Policy of not supporting non warranty Product. (Solved)

Not sure this is the answer you seek, but the original wiring diagram posted on LionelSupport shows, on page 1, a "circuit board for cab illumination" towards the top right in the attached PDF copy of that page. Wiring goes back to the Motherboard as you say; I assume that the control for on/off is there.

I also assume that this was a unique motherboard specific to this model - rather like the original TMCC Veranda motherboard that had the sound and smoke controls on it. As both the Acela and the Veranda are listed in the latest catalog as Legacy versions, presumably Lionel has had to re-engineer their operating features - but that does not mean that anyone still there knows how the original ones functioned. But I agree that you'd think that would be part of the knowledge bank.

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...34_AcelaSetallWD.pdf

Have you tried Mike Reagan at Trainworx? He was the guy putting the support part of Lionels website together prior to 2016.

There's only a handful of signals that can control lights with TMCC.  If the lights are automatically switched based on motion or some other stimulus, they may be controlled by custom circuitry.

Paul, Did you check with Jon Z? I'm not sure if he was involved with the Acela but may have knowledge of the electronics for it. His member name is @Santa Fe fan on here.

Doug

Hey there ChooChooPaul, bring those pentagraphs down some.  Hancock linked you up with a nifty wire schematic that should answer your questions.  That black and red wire you ask about on the light board could actually be power from the motherboard.  It swaps over to blue / yellow along the way through non-board mounted connection.  The other connector appears to contain all of the signals to turn on/off head light, marker lights, ditch lights and dash lights.  That is coming from DCDR-S board.  See markup below.

You better hope the DCDS isn't dead, obviously some custom software to drive extra lights in that one!

Looks like they custom programmed the LED drivers for extra functions.  On the good news side, this part is still available.

Hey Steims,

The board with the two LEDs is mounted above the engineers head. The connections to the mother board are position 2 and 3 from the left. Positions 4 and 5 are for the step lights. They work as they should, on at rest, off any speed.

I have changed the mother board, the radio board (Code 13), the DCDR motor control board, programmed the engine with (Eng. 26 -SET - Eng. 26 - Aux1 - 7 -6).

The lights above the engineers head will NOT turn on at rest.

I hope you now understand the problem.

OK, now we get you Paul.  This is a straight input to the cab light board from the mother board.  Could be connectors at either end, connector in the middle, loose pin, burnt out LEDs, bad motherboard.  Since you swapped out the motherboard already scratch that.

Might double check the pins you suggested.  I see pins 3 & 4 are for cab lights.  Pins 5 & 6 for step lights.  Can you do a voltage check across 3 & 4 to see if MB is sending voltage to cab light board?  If yes, then check the pins on cab light board for same voltage.  If no, then start pinpointing connection/wiring along the way.

I have never worked on a Acela but I can certainly appreciate you fixing yours.  I would want this unit running perfectly too. 

You also may want to re-check the radio board code 13.  I would check each individual TRIAC on the radio board.  I have had replacement code 13 boards with a bad TRIAC straight from Lionel.  I doubt this is the problem, but I would verify in any case as I am not sure how this card would control the cab lights, but...

The only other thing to check would be the head light circuit board.  But here again, it looks to be just a pass through board.  So that being the case, its back to actual cab light circuit board and its LEDs.  Is there any way to see if that works independent of any other items?  Maybe a 3 volt DC directly connected to this board???  Any one else have an idea how to test this board independently?

I just pop them into my best board and see if all the triacs are intact.

FWIW, you can put that R2LC-C13 into almost any TMCC locomotive and see if all the functions work.  If lights, couplers, and smoke work, all the triacs are intact.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

I am off to the shop to try a new suggestion.

A cap across the tach, to lower its output. The suggestion is that the DCDR thinks the engine is still running while it truly is at a stop. Hence no cab light.

The tach is outputting a digital signal.  I can't imagine that a cap is going to do anything but kill the signal and cause a runaway.