Lighting Problem in DCS engine

Have you tried a feature reset?

Seems weird all those bulbs blow at the same time.  Did anything specific happen to the engine?  Was the shell off?  G

Ray,

I have that particular engine and it has a number if lights that are not present in most diesels. If it uses a CV board or something similar to drive all the lights (I've never had to open mine so cannot say for sure), that could be the problem. Possibly an open wire connection to the voltage that drives that board or a failure of the board itself.

Otherwise, to lose all of those lights at once, you'd have to have several FETs fail open, sending track voltage straight through into the 6 volt bulbs and thereby blowing the bulbs.

Barry, GG, et al, thanks for the input.  I did try resets, both feature and factory with no success.  Barry is right in that this particular engine has more lights than most other diesels  There is a red light on the nose which was used as a warning to a train on an adjacent track when there had been an emergency application of train brakes that may have caused something to derail in the middle of the train. On the model, it just comes on when the engine is in reverse.  It also works in conjuction with the back up headlight.  There is also a blinking headlight (occilanting or Mars light if you will) above the windshield.  Now it just stays on solid and no longer blinks.  Finally there is another headlight on the nose below the red light.  It could very well be that some sort of board would control all this stuff.  Seems too complicated to be reliable.  I may take it to my local MTH repair shop when I get a chance and if it needs a costly board, may leave it the way it is.  At least I still have both headlights and all other features of DCS still work.

Ray

I believe this is all run off the PS-2 board, between headlight, ditch and MARS.  When a light comes on but can't turn off that sounds like a shorted FET.  If the lights are wired to contact springs which touch pads on the chassis that can also be an issues with lights not on.  The confusion is the number of lights acting up and the various methods.  Some out, some on but don't blink, etc...  All should be repairable, but some techs may not want to do the component level repairs on the board if that is an issue.  There are also 2 microcontroller that can cause issues.  They actually control the FETs.  That is why I asked iof the shell was off, or any significant issue occurred that could have caused this.

Occasionally a bulb can blow and damage a FET and sometimes that can cause the microcontroller to be damaged also. They are rare though.  Usually a pinched wire cause the main issues.  G

Ray - I just had this problem yesterday.  I turned on my dcs and started up my SD70 diesel - headlight and blinking lights when whistle is blown didn't come on.  I recently changed the wicks on all my engines smoke units so I thought I might have pinched a wire closing up the engine.  After opening it up again I found that the 8 springs that are supposed to touch the pads (don't know the technical term for them) weren't.  I carefully pulled them down so they touched when when closing up the engine.

Hope this helps

Paul

GG, I did not take the shell off.  Only time it was off was once at the dealers.

Ray