm not sure if you can then is possible otherwise it's not !

Alan

@RON ARNDT 091718 posted:

Related to this ditch light blog, I noticed something unusual about some of my MTH engines with ditch lights.  One of my diesel engines from 2007 has ditch lights that are constantly on and flash when you blow the horn.  However, my newest two engines run with the ditch lights off and only come on to flash with the horn.  The only settings on these two engines are "off" and "auto".  With "auto", it is like I mentioned, no ditch lights illuminated until the horn blows and then they flash.  Why would MTH have changed the program that you cannot have the ditch lights on with the flashing option when the horn blows?  Is there a way to make them like the old version with the current ps/3 diesel boards?

Ron

Might be different in different sound files.  FWIW, always on and flash with the horn is prototypical, that's how the 1:1 engines manage the ditch lights.

FWIW, not all the PS/3 of limited the ditch light options, I happen to have the MTH Premier GE EVO engine on the turntable, I fired that one up.  It has all the options, OFF, AUTO, ON, FLASHING for the ditch lights.  What specific locomotive are we talking about?

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

DARN  ............ I  DON'T  HAVE  A  MARKER FOR  JOHN  WICK  !!!  😉

John - sorry for the delay in getting back to you.  Got busy with Military Honors duties and yard work.  The two engines in question are 30-20342-1 Santa Fe Dash 8, and 30-20512-1 EMD SD79ACe Demonstrator.

Ron

Look for some similar Premier models, they're more likely to have the capability.