I ran some tests on the set in its existing conditions:
- There is a decoder on each side: a function decoder in the dummy car and a sound decoder in the engine
- I thought I set the same address #2450 for each decoder, but it seems the ECoS does not like that, so I temporarily set the function decoder to #2451
- It allows to control white and red head lights depending on the direction
- There are three modes for interior lighting: F18 is "white":
- There are three modes for interior lighting: F19 is "yellow":
- There are three modes for interior lighting: F18 & F19 is "warm white":
The challenge is that all LEDs are connected to the function decoder and it cannot handle the load required for the lighting in the 3 cars. I therefore decide to scratch all of that and redo it the proper way with the ESU strips.
The next pictures show how I went about removing the existing LED strips:
So, all LED strips have been removed. I need to:
- install the ESU strips, including the small capacitors
- rewire the Miniatronics connectors to pass through the power from the tracks
- install a ESU PowerPack on sound decoder
- think about adding lighting inside the driver's cabin
- finish adding figurines