The small 1.5-volt bulb is the easiest to use, but it will need a
dropping resistor, since decoder lighting functions deliver 12
volts. A 1/16” drill works well for the 1.5 volt bulb and you may
need to drill the backup light as well.
CAUTION!
Drill slowly and gently, or you will rip the headlight
off its bracket!
TIP:
on any engine with two headlights, use the same lighting
for both of the lights, either LEDs or bulbs. An LED next to an
incandescent bulb looks odd and not prototypical. A white fire-
box LED can be placed at the rear/center of the firebox on oil-
burning engines, but after you determine the best spot for it, it
will be easier to mount it if it is wired first.
If your engine has interior cab detail and a full backhead, a light
mounted on the cab ceiling is easy to wire up, and looks cool
when the engine is standing still at night. We will cover the actual
wiring of the lights in the section, Soldering and Splicing Wires.
Loco/tender cable
You will need to determine a safe path for the cable to the ten-
der. This is a critical part of the job, and if not done properly,
can cause derailments and other weird problems!
In 99% of decoder installations, with the decoder in the engine
and a tender with a backup light, a four-wire cable will do the job
– you need two wires to the speaker, two wires to the backup
light. However, if the decoder must be mounted in the tender
or if space is at a premium, TCS makes a subminiature six-wire
“An LED next to an incandescent bulb looks
odd and not prototypical.”
