Backwards Critter diodes Bulletin

Backwards Critter diodes Bulletin

Plesae read carfully! The directional lighting diodes mounted on the DCC plug board must be oriented as shown or you will smoke the decoder when you try to turn on the headlights. The diodes are marked with a band on one end. That band must face toward the side of the plug board that has the pin markings 8, 7, 6, 5. What is shown below is the corrected way. We had to take the diodes off, turn them around and re-solder them. This is not an easy task and you may not be able to do this unless you are skilled with a solder iron. We used two solder irons, one on each end to melt the solder and remove the diode. Then we re soldered the diodes on as shown below. After turning the directional diodes around we then had to reverse the LED leads as well. Notice that the gray LED wire is now attached to the outer side and the black is on the inner side of the board. At this time we do not know what RoudHouse is going to do to resolve the problem. But if you want to fix this on your own be careful. It is very easy to melt the insulation on the wires creating a potential problem. Also when the board is warmed up to re solder the diodes the correct way, the glue on the bottom of the board softens and the board detaches from its mount. We were able to re attach it by pressing it back in place.

This photo below shows corrected way that diodes and LED'S must be applied.

Directional diodes must face this way. Notice the marking band on diode this side.

Notice gray and black headlights wires have been reversed here and here.