Well, dummy me, I volunteered to do some decoder installs for my retired brother. His P2Ks were a piece of cake. Now, I have 3 Athearns to do: a GP38-2, an SD40-2 and a C44-9W. I've never done an Athearn and I'm sure glad I don't have any of my own after seeing these. All are basically the same -- 2 flywheels, very open chassis, no metal chassis columns or weights to use, no light boards to tie the wires to. That openness is the problem. Where and how do you route the wires to keep them from being pinched or abraded by the flywheels?
I thought of putting the decoder into the shell above the rear end and run the wires across the shell to the front light (converting it to LED) and also down from above the motor for the other connections. But, those pesky flywheels.......
Thanks. Ken
I'm sure you'll get a cornucopia of methods to install DCC decoders into Athearns. Here is my contributtion to you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZku8qp0BBs. BTW, I'm not the author of this very helpful video, enjoy.
TONY
"If we never take the time, how can we ever have the time." - Merovingian (Matrix Reloaded)
Ken,
I use a strip of sytrene (size depends on the loco) taped to the top of the motor. I then tape the leds and the decoder on top of it. I use this approach on lots of locos.
That should work for me then too. What kind of tape do you use? Masking OK? Electrial usually doesn't stay stuck very long for me.
Thanks for the tip, Mike. Ken
There's a type of electrical tape called Kapton tape. It should work well, but it is expensive and a little difficult to come by. Litchfield Station sells it. I have used vinyl electrical tape and also various types of packing/storing tape, masking tape, and double sided foam tape. If you need to make sure it stays put to keep the wire away from the pesky flywheels, use good tape or some other mechanical structure (like a styrene strip attached to the motor/frame).
Jim