Eastern Railroad Discussion > Q455 in Folkston with odd ditchlights

Q455 yesterday had a CSX SD70MAC with ditchlights that flash together instead of alternate.  I've never seen this before on a CSX engine, is this something new?

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Probably a bad relay or something

msullivan1993 Wrote:
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> Probably a bad relay or something

I wondered if that might be the case, may need to reset CV's on the DCC decoder!!!

There was a couple of Conrail units that did that.

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

A bad relay or a short somewhere. I have seen this on CSX, MBTA and Amtrak units from time to time.

   Very nice video, I enjoyed it, thanks for sharing. I like the information, in the captions, have a nice day.

                REK in PA

I'll throw this out there. For "modern" GE units and railroads who have ditch light pulsing, the CIO (Consolidated Input Output) or IOC (Input Output Concentrator) uses one of the output card's MOSFET switches to drive the ditchlights. This provides solid state operation and no relays to worry about. I could envision a short circuit on the output wires to the ditchlights (or catastrophic failure of a MOSFET causing a short on the card) causing a similar phenomenon, particularly because the ditchlights would never fully turn off, as seen in the video. I'm not sure if "modern" EMD units use a similar solid state approach. Seems reasonable, though.


DC