Can I use a Walthers DC passenger car lighting kits on my DCC layout?
All Walthers HO-Scale interior lighting kits for the Walthers or Rivarossi brand passenger cars are all compatible with Digital Command Control systems. Some kits do not specify DC or DCC. This is because initially there were no kits optimized for DCC. The incandescent bulbs operate at 5 volts and seem to vary between 45 – 65 mA, depending on who is doing the measuring. Therefore, each lighting kit will draw approximately 200 mA. On the lighting kits that are optimized for conventional (DC) systems, there is a regulator that allows a constant 5V to the three bulbs, which we wire in parallel. It requires about 4.5 volts minimum to “start” the lights. DCC has constant voltage (approximately 14 volts) on the track, so on the lighting kits that are optimized for DCC there is no need for a voltage regulator. The regulator is removed on these kits and the three 5 volt bulbs are wired in series to accept 15V. The reason for some kits specifically for DCC is to reduce the price (no regulator).
