DCC Lighting without a Decoder.

[stevenh]

OK, It's done...
This article is for everyone with a train where the headlights/taillights are out of reach of the Decoder... The only drawback is that the lights are fixed in one direction.

Here's the link to my blog post on DCC Directional Lighting without a Decoder



So, there is a little component known as a Bridge Rectifying Diode.. it actually consists of 4 Diodes and converts AC to DC voltage. This is used in my construction to convert the AC track voltage to DC voltage to power the head/tail lights.
The wiring is reversed on the DC side of the rectifier for the trailing car to provide the reversed polarity to run the light-board correctly.

This means that the cars are fixed to be a leading/trailing car... and that means you should manually switch them around to run in the opposite direction... but for the mean-time where you don't want to fork out for decoders on either end, it's a feasible option.

Enjoy ;)

The Rectifier installed...



Test run of headlights...


Reverse wiring...


Both done...



And there we have it... now I have no nasty buzzzzzing sounds... no worries about what the effects of AC has on the lighting boards... and proper single-direction lighting!

[Bernard]

And you don't have to do any programing either? It looks a lot easier than a decoder also.
Are you going to be making more of these to sell?
This looks like a neat idea with great results made easy.
Congratulations!

[stevenh]

And you don't have to do any programing either? It looks a lot easier than a decoder also.

There's actually nothing to program at all... as soon as there is voltage on the tracks the lights will come on.

Are you going to be making more of these to sell?

There's nothing to make either... the rectifiers should be purchasable from any reputable electronics store... size dependent on availability.
These cost 84c at our local electronics store, Jaycar.

I can't believe I hadn't thought of doing it this way earlier.

[Martijn Meerts]

That's actually a reasonable option. Most people have a layout that loops around one way or another, which means they won't need to swap the end cars around in the first place.

[stevenh]

Just as a heads up... you don't need to go and fork out for bridge rectifiers either... (although they are usually cheaper than 4 diodes!!)

They're simply a packaged version of 4 diodes in circuit as shown in the following wiring diagram:

...yeah... hotlinked, i wonder when it will break :)

Anyway... you'd simply have to grab 4 diodes in the 1N4### variety (determined dependant on lighting current requirements) and then jam them together, soldered, as closely as possible... I might try this tonight just for fun to see how small I can get it... I'm sure I have some 1N4001 diodes around somewhere.