Digitrax DH165A0 Lighting Control

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September 9, 2020

Jim asks:

“I have recently installed a Digitrax DH165A0 into my Atlas C-425 engine. How do I set the direction of the engine to control the forward and reverse lighting?”

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5 Responses to Digitrax DH165A0 Lighting Control

Dan potgieter says:

September 9, 2020 at 5:10 am

Jim,
1. Read the instruction leaflet that came with the decoder. It explains every setting in detail.
2. If you do not have a leaflet, download one from the Digitrax website.
3. or , download the decoder setting for this specific loco from Digitrax or Tony’s trains all at no charge.
3. Take the loco to someone who knows decoders, to tell you how to do it.

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Henry van Wyk says:

September 9, 2020 at 6:27 am

You can do it the hardwire way, by changing the wires coming from the motor till they match the direction of the lights, or you can program CV 29. Read the value of CV 29 and add 1 to change the direction. I think the hard wire way will be easiest.

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Mel Sloan says:

September 9, 2020 at 9:50 am

Reverse the yellow and white leads.

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David Liverett says:

September 9, 2020 at 12:21 pm

Your decoder is set from the factory with directional lighting. When you wire the loco for lights, the white wire is for the headlight and the yellow wire is for the rear light. The orange and grey wires are your motor leads. If when you wire the decoder, the reverse light lights up going forward, and the headlight lights going reverse, there are two ways to change this. 1st, you can use the decoder and program it to run the motor opposite direction from normal. This is cv 29. You will have to consult the digitrax website on how to set this number, as it is a major component on how the decoder operates in respect to the speed tables, short or long addressing, motor direction, etc.

2nd, open the locomotive up and flip the grey and orange motor wires. This is the best way to do it, so that programming will match the physical outputs of the decoder.

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Hervey says:

September 9, 2020 at 4:58 pm

Jim,
It is not clear what your problem is. If you are experiencing the locomotive running in the opposite direction to what your controller says, ex running in reverse when the controller is set to forward then program your CV 29 to its current value plus “1”. If the problem is the rear light comes on when the locomotive is moving forward then it is a wiring issue and do as Mel Shoan says.

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