Lighting features do not work for BLI Blueline (SOLVED)

[Coupe633]

Decided to start this as a new thread since it has been a while since I was trying to solve this a while back. I have several Broadway Limited Blueline locomotives (steam) and have had them set up with motion and sound for a while but could never get the lighting to work. I have installed the LM3S to the 8 pin BLI socket using a TCS MC-S1 and connected the speakers with the brown wires on the 6 pin Output and all the sound works just fine. I realized that trying to go through the BLI board for the lighting is not the way to go so I found the wire for the headlight and connected it to the Green Output (6 pin) and set that up in the menus of the HC-2b and selected the proper button function, Green 6 pin output with On/OFF 1 sec function. The headlight does not function at all. Two of my locomotives have a tender light in addition to the headlight and I have connected those to the purple 6 pin Output wire and both Tender Lights function properly but no head light. Yet another one of my BLI Blueline locomotives connected to the Green 6 Pin Output with just a single headlight works just fine. I know which wires goes to the headlight and have tried bypassing the LM-3S with direct track current to just before the inline resistor and the head light works fine so I know it is the correct wire and the LED does function. It seems to be something in the LM-3S that is not set up properly or I may be missing something. The "directional lighting" and the "Auto Ditch Lights on Horn" both disabled. The button type is Light and the button action is Maintained and the Name is On/Off. As mentioned the output is the Green (output 5) 6 pin and I have the brightness at full. Even though by using the 8 pin TCS MC-S1 Harness to connect the LM3S to the BLI board I am bypassing the lighting functions of the board (except the neutral) the output is the 6 pin instead of the 8 pin TCS MC-S1. I am at a loss as why the lighting on one of my locomotives works fine but the other ones do not except for the two with the Tender Light but not the Headlight. Any guidance or suggestions would be welcome and I did get a wiring diagram that was posted back in March 2021 for the BLI locomotives. It seems that the output 5 on the 6 pin is not doing what it is supposed to do.

[nodcc4me]

Although you probably did, you didn't mention whether you set the correct Front Light picture in the settings.

[Coupe633]

Would the icon have anything to do with this? There are several icons with different headlights both steam and diesel. I will try changing that a bit and see if that makes any difference. This doesn't make any difference. There is a headlight for the steam and several for the diesel locomotives.

[nodcc4me]

It might. Some of those buttons must be used to perform the associated function. In your case you may need the left facing headlight button. I tried to post a picture, but N/G.

[William Brillinger]

Have you tried another output from the LM? or tried another light on the green output to test it?

[G8B4Life]

I am bypassing the lighting functions of the board (except the neutral)

Are you sure you have the LED wired the right way? LM's (and DCC decoders) are switched ground for the outputs so the blue wire (and the Blueline board) is positive and the green wire on the LM will be the neural/ground. Just checking...

- Tim

[Coupe633]

Are you sure you have the LED wired the right way? LM's (and DCC decoders) are switched ground for the outputs so the blue wire (and the Blueline board) is positive and the green wire on the LM will be the neural/ground. Just checking...

I wasn't sure what you meant until I scanned in the Ring Engineering Installation Instructions (I hope Ring Engineering is okay with this) and could blow it up a bit and I then realized what you are saying. I have my resistor with the Green wire just as they show here. I am not entirely sure if the blue wire is what is connected as shown in the diagram. Before I clipped the wires for the light I had the locomotive powered up and the light worked and ran just fine with the LM3S installed but I could not control the light. It was just on. I pulled the white clip which held the two wires and then the light did not function. I then knew which wires went to the light. Assuming once is the "+" and the other is the "-" I soldered the resistor to one of the wires that went to the light and the other end of the resistor to the green wire of pin 6 as shown. Unless I have the locomotive wires wrong and it is important for the resistor to go to the proper wire I may have them wrong. After considering this and what you wrote I will switch the wires and have the resistor on the other one and see if that corrects the issue. I may have got it right with one locomotive and not right with the other 4 locomotives I am working on. 6 pin Rail Pro.pdf

[William Brillinger]

Unless I have the locomotive wires wrong and it is important for the resistor to go to the proper wire I may have them wrong.

It is important which wire goes to the common and which goes to the accessory wire. My bet is that you have them backwards.

[Coupe633]

A huge thank you to Bill and Tim for their input on this. Not being an electrical engineer I know enough to get things started but I did not realize that LEDs do have an input and an output side. Unlike incandescent lights, it does matter for LED lights. Having the resistor and the proper side of the LED makes all the difference. I switched the wires to the opposite side and this solved the problem and have gotten the 5 locomotives I wanted to get working finished, just in time for the next  5 modules Bill sent me which will arrive Tuesday. I feel that since I have gotten into Railpro almost 3 years ago (with lots of starts and long stops) I am now grasping the nuances of how to wire things up and program each locomotive for the functions you want. My next challenge will be mars lights and that will be a new topic. Thanks Bill and Tim, you guys helped me a lot.

[William Brillinger]

Glad to hear it is solved!