After cutting the wires, you’ll need to figure out which one is
the cathode (+, to blue wire) and anode (-, to white wire). I do
this by unwinding about 1/2” of the wire, remove the insula-
tion by running the wires through a blob of hot solder (which
also tins them), and then use a 9-volt battery and a 1K resistor
to test which wire is which. I hook the resistor to the negative
post of the battery, hold one of the LED wires on to the end of
the resistor, and touch the other wire to the positive battery
terminal. If the LED lights, you know which wire is which. If it
doesn’t, reverse the wires, and now it should light. If it doesn’t
light at all, you might have a defective LED, though I’ve yet to
have a bad one from Richmond Controls.
I don’t use a rear light because I run my diesels in consists
of three, meaning that I always have one engine facing each
N scale sound - 9
25
25. The RS-11 frame and LokSound decoder.
26
26. Cut the wires to length,
stripping and tinning them
before installing the decoder.
27
27. The LED is installed.
MRH-Dec 2014
