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RailPro Specific Help & Discussion / Re: RP lighting question - fried circuit?
« Last post by gregeusa on February 10, 2026, 11:54:12 AM »
What about just testing the LEDs in place first?
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RailPro Specific Help & Discussion / Re: RP lighting question - fried circuit?
« Last post by G8B4Life on February 10, 2026, 03:57:53 AM »
It can't hurt to try and replace the LEDs as Espeelark suggested (or just remove the ones that didn't have resistors) and see if the lighting then works again. Ideally, as in an ideal circuit the LEDs that had the resistors should have been protected by those resistors and should still work if the common (+ blue wire) has not been damaged. Without knowing how Ring does protection, if any, on the LM it could be possible that you've killed whatever's supplying the common in that very brief overcurrent moment between when you turned on the LEDs without resistors and when the LEDs went out.

As for how the outputs work, they are switched ground, with the common (+v) always present on whatever you've got hooked up to the outputs. I imagine there is only one source supplying this so if you've killed this source then that's it no more outputs (unless you put in your own external bridge rectifier and hook it up to the blue wire  ;) ).

- Tim
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RailPro Specific Help & Discussion / Re: RP lighting question - fried circuit?
« Last post by Espeelark on February 09, 2026, 04:43:50 PM »
Its possible that you fried just the LED's because of the absence of the resistors. As a trouble-shooting step, I would suggest replacing the LED's (or at least one of them) first and see if that fixes the problem.
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RailPro Specific Help & Discussion / RP lighting question - fried circuit?
« Last post by BP125V on February 08, 2026, 05:10:10 PM »
Hello,

I have been using RP for several years now and doing my own hardwire installs and LED upgrades without any issues.  However, for some strange reason, I just completed an install on a HO Bowser SD40-2 and forgot to install a few of the resistors on some of the new LEDs.  Headlights worked and then when I turned on the ditch lights they, and the headlight blinked and now none of the lights work. However, loco runs fine and sound still works.

Does anyone know how the lighting circuit works in the LM-3S?  By that I mean is it one circuit that I potentially fried and now none of the lights will work?  I had wired with the 9 pin yellow, white, green, and 6 pin green and purple.

Thank you,
Bill
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RailPro Specific Help & Discussion / Re: LMS-21
« Last post by Mrpicks on February 08, 2026, 08:02:11 AM »
Thanks for the response KB,truly appreciated. I am technology deficient and after more research I thought that your description of the system was on point. I will now have to decide if I want to tackle a hardwire of the loco. At least it already has a speaker installed. I really wish that all of these manufacturers would follow the NMRA color code standards with the wiring, would make modifications much easier. Thank you again for taking the time to look into this issue.
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RailPro Specific Help & Discussion / Re: LMS-21
« Last post by KB02 on February 08, 2026, 07:17:15 AM »
Are you sure that it is DCC Ready and not DCC installed?

Looking at the instructions I could find on the web for this loco and a few videos, and I will admit that I could be wrong on this, it looks like this is a DCC installed loco and the 21 pin slot is just for Bachmann's sound module and not for a separate decoder. The circuit board itself appears to be the decoder from what I can see.

Looks like a hard wire, or at least a different mother board may be needed. This PDF from Bachmann might be of use in this process.
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RailPro Specific Help & Discussion / Re: LMS-21
« Last post by Mrpicks on February 05, 2026, 04:22:50 PM »
Have a Bachmann sound ready DCC equipped 50 ton two truck Climax that I am trying to equip with the ring system. When I access the the 21 pin board on the Loco nothing seems to happen. When I placed the loco on the track the lites came on an the loco starts running on it's own. Is there a compatability issue?. I even tried using a 21 pin to a 9 pin adapter and plugged it into a LM3-S and it did the same thing. Not sure if this will not work and will have to hard wire the Loco. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The loco is a Bachmann item#80601 if that helps.
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Forum Tips and Help / MOVED: LM-3 voltage
« Last post by G8B4Life on February 03, 2026, 04:29:48 AM »
This topic has been moved to RailPro Specific Help & Discussion.

https://rpug.pdc.ca/index.php?topic=1781.0

Reason: moved to more appropriate board.
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right now the frontrunner are the panasonic eneloop batteries, and now there are actually 4 "grades" of them to make it more confusing.

They stand out from other NiMH batteries by having a significantly lower level of self discharge

be sure you investigate all 4 flavors (you might only find 3, but there are 4) if you are really picky...

be sure to note the mah capacity
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there are 3 AA batteries in my HC-2b.

while I usually believe all brands of AA batteries (of the same type) are created equal, I have had better success in other application with the Energizer brand rechargeables (but not Li, as noted by others).

Ken
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