NCE N14K2 question

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I'm starting to convert my fleet of SD80MAC engines to DCC. I have settled on NCE due to cost and performance - they are cheap. And they can be dialed in to run as well as TCS or ESU decoders.

But NCE appears to be run by engineers. Their documentation can be.... Vacant.

The instruction for the N14K2 decoder refers to solder pads on the front for additional lighting in addition to solder points on the ends if you choose to use a regular LED instead of the built in SMD.

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The "front" is the skinny end to the right. The rear has pads for a though -hole LED as well as 4 outputs and a common. My past experience in NCE decoders makes me believe these 4 output pads are full 12v.

Now to the front:
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These pads labeled F1 and  F2 are what the instructions refer to as solder pads for additional lighting. But there is no indication what output they link to. Is F1 really output 3? Which pads are for F1 and which are for F2? Which are +/-? And at what voltage (they appear to have resistors).

There is no wiring diagram on the NCE we website. Anyone have any ideas?

[Jbub]

I'm starting to convert my fleet of SD80MAC engines to DCC. I have settled on NCE due to cost and performance - they are cheap. And they can be dialed in to run as well as TCS or ESU decoders.

But NCE appears to be run by engineers. Their documentation can be.... Vacant.

The instruction for the N14K2 decoder refers to solder pads on the front for additional lighting in addition to solder points on the ends if you choose to use a regular LED instead of the built in SMD.

(Attachment Link)

The "front" is the skinny end to the right. The rear has pads for a though -hole LED as well as 4 outputs and a common. My past experience in NCE decoders makes me believe these 4 output pads are full 12v.

Now to the front:
(Attachment Link)

These pads labeled F1 and  F2 are what the instructions refer to as solder pads for additional lighting. But there is no indication what output they link to. Is F1 really output 3? Which pads are for F1 and which are for F2? Which are +/-? And at what voltage (they appear to have resistors).

There is no wiring diagram on the NCE we website. Anyone have any ideas?

Pete will know more than I will but generally speaking (+) is the common on a dcc decoder. The resistor appears to be 1.8k (if read as 182) which is plenty for an LED. I would assume that the decoder maps Function 1 and 2 respectively  to  F1 and F2  since this is a non sound decoder.  Function 0 is the head/rear light depending on the selected direction. Looking at the pictures as oriented the left side is negative (cathode) and right is positve (anode).

[peteski]

I have no experience with NCE decoders at all, but looking at the photos I agree with Darth. 

The common positive (aka. blue wire) are the F1, F2 pads on the right in the photo.  The pads on the left, next to those 1.8K (marked 182) SMD resistors are the function outputs.  Not sure what you mean by "3".  The on-board headlight LEDs are typically assigned to functions F0F and F0R, and those additional pads are assigned to the functions marked on the board. So F1 pads will be activated by DCC function 1 and F2 by function 2.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

This is kinda where I get confused. They talk about outputs in the back (for yellow wire, white, green, etc). As far as I know these can be remapped. So would these F1 and F2 outputs be stuck to the F1 and  F2 function buttons?

They way I understand other NCE decoders, they have two redundant lighting systems: pads to solder white, yellow, green etc, and a front LED that is on a circuit that mimics the white wire but in lower voltage. Same with the rear LED and the yellow wrire. But I'm not sure about these solder pads.

I need to  remap them to both go off/on using another F button and to alternate when the horn button is activated.

ESU is really good at saying what pads correspond to what  AUX/wire colors and it makes remapping a snap. This is just confusing as all hell.

[Jbub]

Looking at the traces, the redundant F0 front and rear are between the led and resistor. Those are controlled by function 0 and direction on the dcc cab. The F1 and F2 solder pad's look to be completely separate and most likely controlled by function 1 and 2 on the cab. Wire colors would be white to the front light, yellow to the rear, green to f1 and I believe purple to f2

[peteski]

The DCC nomenclature used by most American manufacturers is F0F (forward headlight), F0R (reverse headlight), then plain F1, F2, F3, F4, and so on.  Those are so marked on the NCE decoder. As already identified, the F1 and F2 are separate from either headlight and are likely mapped to F1 and F2 on a DCC throttle (with both headlight functions being mapped to F0 on the throttle, but activated directionally).  If you want to wire something to the headlight outputs, those woudl be soldered to those empty (gold) vias near the headlight LEDs.  The front headlight would be the same as white wire, rear headlight yellow wire, then the F1 woudl be green and F2 purple wire.

https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203839315-Decoder-Function-Output-Color-Code

But ESU for example uses different nomenclature for their function outputs.