When putting the cars on a normal track with just a DC supply the lights come on even with the controller turned to zero, I'm using a Hornby set type controller at the moment until I get it all setup on a board and I'm guessing even on the 'off' position there is a small current/voltage passing to the tracks. As this is a new model the lights are naturally LED's and I suspect they have done what quite a few manufacturers are doing lately with LED's and adding a 'keep alive' capacitor to the circuit board. This acts like a small battery buffer so if you have intermittent contact with the track the lights don't flicker like the older track driven lights used to.
I'm also looking to add coach lighting packs to the coaches as well, these come in packs of 6 from Kato and consist of an PCB with an LED on which clips into the top inside of the car roof which then butts up against a special plastic piece which runs the length of the roof of the car. The LED then shines into the plastic which then reflects down into the car so you get an even consistent light that is not overly bright and obviously fake. They even give you a special tinted lens to go between the LED and plastic piece that will tint the light from pure white (aka fluorescent colour) to a more normal old style warmer light if you are fitting them in old style coaches. These lighting units are powered from pre-fitted wheel pickups already in place in the cars which come as standard. I've no tried it yet as I need to get the kit, but it seems fairly straightforwards, the body unclips and lifts off, then you fit the parts into the base of the car and replace the body and job done. Apparently the only small fiddly bit is the power strips that clip into the pickups from what I've read, but I'm going to give it a go. These lighting kits work with both DC and DCC, although with the latter they will always be on unless you fit small lighting decoders to turn them on and off. The downside being you need a decoder for each car so even at the $10 or so price for a simple decoder it adds up.
On the subject of DCC with this set of 5 LNER cars to make it fully DCC you need a total of 8 DCC decoders, 5 of the car lighting decoders, 2 to control the directional lighting (one per power car) and 1 to control the motor car. So you end up with plenty of control but at a cost and a lot of effort. Initially I'm only going to fit the car lighting without decoders and leave it as DC for now. If I later decide to switch to DCC I will only fit a motor decoder and the two for the directional lighting.
I'm also looking to add coach lighting packs to the coaches as well, these come in packs of 6 from Kato and consist of an PCB with an LED on which clips into the top inside of the car roof which then butts up against a special plastic piece which runs the length of the roof of the car. The LED then shines into the plastic which then reflects down into the car so you get an even consistent light that is not overly bright and obviously fake. They even give you a special tinted lens to go between the LED and plastic piece that will tint the light from pure white (aka fluorescent colour) to a more normal old style warmer light if you are fitting them in old style coaches. These lighting units are powered from pre-fitted wheel pickups already in place in the cars which come as standard. I've no tried it yet as I need to get the kit, but it seems fairly straightforwards, the body unclips and lifts off, then you fit the parts into the base of the car and replace the body and job done. Apparently the only small fiddly bit is the power strips that clip into the pickups from what I've read, but I'm going to give it a go. These lighting kits work with both DC and DCC, although with the latter they will always be on unless you fit small lighting decoders to turn them on and off. The downside being you need a decoder for each car so even at the $10 or so price for a simple decoder it adds up.
On the subject of DCC with this set of 5 LNER cars to make it fully DCC you need a total of 8 DCC decoders, 5 of the car lighting decoders, 2 to control the directional lighting (one per power car) and 1 to control the motor car. So you end up with plenty of control but at a cost and a lot of effort. Initially I'm only going to fit the car lighting without decoders and leave it as DC for now. If I later decide to switch to DCC I will only fit a motor decoder and the two for the directional lighting.
Happily collecting things all my life... 
(This post was last modified: 02-17-2022, 12:50 PM by Super.)
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