73 Class Progress

Not much to talk about this week.  On Monday night this week I have spent some time experimenting with the LED light board out of the Auscision 73 Class loco. I first ran the LED light board with two AA batteries.  On Tuesday night after a suggestion from Greg B, I ran the LED light board from a 9V battery. So I was happy with the results.  This helped me decode what each of the 5 wires was to be used for.

I had posted on the aus_model_rail yahoo group a hand drawn picture, but it is included below slightly better drawn in MS-WORD.

 

Today I wired up the front LED light board of the loco of one my 73 class locos.  I already had it running smoothly with an NCE N14SR decoder.  I had a heck of a time with the red wires coming off the LED light board.  So I couldn't get it functioning successfully.  I think I might have applied too much heat and my number board lights no longer light.  At least the white and red marker lights work well.

 

So I then turned my attention to the rear LED light board of the 73 class.  I installed a TCS FL4 4-function light only decoder.  I wired this up to the rear LED light board and its 5 black wires.  This works like a bought one!  I will try my luck and see if I can purchase a new LED light board as a spare part.

 

I still have to change a few settings on the TCS decoder to have it working on the correct function keys, but I'll do that this week sometime.  I will have the NCE decoder set to short address 3 and the TCS decoder to short address 4.  I will then set these two decoders up to the same 4 digit address of the 73 class.  That way I can change each decoder individually, by toggling back and forth between the short address and long address.  That allows me to then still consist the 73 with another loco - maybe even another 73 class.

 

Yesterday I spent a small amount of time in the shed, but it was just too steamy. I had sweat pouring off me. I mixed up about four small batches of plaster and went over a couple of areas to ensure that the plaster was not too weak in a couple of areas.  I just had to call it quits and come back up and watch the motor racing on TV in the house.

I had originally planned to go to the shed today with my daughter so she could help me paint the plaster base for a small area that was plastered over the last few weeks.  She was enthusiastic during the week, but ended up doing some homework.  There is always next week.