Hello all.
I'm ready to mount the head lights and DCC board in my project loco. It started out as a dummy loco, so a lot off the inside detail is different than a powered unit.Questions: Can the light bulbs (1.5V 90MA ) grain of wheat be glued or double stick taped to the cab or do they get too hot?Can I double stick tape a Styreen board to the top of the motor to mount the DCC board on or would the motor get hot enough melt it loose?
Thanks for any help.
Lee
Bulbs get way too hot for the plastic shells especially using DCC. After I lost a prize Alco RS1 shell I did a wholesale change over to LEDs and never looked back. If you really want the bulb you can put it inside a brass tube and solder it to a brass plate glued to the shell. That should dissipate the heat some.
As for mounting decoders. You have a million options. Double stick tape to the motor is fine. A dab of RTV works also. Thread or even tape to the motor are just a few. Just make sure there is no metal to metal contact.
90 Miliamp bulbs may be too much for a decoder light circuit. Most decoders I have call for 80 miliamp or less. Check you decoder manual for this.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
locoi1sa Bulbs get way too hot for the plastic shells especially using DCC. After I lost a prize Alco RS1 shell I did a wholesale change over to LEDs and never looked back. If you really want the bulb you can put it inside a brass tube and solder it to a brass plate glued to the shell. That should dissipate the heat some.
Hi PeteThis is a learning project that I'm working on.The DSD-ll110LC calls for a 330 ohm 1/2 watt resister in series with each "original" 1.5 w lamps. Only problem is I have "Proto Power west" Trucks on an Athern frame in a dummy shell. I think I do have 2 bulbs that came out of a P2K SD7 that I put DCC and LEDs in, they may take care of the requirement for "original" bulbs maybe they are less watts. The trucks pick up power on one side and transmits it through the frame, my motor is isolated from the frame,with thick double side tape. This decoder only has directions for plug and play. Can I tie one side of the motor to the frame, or must both power leads go to the decoder first?
Anyone is welcome to chime in!
Thanks
Both motor leads must go to the decoder. Do not under any circumstances allow one of the decoder output wires to touch one of the input wires - the decoder will be instantly fried. In an Athearn-type chassis where the chassis conencts to one rail, the motor brushes must be isolated from the chassis. Check with a meter to make sure there is no continuity from the chassis to either motor lead.
After hooking it all up - if your DCC system has a dedicated program track, test it there first - try to change the address, or just read the existing one (shoudl be 3 before programming). If it cannot read or program, do NOT put the loco on the main track, find and fix the wiring problem first.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
The #1 rule of decoder wiring is to ISOLATE the motor contacts from the frame. That would let the smoke out of the decoder in a hurry. Like the original Athearn blue box locos the one side picks up power from the frame contact with the trucks at the king pin area. The other rail fed power through the contact post to a clip that spanned the length of the loco. When I decodered these locos the motor was removed and the clip discarded. The brush clips got wires soldered to them and a thick piece of electric tape was placed in the motor mount to isolate the bottom brush contact.
A 1k 1/4 watt resistor with a sunny white LED would be just as efective as a bulb. Longer lasting and cooler even.
If you go to any decoder manufacture web site you can down load a schematic for a decoder thats hard wired. Thanks to the NMRA decoder wire colors are standard from all makers. Red, Black track pickup, Orange, gray motor feeds, White wire headlight negative, Yellow wire reverse light negative, Blue wire is light positive.