Thanks Peter.

Quick update:  I moved the ditch light LED common wires to the rear headlight common port, and with F6 enabled, the front ditch lights now work regardless of direction of travel, whether the headlight is on or off.  Exactly the behavior I wanted.

Thanks for all the tips and tricks. I'm going to give it a shot...

Henry-

Thanks for all the tips and tricks. I'm going to give it a shot...

Henry, I think you'll be pleased.  While it's not something you'll want to rush through, I found that the combination of the 0402 LEDs, clear tacky glue, Kapton tape, and patience have made this process FAR easier than it was when I last attempted it 10 years ago.  I now have ditch lights installed in four units, and two of those have been completely wired and are ready to put back together.

Two of my four units had the deck-mounted lights like those Al describes in his video in my first post, while the other two have DLs mounted to the pilot face.  I found the latter to be the easier of the two, since you don't have the hassle of getting the DL enclosure to stand up straight, but neither was very hard.

One tip:  If you're like me and you've never used magnet wire before, be aware that, although you can't see the clear insulation on them, it's there, and must be removed before making your connections.  I just heated the magnet wire ends thoroughly with the tip of a hot soldering iron.  On one unit, one ditch light didn't light on my first attempt, so I just took things apart again, heated the magnet wire ends more thoroughly to ensure that all the insulation was gone, and then reassembled, and everything was fine the second time.

One other note:  Loksound Select Direct decoders have 2200ohm resistors built in, while other Loksound types, Tsunamis, and some others require external resistors.  If you're using the latter, I recommend using slightly larger resistors than the 750ohm that come with Big Al's kits.  I found those to leave the DLs too bright, to the point where it was hard to look at the locomotive.  Because I had a number of 750ohm on hand though, on my Loksound Aux 4 decoders, I decided to chain 3 of them together (2250ohm total) to closely approximate the brightness from LEDs that'll be installed with on-board Select Direct decoders, which will make up the majority of my roster.  They're still very bright, but easier to look at, and I'm told that the increased resistance will prolong LED life.

Please let us know how it goes!

My renewed confidence with wiring and LEDs from this whole experience has led me to the decision to put working strobe beacons in all the IAIS units that should have them.  What's one more thing as long as I have the shells off my entire roster, right?  While I sort through those details, IAIS 628 shown in my previous photo had to be put aside awaiting its strobe, so I moved on to finishing LLPX SD38-2 2809 instead.  

It seemed fitting that the 2809 would be my first unit back in service with ditch lights and Loksound, since my first attempt at modeling that unit was the subject of my initial ditch light install that failed 10 years ago.  The photo made me realize that both ditch lights are tilting forward, so I'll need to adjust that, but at least everything's put back together and working well.

Nice to see your fear of fitting Ditch lights overcome with such a great result. Great too that you are now looking to fit strobes as well.

With six lighting functions available on the Select Direct, it seems a shame to waste any of them.

Thank you Peter!  I appreciate your guidance in helping me get through this.