DCC installations into DC locomotives.

[Iron Horseman]

Terry, have you ever tried gluing the tiny SMD's onto the ends of optic fiber, I have both I intend to try. Just wondered what glue you might suggest.

Depends on the material the fiber optic is made out of. I had a some that was styrene cement soluble, so that is what I used. For bigger LED's I've drilled a fiber optic size hole into the "lens" and anchored the fiber in with E6000 clear hobby glue.

 

[tootnkumin]

Depends on the material the fiber optic is made out of. I had a some that was styrene cement soluble, so that is what I used. For bigger LED's I've drilled a fiber optic size hole into the "lens" and anchored the fiber in with E6000 clear hobby glue.

That's an interesting option, drilling a hole, that would keep it centered. Didn't realise the fiber material could be different either.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Didn't realize the fiber material could be different either.

I think the fiber optic "rod" I was speaking about is Lucite. Couldn't think of the name yesterday. Real fiber optic like the phone company uses is (or at least used to be) actual glass. I assume there are many more options for the material. I think the stuff Atlas uses is just clear plastic.

 

[tootnkumin]

I think the fiber optic "rod" I was speaking about is Lucite. Couldn't think of the name yesterday. Real fiber optic like the phone company uses is (or at least used to be) actual glass. I assume there are many more options for the material. I think the stuff Atlas uses is just clear plastic.

I was expecting it to be a plastic of a particular type, but seems any clear substance is OK. The only place on ebay I could find selling flexible strand was in Germany. The hard "pipes" they use in our models can't be as expensive as that is then.

 

[KB02]

FUN aspect of converting DC Locos to DCC? The project in and of itself. I love tinkering on things, so actually involving myself in the project of the conversion is fun.
TIRING? Stuffing all that wiring back into the loco and still having it run right - and look neat (clean)! I've got three bluebox Athearn GP38-2's that I have converted from DC to DCC - and one of them with sound. Getting it all to sit inside the shell just right so that no wire rub on anything or prevent the loco from running can be a crap shoot if I have to take the shell off.

 

[tootnkumin]

FUN aspect of converting DC Locos to DCC? The project in and of itself. I love tinkering on things, so actually involving myself in the project of the conversion is fun.
TIRING? Stuffing all that wiring back into the loco and still having it run right - and look neat (clean)! I've got three bluebox Athearn GP38-2's that I have converted from DC to DCC - and one of them with sound. Getting it all to sit inside the shell just right so that no wire rub on anything or prevent the loco from running can be a crap shoot if I have to take the shell off.

Heck, there's plenty of room in a BlueBox loco. Hardest thing on them is finding somewhere to attach the decoder and speaker to and insulate the motor. With theones with added chassis weight, there usually is a surface, even If some metal has to ge sacrificed to make room The odd thing is, I've found, is sometimes the small loco has more room provided than a larger one e.g. my SD40's compared to the SD45. This little Proto DCC ready GP20 looks to have plenty if using a Loksound select and an iPhone speaker

And an Athearn RTR DCC ready GP35 inside

Basically a Blue Box but with an insulated motor, change the decoder to a sound one and there's room for a speaker stuck up on the shell.

 

[NP2626]

I found Athearn Blue Box diesels pretty easy to convert. I have a set of F-7A and F-7B locos I've converted. I've also converted a GP-38-2 and and SW-1500 (actually an SW1200). Isolating the motors was a simple matter of bending the little Phosphor Bronze tab that makes contact with the frame on the underside, so that it no longer made contact and putting electrical tape where the tab used to make contact on the frame, to protect against possible contact, then soldering the Orange and Gray wires of the decoder to the Phosphor Bronze clips that keep the motor ends together. The lights where generally easy enough as there seemed to be space enough to get the job done.

I have found the Life Like Proto 2000 locos to be a bit more complicated as, space for installing the lights and decoders in these locos is at a premium!

 

[KB02]

Heck, there's plenty of room in a BlueBox loco. Hardest thing on them is finding somewhere to attach the decoder and speaker to and insulate the motor.

Yeah, I'm learning on them. The last one I did came out nice and clean.

 

[tootnkumin]

I found Athearn Blue Box diesels pretty easy to convert. I have a set of F-7A and F-7B locos I've converted. I've also converted a GP-38-2 and and SW-1500 (actually an SW1200). Isolating the motors was a simple matter of bending the little Phosphor Bronze tab that makes contact with the frame on the underside, so that it no longer made contact and putting electrical tape where the tab used to make contact on the frame, to protect against possible contact, then soldering the Orange and Gray wires of the decoder to the Phosphor Bronze clips that keep the motor ends together. The lights where generally easy enough as there seemed to be space enough to get the job done.

I have found the Life Like Proto 2000 locos to be a bit more complicated as, space for installing the lights and decoders in these locos is at a premium!

I've still got a Proto/LifeLike GP38-2, DC/DCC ready that I bought at a buy and sell for $50 in new cond. I liked it 'cause it was heavy and ran smoothly on the club layout when it was DC only. It's in C&NW livery, have tried to sell it several times since, but I don't think anyone here knows what that road is. It would be a hardwire job and the headlights would have to be changed. Room is tight. For sound the chassis would have to be machined.

 

[NP2626]

I have to admit that installing decoders with sound is far easier on steam locomotives, than just installing a decoder in some diesel locos. In fact, give me a steamer any day over almost any diesel!

 

[tootnkumin]

The first of the DCC ready Athearn diesels had a fair bit of room in them, because the chassis was basically a slightly upgraded Bluebox The GP35's I've got are like that.

Notice they were still using the chassis as a part of the circuitry, although the motor is electrically isolated. The motor and drive is identical to the ones still used in their late model RTR's with DCC/Sound, but they pickup from both sides of the trucks instead.

 

[Espeefan]

Toot, on those I usually pull the factory board, replace it with a Tsunami, and add a speaker. My biggest problem with diesels is the SP light packages prevalent in the steam to diesel era I model. I usually have to hook up eight bulbs or LEDs. That wears on you!

 

[Greg@mnrr]

I enjoy installing DCC decodes in my locomotives and when I purchased typically Atlas Classic or Proto locomotives that were DC and at that time I purchased decoders for future installation. Many of these have to be hard wired since they are the earlier decoders.

The earlier DCC decoders have limited Fx functions, but just to run the locomotives on the mainline or for switching service these decoders operate just fine. Several have roof mounted strobe lights.

What I find enjoyable is soldering in the hardwired decoders and I have done very few plug and play locomotives. Some of more challenging locomotives are those who need to have the motor insulated from the frame.

Greg

 

[Espeefan]

I enjoy installing DCC decodes in my locomotives and when I purchased typically Atlas Classic or Proto locomotives that were DC and at that time I purchased decoders for future installation. Many of these have to be hard wired since they are the earlier decoders.

The earlier DCC decoders have limited Fx functions, but just to run the locomotives on the mainline or for switching service these decoders operate just fine. Several have roof mounted strobe lights.

What I find enjoyable is soldering in the hardwired decoders and I have done very few plug and play locomotives. Some of more challenging locomotives are those who need to have the motor insulated from the frame.

Greg

I do a lot of hard wired installations myself. I install in brass steamers, so I generally have to re-motor as well. This often means fabricating a motor bracket. Some are easy, some will make a preacher swear! Here's a simple one. Open frame to can motor and a simple two function decoder:

 

[tootnkumin]

Toot, on those I usually pull the factory board, replace it with a Tsunami, and add a speaker. My biggest problem with diesels is the SP light packages prevalent in the steam to diesel era I model. I usually have to hook up eight bulbs or LEDs. That wears on you!

The only times I have used those adapter boards is with the NCE D13SRJ silent 9 pin decoders (for which they were designed), otherwise they always get removed to install sound decoders. The Athearn SD45 I'm doing now is from the later RTR line, which has the similar motor/board combo but more weights added to the chassis. Good in that regard, but less room available. Using a Tsunami (Gen1) or Econami PNP decoder presents some problems in securing/insulating the decoder once the board and it's clips have been removed. I try to avoid wrapping them. The best solution would be to upgrade to a Genesis conversion motor, which has the plastic mounting for the Sountraxx boards included, but that also requires the conversion chassis, a total cost of $70-$80. I looked at the NWSL conversion remotor kit 1163-4 and they look a good alternative. I've got several of these locos to do, so eventually I hope to do a bulk order (save on combined shipping that way), but in the meantime, convert to Econami's on the existing motors.