DCC Locomotive Lighting - A Beginners Guide

I am a beginner with DCC and loco lighting. Having tried to make sense of how to wire up a loco for DCC lighting, I thought a little video may help those who were in the same position as me. This video looks at how to wire up a loco so you can get directional lighting plus looks at the types of lamps that are available to buy for this. I hope it is of help!

[@donbelle7171]

You are one smart chap nobody else has a video showing exactly how to hard wire a decoder especially the lights I didn’t understand exactly what you didn’t understand And now I understand good job

[@me231951]

Great video….. unlike some who use KZbin to air their knowledge you kept it simple, to the point and easy to understand. Thanks

[@Andy-xu7lr]

I have watched a lot of model railway videos on You Tube . None have explained more clearly how to acheive something than your video. As someone who is about to take on a dcc locomotive lighting task. I thank you for taking the time and effort to make this video.

[@stephentempest3073]

Many thanks Paul. Best explanation I've seen. Excellent video. I have been puzzling over this for a long time. I have stalled trying to fit directional lighting to my DCC conversions. You have made it so much clearer. Excellent.

[@ipcress1066]

Thanks for that Stephen, glad it is of some help

[@barbelmeister]

8 years old and still relevant. Fantastic explanation throughout. Thank-you.

[@aitchtee51]

Excellent video, Paul. Very clear, concise instructions. Thanks for taking the time and trouble to make it and help me. Keep 'em coming - you should write a book !

[@IamRobotMonkey]

Thank you for making this. It sucks being a newbie with some things. Nice to know you're not alone!

[@cravensdmufan4449]

A very useful tutorial. Very clearly explained with excellent diagrams. Just what I was looking for as I didn't know how to finally go about putting lights into my old Bachmann Class 158 which I hard wired a decoder a few years ago. Thanks for posting (and apologies for arriving 6 years late to the party!),

[@ipcress1066]

You're welcome, I'd need to rewatch this is I ever add more lighting to my locos as totally forgotten how to do it!

[@RightWing1]

Brilliant video, well explained. I took your diagram and managed to successfully wire white led and red led to my Hornby Class 47 and they work a treat, I now have decent directional lighting that works.

[@RightWing1]

A really helpful video, I used your parallel wiring diagram to tackle my very first loco decoder and light installation into a Class 47, and it worked brilliantly. I have a headed light in direction of travel, which changes correctly when changing direction, and 2 red LED's on the back that switch. Thanks for posting.

[@johnhood9567]

Very comprehensive and instructive - thanks very much for posting!

[@ipcress1066]

Thank you! Eight years ago now... crikey!

[@johnhood9567]

@@ipcress1066 my bad! I often forget to check the time stamp, sometimes with embarrasing consequences! But I think it's all good in this case, this info is still very relevant. Thanks again!

[@milhooz]

Thanks, it’s actually quite simple when you know the trick to power both white and red light with direction of travel. Simple but I could not have figured out without your video, for my defense I have an extra difficulty in that I’m using N scale/gauge and there are only 6 pins on those decoders :-) But you put me on the right track! Thanks!!

[@DavidCrisp]

Fantastically helpful. Crystal clear and east to follow. Please do more!

[@kentaylor8403]

this is brilliant and so perfectly explained, colour detailing drawing of circuitry for simplicity, superb information about the lighting, watch it two or three times. Could not be easier. top marks.

[@raynixon1184]

That was one brilliant video. 100 out of ten, very very easy to follow. Keep them coming, fantastic.

[@TheDaf95xf]

Absolutely brilliant Paul......😊 Great explanation as I looking at putting a cab light in my old Lima shunter 👍🏻

[@liamrms1661]

great video been trying to find someone who knows what they are talking about and you described in great detail thanks

[@michaeljensen8867]

More videos please :) This was the best I have seen on KZbin

[@ernsta.vahlbruch6191]

Thanks very much. Highly instructive and logical. Your educational skills are above average. Cheers.

[@BBCKT]

Thank you for doing this. I have been trying to fully understand the LED wiring out of a decoder as to front and back. Now I know.

[@michaelstanco8508]

Great explanation very clear..i wish everyone would explain things this simply and thouroughly !! mike

[@scotabot7826]

Very Helpful!! Thanks a lot for your efforts. Great thing is, now you can buy the nano and peco led's with the leads already soldered to the led. Very helpful!!

[@jonathanboswall4703]

Hi Paul, great video on lighting with DCC. I myself have finally worked it all out . It’s great when it works. The loco I wired had bi colour led’s on both ends , and that was a challenge Kind regards Jonathan Boswall

[@MrTaz6552]

Still waiting for more! Still the best KZbin video on DCC lighting there is. Would love to see you do more on bi-colour red/white LEDs and fibre optics (I'm n gauge/scale)

[@michaelstanco8508]

I second that motion bi color leds and fiber optics....this is the best video o led...

[@JohnPW22]

That is an excellent guide to dcc lighting, well done and thanks!

[@petermartin175]

JohnPW22 “

[@JOHNALANKAIN]

Hi I am a beginner in DCC an only just found your site and all I can say is thank you ( I have subscribed straight away) you make it look so easy and I did understand . thanks again PAUL

[@markgeerin5928]

great video just what I've been looking for I've got a dc loco with a dc power board in it for directional lighting and a fan motor . Now Iknow what to do thanks to you Paul . I've seach high and low for a video just like yours . Thanks again.

[@IamRobotMonkey]

Thanks hugely for this. Total hero!

[@cprtrain]

Well done. You did a great job. Thanks!

[@sunnyphil7]

Really helpful video. Thanks to this I now have a DCC fitted Tri-ang suburban set with switched headcode :)

[@ipcress1066]

Glad it's helped!

[@paulharrington1140]

excellent explanation Paul, regards Paul

[@shroomy7199]

Very well done Paul thank you

[@TheRoadster700]

Perfect Paul. Thank you. :)

[@guillaumerubens8066]

Thank you. One of the better videos on the subject. Can you share photos of the printouts/drawings of the circuits?

[@sierra61028]

Really useful, thanks for share!

[@anthonywillis5249]

Thank you for putting this video out there. I sometimes find it very hard to understand decoder instruction manuals (I've just about understood cv's for lighting control) This has made it very clear to me. I would just like to know whether you have released your diagrams as pdf's or some other format for download, for future reference. Also did you buy your led with a resister already in it or did you put it there yourself? if so what type of resister do you recommend? If you have done a video of this please direct me. Once again well done for a great video.

[@hovermotion]

Nicely explained..JIm

[@roylegrand9904]

Many thanks for your very thorough and informative explanation which provides such a nice and clear overview of the lighting principles. Very helpful! Just wondering if you'd ever tried to add any sound decoders along with lights?

[@ipcress1066]

Hi there no only ever did with with analogue locos. Best wishes

[@lungocicorneliu1119]

Thanks !

[@Autumn-Hill-TMD]

If you were to add a micro switch on each +IVE to the rear light, would this turn them out and not affect the fronts?

[@kingdong7981]

Perfect :-)

[@jerrywilson7014]

good info for 12V bulbs, needed more info for resistors for LEDs. also I am interested in adding a firebox blinking light to my steam engine and that info would also be nice. Jerry Wilson

[@kentaylor8403]

WATCHED IT AGAIN ! what type of wire should one use for the lighting?

[@simoncook4070]

hi I have a ho loco I used a sound decoder and I wired directional lights and cab light white front and yellow rear and green for cab light the blue is common or power the lights work but when I change the lights directional it affects the cab light I have two risistors one for the directional and one for the cab what do you think I have wrong as when I change the lights it makes the cab light change thanks

[@simonbaxter8001]

10:26 the Loco Front (RED) has the -VE and +VE labelled the wrong way round!

[@fruferSK]

Still a great guide, but I have some doubts... The BLUE wire on left red light in serial setup- how can it be changed to -IVE on just that one light? I am not electrician, just a hobby soldering guy (or how it is called english), but I do not understand it. BLUE wire should be +IVE always, is it not so? Bring me some light into my doubts, please...

[@Noblelox]

It's a bit of a scrappy video, but the information was good. Thanks!

[@Synthematix]

0402 smt for n gauge

[@waldenhouse]

Great explanation. However, when my Red / White is showing bright, the opposite Red / White glows dim, not off altogether. (You don't show any resistors - sorry if I missed it).

[@waldenhouse]

Sticky carpet tape is the best for SMD LEDs. Place them on the sticky side and use single strand "Kynar" wrapping wire available from RS Components and solder on with a very hot iron and just a quick dab using liquid flux as well. There'll be some casualties but do them all at one sitting!

[@marksimpkins5242]

I am having trouble viewing this won't load any ideas.?

[@tomtaylor2037]

If the LED's are not 12v , where do you install the resistors

[@1701_FyldeFlyer]

The resistor has to be on the + positive wire of the led. The +ve wire is usually the longer of the two or will have a flat edge to it.

[@darrenmccoy]

Great show, very helpful. Do many people pronounce L.E.Ds and "leads"?

[@ipcress1066]

I'm always a bit confused by people writing "an LED" so I guess we should be saying an el ee de!

[@MullyDiesel]

No. Pretty much everyone says el ee dee

[@PhantomRC1959]

Fantastic explanation … I’m a nerd and electronic plans are mysteries to me. This time I understood almost everything. BTW, is there a way to obtain those schemes as for reference to start with?

[@ipcress1066]

Hi there, I've no idea how I can send the files to you? Any ideas?

[@PhantomRC1959]

Thanks for answering. You may try to my email adres PhantomRC at Hotmail dot com. TIA

[@paredding]

Its a useful video but would be better if you had fixed the camera in position ie no shaking. An easy way to remember motor wiring is Red & Black - to the Track. Orange and Grey go the other way (Motor)

[@ianturner2229]

You have a problem with your diagrams when showing the "directional - Series" wiring. at the bottom left you show LOCO FRONT (RED) with the connections as -IVE at the top and +IVE at the bottom. I can see that this is becasue all of the icons use the same terminology, but you have the connections crossed, so you are showing a connection from the right (POS) terminal to the POS terminal on the LEFTto cross feed the curcuit. This will not work as it should show the crossfeed from LOCO REAR (WHITE) +IVE going to the LOCO FRONT (RED) -IVE connection,and then the return via the blus coming from the +IVE, as is the case with all other connections. Right now, you wouild have a short circuit. :-))))))

[@russellrattys6581]

That loco would have looked even better if you could have got two bi-directional red/white LED's in each end, then all 4 headlights/tail lights would come on at the same time, this is something i need to do with all my loco's

[@Mumbles19852007]

Being an American, I don't mean to sound like an ass, I have a question. Is head code the same as cab number boards that illuminate at night to identify the locomotive?

[@ipcress1066]

Michael Stillwagner Hi Michael yes you are correct! In the UK headcodes would give information on the type of train to aid signalling but they fell out of use in the 1960s, after that it was quite common to see 0000 displayed

[@Mumbles19852007]

@@ipcress1066 that makes sense. Our train codes are not displayed on the locomotives. They are however on the "train clearance" paperwork/ manifest. I am always learning something new. Thank you sir.

[@ipcress1066]

you're welcome - we're all learning something new here!

[@raquaro1]

I think this is a great video. BUT, I cannot hear it. I am deaf. There seems to be no CC. I really wish there was.