- RED WIRE – this is to pick up power from the track. Traditionally, this should be connected to the pickups that collect power from the RIGHT rail
- BLACK WIRE – this is also to pick up power from the track. Traditionally this should be connected to the pickups that collect power from the LEFT rail
- ORANGE WIRE – this is to connect the decoder to one of the motor brushes. There is no “normal” left or right for this one, as motors do not always face the same way in the chassis. Don’t worry – if the loco runs backwards, simply swap for the Gray wire OR use the instructions to change CV’s to make the loco run the other way (easy and works every time)
- GRAY WIRE – this is to pick up power from the other motor brush.
IMPORTANT – Red and Black wires must NEVER share any form of direct electrical connection with the Orange or Gray wires. Nor should the Gray and Orange wires ever share a connection with the pickups in any way. Fail to check or ignore this and you will destroy your decoder immediately – The result of this contact, no matter how slight, is usually a puff of smoke and a black hole in one of the decoder IC’s.
- BLUE WIRE – This wire is the COMMON wire for all functions. It is used with other “accessory: or lighting wires. It is always POSITIVE, and is the common partner for every function. For example, front light = white + blue, rear light= yellow + blue.
- WHITE WIRE – “Front lights/functions”. To connect the headlights or “front” function, use the white NEGATIVE wire and the BLUE POSITIVE wire. How your decoder controls this wire will be clearly stated in the instructions, but it is usually via Function Zero on your controller (Often helpfully marked “lights”)
- YELLOW WIRE – “Rear Lights/functions”. To connect the rear lights or “Rear” function, use the Yellow NEGATIVE wire and the BLUE POSITIVE wire. How your decoder controls this wire will be clearly stated in the instructions. Please note as follows: o Rear light functions can often be used for things like firebox flicker on steam loco’s\ o If the function needs more than 100mA, you can parallel two functions to make a higher power function – i.e. Yellow+ white to one side of the smoke unit, blue to the other side. o Lighting can be configured to be manually or automatically reversed, plus MANY other options.
Check your manual, and if they don’t light as expected suspect the need to switch them on at the controller! This wire too is usually set to operate on function zero.
- GREEN WIRE – “any other function” including lights or accessory control. Use the Green NEGATIVE wire and the BLUE POSITIVE wire. How your decoder controls this wire will be clearly stated in the instructions. Usually 100mA Max. On non sound decoders, this will be set ex factory for operation by function 1
- PURPLE WIRE – “any other function” including lights or accessory control. Use the Purple NEGATIVE wire and the BLUE POSITIVE wire. How your decoder controls this wire will be clearly stated in the instructions. Usually 100mA Max. On non sound decoders, this will be set ex factory for operation by function 2.
- BROWN or STRIPED WIRE – “another optional function” for use with any lighting or accessory of 100mA or less. Rare, but useful for complex MU or diesel lighting. On non sound decoders, this will be set ex factory for operation by function 3. ===============================================
CV33 F0F default value is 1 output 1 / white / pin 6
CV34 F0R default value is 2 output 2 / yellow / pin 2
CV35 F1 default value is 4 output 3 / green / pin 3
CV36 F2 default value is 8 output 4 / violet
CV37 F3 default value is 16 output 5 / brown or solder pad
CV38 F4 default value is 4 output 6
CV39 F5 default value is 8 output 7
CV40 F6 default value is 16 output 8
CV41 F7 default value is 32 output 9
CV42 F8 default value is 64 output 10
CV43 F9 default value is 16 output 11
CV44 F10 default value is 32 output 12
CV45 F11 default value is 64 output 13
CV46 F12 default value is 128 output 14
CV120 EFX for F0F output 1 / white / pin 6 default value is 1 directional active in Forward
CV121 EFX for F0R output 2 / yellow / pin 2 default value is 2 directional active in Reverse
CV122 EFX for F1 output 3 / green / pin 3 default value is 0 - standard on / off
CV123 EFX for F2 output 4 / violet default value is 0 - standard on / off
CV124 EFX for F3 output 5 / brown default value is 0 - standard on / off
CV125 EFX for F4 output 6 default value is 0 - standard on / off
CV126 EFX for F5 default value is 0 - standard on / off
CV127 EFX for F6 default value is 0 - standard on / off