I have been working with the Pro Drive DCC switch for a little while now and I really like how it works, and how it's made.

I got the light socket working how I wanted,  http://www.mylargescale.com/Communi...aspx  ,then decided to make use of it.

I am planing to have the switch light come on when the switch is thrown allowing the train to turn off the main line.

First thing I used was a 60ma light assembly from Radio shack but it melted the lens when it was set bright enough to see from a distance in the daylight.

so the I decided to go with LED's but I wanted it to be as simple as possible and stand up to outdoor use. One thing to keep in mind with LED's is that they must be hooked up positive to positive and negative to negative. The out pin on the DCC Pro Drive switch PCB is the positive pin, and of course the inner pin is the negative one. On the LED the lead on the flat side of LED in the positive lead (the left side of the one in the picture below is the positive lead, and it plugs to the white wire lead on housing)).

I wanted to keep everything as easy and simple as possible, after a lot of research online I think I found the perfect solution.

The CNX410 LED assembly from Visual Communications Company (VCC). It has a resistor built into the housing and has a water tight lens which the housing screws onto making mounting it a snap.I have 21.5 volts to the track so I used the assembly with 1.2k ohm resistor (CNX410-120-X02-4-1-24) with a red water tight lens (CMS442RTP) and red water clear LED that puts out a really really bright 4000 lumens (WP7113SRC/F). The whole assemble with LED only costs $4.21. I also bought some 2.5mm two pin connectors to slide onto the light socket (again simple as possible wanted to avoid trying to solder onto the board) I bought the VCC assembly's and LED's from Mouser Electronics in Texas.

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I mounted the LED on the opposite side of PCB and switch motor with the LED wire going under the housing and switch mechanics to avoid any interference. I spliced the light socket plug to the LED housing wire leads(make sure you leave enough length to allow you to reach from the rear of the switch and plug into the PCB). To mount it in the Pro Drive the first thing I did was trim the tab off of the inside of the top cover to give you a flat mounting surface for the LED housing. Then you'll need to drill a 5/16" hole in the cover for the lens and a 1/4" one on the bottom of the housing for the leads and plug. You'll need to drill the hole directly below the 5/16 mounting hole to allow the LED leads with the plug on it to fit through switch housing (the best way to do it is to screw the cover on then drill straight through the top and bottom with a 1/4", and then enlarge the Lens hole to 5/16")

Next you place the lens through the hole, put on the lock washer, and then screw on the CNX410 housing, it locks in place nicely (oh yeah don't forget to put in the LED before you screw it on).

Then you fish the LED lead through the hole in the rear of the case and back up into the case where the light pin is. The next step is to pull out the extra wire slack (so it doesn't get tangled with the switch motor) seal the screw holes, place the cover on, apply more sealant to the screw holes, and screw on the lid. Lastly I coiled and glued the wire to the bottom of the switch case for a nice clean installation.

As you can see the LED is extremely bright and easily seen in daylight, and no melting of the housing lol and all for less than $5.

Posted By Peter Osborne on 16 Jan 2010 08:39 AM
Oh, I forgot to ask, with the LED installed, I'm guessing that it satifies the need for the load on the decoder while programming?

Posted By lownote on 16 Jan 2010 05:00 AM

Very clever! That looks like it ought to work well.

 

You could use a multi-color led that lights red and green, then you'd have an indicator for both directions.

 

I'm glad they are working well for you

Posted By aceinspp on 16 Jan 2010 03:25 PM
  Seeing how all mine are out doors doing all the drilling you did makes it very vulnerable to moisture.  I'm waiting to see how Train-Li will be doing this.  I would like to figure a way to use some sort of switch type indicator not only using red and green but also yellow.  Later RJD

To tell the truth its not much different than when you do the weather proofing mod from Axel. The LED assembly is water tight on top and below the hole is filled with the LEDs rubber coated leads and then I used some of Axel's black goop to seal it completely, so no issues there. The other hole is already there I just made it a little larger for the plug to fit through. If it is a concern thats nothing the old hot glue gun cant fix  

With the way everything is now coated/sealed now I'm pretty sure these will work under water,

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 16 Jan 2010 08:26 PM
Ron, any comment about the led and 2 colors?

Can you confirm it's just on and off (the ones I tested did this)

Regards, Greg

Posted By CliffyJ on 07 Mar 2011 03:00 PM
Excellent article and testimonial, Ron!

In your discussions with Axel, did the spdt micro switch option come up, and if so, would it have been a quick way to power one LED for each direction?

from other thread;

Great to hear about the ProDrives, Ron, and thanks for those links (I'll be digging into them next).



Axel's helping me with my specs and options as we speak. E.g., whether one needs the optional micro switch in the Prodrives. I think yes, for my three return-loop switches that will control an auto reverse module. But maybe not for the others... I was thinking to go ahead and get them all so equipped, just in case; but what did you do?



Great to know that the DCC control is working as planned -- awesome!! That's exactly the kind of thing I wish to achieve, with a macro or two, so the confirmation is much appreciated.



Oops, I just realized I was on the wrong thread... sorry folks! But thanks anyway, Ron!



===Cliffy